Throughout my early 20s, while getting my bachelor’s degree, I lived in several different student apartments and rented homes. Whenever the lease of one apartment ended, I’d pack up all my things—textbooks, winter jackets, and, like, a million random socks without a match—into giant cardboard boxes and haul them to my new place.

Two things I’d bring to every new home, despite absolutely hating them, were my large cooking pot and my singular, lidless frying pan. Even though they were stained, scratched, and had lost their non-stick coatings years prior, I couldn’t justify getting rid of them—nice pots and pans can be expensive, especially for a broke college student.

Now that I’ve finally made the move to New York City and live in a shared apartment with my boyfriend, I’ve been on the hunt for a set of new pots and pans that I won’t be embarrassed to have out while guests are over. So when I was given a chance to try the 12-Piece Ceramic Non-Stick Cookware Set (originally $149, now $129) from Drew Barrymore’s kitchenware line, Beautiful by Drew, I pounced (POUNCED, I tell you!) on the opportunity.

Ahead, read my full and honest review of the Beautiful by Drew 12-Piece Cookware Set, plus reasons why it would make a phenomenal holiday gift for the foodie on your shopping list.

Beautiful by Drew Barrymore, 12-Piece Ceramic Non-Stick Cookware Set — $129.00

Originally $149, now $129

12-piece cookware set includes an 8-inch fry pan and lid, 10-inch fry pan and lid, 3-qt. sauté pan and lid, 2-qt. saucepan and lid, 5-qt. Dutch oven and lid, and four cookware protectors.

Colors: 4

• Great value
• Sleek, beautiful design
• Non-toxic, non-stick ceramic coating
• Oven safe up to 500°F, dishwasher safe

• Gold lid handles get quite hot after prolonged heat exposure

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My honest review of the Beautiful by Drew Cookware Set

My first impression upon unboxing the set was, “Wow—these are gorgeous.” 

The images online, while nice, just don’t do them justice. These babies are—like the brand name suggests—utterly beautiful. Unlike most pot and pan lids, these lids are flat-topped as opposed to being domed and sit flush with their corresponding pots and pans. It’s a design choice that I didn’t fully appreciate until I saw and held them in person. The gold die-cast handles are total showstoppers, too, and the matching gold lid handles are a lovely touch.

One great aspect of this set that’s not listed online is that all the pots and pans are stackable, save for the saucepan. As someone who lives in a New York apartment with limited kitchen storage, saving space is a huge deal, so it was exciting to see that they don’t take up extra room in our cabinets.

My boyfriend and I cook dinner together almost every night of the week, and I’m a big eggs-in-the-morning person. I’m happy to report that these pots and pans are truly non-stick—fried eggs and cheese slide right off of both frying pans. The large three-quart saute pan cooks diced chicken, salmon filets, and breaded shrimp quickly and evenly. The Dutch oven proves to be great for whipping up mashed potatoes and boiling pasta, and the medium saucepan is the perfect size to make the glaze I use for our honey-seared salmon, all with minimal mess and cleanup.

The golden handles that adorn the three cookware lids, while stunning, do get hot after a while. We haven’t burned our hands on them, but they definitely become too hot to handle for more than a few seconds. Of course, an easy fix is to glove up with an oven mitt or a pot holder (this Sugarday Silicone Pot Holders and Oven Mitts Set has both and is on sale for $14).

One other slight annoyance is that the outer layer of the pots and pans—because they’re sleek and non-textured—hold onto fingerprints and water stains easily. These can be wiped away, but worth noting.

Final thoughts

This 12-piece ceramic cookware set from Beautiful by Drew is phenomenal; frankly, the super low cost is just an added bonus. The pots and pans expertly cook sauces, meats, and pastas, and are 100 percent non-stick, as promised. They’re beautiful, unique, and their minor shortcomings—lid handles that get hot, and an outer surface that shows fingerprints and water stains—are few, fixable, and largely inconsiderable.

To be fully transparent, I was actually expecting it to not perform as well as it did, given how little it costs, but I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of each and every piece. If you’re looking to get a fresh cookware set for your home, or want to gift your loved ones the last pots and pans set they’ll ever need, I highly recommend taking advantage of the $129 price that Walmart is offering right now.

I *finally* have a grown-up set of cookware that I’m eager to use in front of guests ahead of the holidays, and IMO, that is beautiful, indeed.