This is pricier pot, holds only 2 more quarts. Feeling dense, amatuer cook so know Im missing something.

Here is a link that might be useful: $150 Tramontina 24-Quart

I have the larger one. It has a flat bottom and a more professional styling that may help have more even heating and prevent scorching on the sides. It also says it can be used on all cooking surfaces, including induction. I am not familiar with the smaller one, but it may not be the same weight or quality of stainless and may not be able to be used on an induction burner. If those curved edges are like some of my old pans, they wont do so well with a larger gas burner. They will need a lot more attention and possibly lower heat to prevent scorching if they are.

I doubt that a pot this large would ever be used in an oven, but the all metal handles would allow you to. On the other hand, they may get hot if you have a lot of heat coming off the sides of your burner. I don't remember needing to use protection with them, but I can't be certain right now.

I, personally, don't like pots with glass lids, that would eliminate the smaller one. But with the HUGE price difference, I probably wouldn't get either one.

Good luck.

I have my mother's HUGE Farberware pots, the size you are looking at, that I use for canning, so they don't get used very often.

Tramontina makes several different grades of cookware. Get the big one; it's like all-clad in terms of the material. Some of their less-expensive lines are pretty walmart-y.

The $60 pot has a clad BASE, with stainless sides. The glass lid and handles make it unusable at very high temps, but I doubt that would be an issue for normal people!

The $150 one is fully clad. This is a nice construction but not really necessary for a stock pot. Handles and lid are heat safe.

I don't know about you, but big stock pots are for boiling/simmering liquid. You don't need a fully clad pot to do that. I wouldn't spend the difference.

Our canning pot is not as nice as the larger pot here, but it generally only boils water. The larger pot was bought for a chili cook-off, and even at lower heat, you can get hot spots on those rounded sides of the smaller pot -- even with the clad bottom because the rounded sides are not part of the clad bottom). If it's just a question of why the higher price but you can spend it, I would get the larger one -- both so you don't wish you have just a little more capacity later (how many really large pots will you have?). If you buy another less expensive one later, you may spend even more. I can't remember if min 24 qt if fully clad. I think it might be, but Tramontia does make both. If you don't need the function of the larger one and cost is an issue, then the smaller one may be a good choice.

This post was edited by lascatx on Wed, Sep 24, 14 at 13:02

Jaynes: the link you provided indicates that the two pots are just base clad (not on the sides). You can get the fully clad pots from Wal-Mart (on-line for home delivery or store pick-up) but only in the 8 and 12 qts, the bigger ones are just base clad. Costco may have the same thing.

Actually, according to the description, only the base is clad on the bigger one. That's what is usual in a stock pot as bringing cladding up the side can result in scorching (like what lascatx describes).

The cladding on the cheaper one looks like the cheaper process where they slap a disk of aluminum and a cover of steel onto the bottom of the pot. The impact bonded triple layer base on the bigger one is supposed to perform better and the process costs more.

The more expensive one also says the handles are riveted with heavy duty non-corrosive caps and the other doesn't specify what kind of rivets. The rivets look beefier in the heavy duty picture.

Other aspects of the more expensive pot may be heavier duty as well. The soft grip handles might be nice in the beginning but are likely to deteriorate over the years. And with such a large pot you are likely to need pot holders anyway. The larger one is built to last - no rubber to deteriorate and no glass to break.

Ugh. I should just stay in bed when I'm sick. Comprehension is escaping me today!

This post was edited by alex9179 on Wed, Sep 24, 14 at 17:10

LOL Been there. Feel better.

I have emailed Tramontina in the past and gotten lucid responses. That approach may answer some of your questions about the difference. They have a stateside headquarters in the Houston area, I believe.

Here is a link that might be useful: To contact the company