18/10, 18/0 and the Magnetic Base: What the Numbers on a Ciwete Pan Actually Mean

The short answer: 18 and 10 are percentages by mass - about 18% chromium and 10% nickel - and they describe only the steel you cook on. An induction-ready pan almost always has a different, magnetic grade on the outside, because an 18/10 surface is barely magnetic and an induction hob cannot drive it. The layer that decides how the pan actually heats is the aluminium core between them, and that layer carries no number on the box at all.

What 18/10 means, and why it is the standard cooking surface

Stainless steel is iron with chromium, plus - usually - some nickel. Chromium is what makes it stainless: it forms a thin, self-repairing oxide film that keeps the iron underneath from rusting. Nickel does a different job. It stabilises the internal structure of the alloy, raises corrosion resistance again, and is the reason an 18/10 surface can be polished to a mirror and still take years of whisking. The family of steels that behaves this way is the 300 series, and 18/10 is the same class of alloy as type 304 stainless steel.

Two consequences matter in a kitchen. First, acidic food behaves: tomato, wine and vinegar reductions can sit in an 18/10 pan without the metallic edge you get from uncoated aluminium or bare iron, because the surface that touches the sauce is the passive, non-reactive one. Second, the surface is non-porous, so it does not hold flavours or odours between cooks, and Ciwete lists its stainless pieces as dishwasher safe alongside the oven rating.

What 18/10 does not mean is thick. The grade says which steel is used, never how much of it there is, and a thin 18/10 wall behaves very differently from a thick one.

Why one pan carries two different steels

An 18/10 cooking surface is an austenitic stainless steel, and austenitic steel is essentially non-magnetic. An induction hob works by inducing currents in a magnetic material, so a pan that is 18/10 all the way through would sit still on an induction ring. The fix is a second grade: 18/0, or a similar ferritic steel with chromium but no nickel, which is strongly magnetic. It goes on the outside, where it only ever touches the hob, and the 18/10 stays where the food is. Ciwete's own product copy describes the arrangement directly:

The last two rows are the ones worth reading twice. The 10-piece set and the 20 qt stock pot are both tri-ply, but one is clad continuously up the side wall and the other bonds its layers into the base only. That difference is not visible from the outside and it is not in the grade name - it changes how heat climbs the wall of the pan.

The magnet test: what it proves, and what it misses

If a magnet grips the base of a pan firmly, there is ferritic steel or iron in there and induction will work. That is the whole of the evidence. A magnet cannot tell you core thickness, whether the clad stops at the base or continues up the wall, what the inner grade is, or how hot the pan is allowed to go. On a disc-base pot the pull is usually strongest in the middle and fades at the edge; on a fully clad pan it tends to continue a little way up the wall. A weak pull on an 18/10 interior tells you nothing bad - you are feeling the interior layer, not the base.

Nickel: what the second number is doing, and who should think about it

Nickel is not filler. It is the reason 18/10 resists corrosion better than simpler stainless and the reason the surface holds a mirror polish. It is also the metal behind nickel contact allergy, which affects a minority of people and is usually diagnosed by a dermatologist rather than suspected.

For almost every cook this is a non-issue: 18/10 has been the standard food-grade choice for stainless cookware for decades, and Ciwete describes the material on its stainless pages as food-grade and non-toxic. If you have been told you react to nickel, the useful move is not to avoid stainless on principle but to know which surface you are cooking on. The pieces whose cooking surface is not exposed steel are the enameled cast iron Dutch ovens, where a fused glass-like enamel layer sits over the iron, and the honeycomb hybrid nonstick pans. That is a question for your doctor, not for a product page.

The numbers the grade does not contain

Grade and construction decide how a pan heats. A separate set of published figures decides where you are allowed to put it, and they differ from piece to piece inside the same brand. Ciwete rates the stainless stock pots, frying pans and the 10-piece set to 500 F / 260 C, while the 11-piece sets are listed to 400 F with their lids on. The glass lids generally sit lower - the 20 qt stock pot's glass cover is rated to 350 F / 177 C while the pot itself is rated to 500 F. The lid, not the body, is usually the limit, and it is the number people forget to check. Handles follow their own logic too: brass and silicone-wrapped handles are listed as stay-cool, and the hybrid nonstick pieces use a detachable handle so the pan can go into the oven and stack flat afterwards.

Reading a Ciwete listing in four lines

• The cooking surface grade. 18/10 means the food-side layer is the corrosion-resistant one. That is what you want.
• Where the clad sits. Whole body, or base only - the same three layers, in two very different pans.
• Whether the base is magnetic. If it is, induction works. If the listing says magnetised or magnetic stainless, it will.
• The temperature figures. Body and lid separately, because they are rarely the same.

Quick answers

Is 18/10 better than 18/0?

For the surface you cook on, yes - the nickel content is what makes it corrosion resistant and non-reactive. 18/0 is chosen where magnetism matters more than corrosion resistance, which is why it belongs on the outside of an induction pan.

Is 18/10 magnetic?

Barely. A magnet may cling weakly to an 18/10 interior, which is not enough for an induction hob on its own. The magnetic layer underneath is what does the work.

Does 18/10 cookware contain nickel?

Yes, around 10% by mass - that is what the second number means. The metal is bound inside the alloy rather than coated on the surface, which is why 18/10 is the standard food-grade stainless for cookware.

How do I know a pan works on induction?

Put a magnet on the base. If it grips firmly, the pan has a magnetic layer and induction will heat it. If it slides off, it will not.

Does the grade tell me how thick the pan is?

No. Thickness comes from the core, and the grade name says nothing about it. Two pans can both say 18/10 tri-ply and behave completely differently in the hand.

This article was researched and written with AI assistance, reviewed by the Ciwete SEO Team.