Pan Sizes, Explained

Pan sizes are measured across the top rim, not the base. That's standard across cookware, and it's why a 10-inch pan has a cooking surface a fair bit smaller than 10 inches. Here's what each size does well.

8 inch (20 cm)

One or two eggs, a single portion of fish, toasting spices, melting butter. Small enough to heat quickly and easy to handle one-handed. It's the pan you reach for on a Tuesday when you're cooking for yourself.

9 inch (23 cm)

The quiet all-rounder. Enough room for two portions without becoming unwieldy, and it still fits a standard burner cleanly.

10 inch (25 cm)

If you own one pan, this is usually the size. It handles a couple of chicken breasts, a full pan of vegetables, or a family breakfast without crowding. Crowding is what turns searing into steaming, so give food room.

11 and 12 inch (28 and 30 cm)

Family-sized. Four portions, a whole fish, or a one-pan dinner that goes from stove to table. Worth checking your burner first — a 12-inch pan on a small ring heats unevenly in the center and stays cool at the rim.

Depth changes the answer

Diameter isn't the whole story. The high-wall pan comes in 8, 9, and 10 inch with taller sides, so a 10-inch high-wall holds far more than a 10-inch classic. The sauté pan and deep pot both run 9, 10, and 11 inch, going progressively deeper.

When capacity is the better measure

For anything you fill with liquid, volume tells you more than width. The Titanium Cooking Pot with Lid is sold that way: 20 cm (8") at 3.0 L, 24 cm (9.5") at 5.0 L, and 28 cm (11") at 7.0 L.

Match the pan to the burner

Whatever size you choose, use a ring roughly the size of the pan's base so heat spreads evenly instead of concentrating in one spot. On gas, keep the flame under the base rather than climbing the sides. More on that in Which Stovetops Work With Okura.

Still weighing it up? Which Okura Pan Is Right for Me? covers the shapes, and you can see every size in Japanese Pans.