Without the kind of serious long-term testing we’re able to do with the Le Creuset and Staub Dutch ovens many of us have owned for years, it’s hard to tell just how durable a Dutch oven’s porcelain enamel will be. But sometimes really cheap enamel will have small chips or pinholes right out of the box. You can also look at customer reviews; most will have at least a few reporting some enamel damage. If it’s a small percentage of reviews, it’s likely a manufacturing defect, but if a disproportionate amount of reviewers complain about chipped or damaged enamel, it’s likely a durability issue.

Enameled cast iron, in theory, is very durable, and the very best Dutch ovens are heirloom-quality pieces that will last at least a lifetime with proper care. If a manufacturer offers only a very short warranty on their enameled cast-iron cookware, it could (though may not always) indicate a lower-quality product.

A Dutch oven’s lid should fit snugly on the pot and not rattle around when you’re carrying it or boiling water in it. That said, it’s normal for some steam to escape from even a heavy tight-fitting lid when water inside is at a rolling boil.

Even when they’re empty, Dutch ovens are pretty heavy—hell, the lids alone are heavy—so the handles should be comfortable to hold with your bare hands. They should also be easy enough to hold or grip while wearing oven mitts.

Dutch ovens can be made of various types of metal or ceramic and they can be enamel-coated or uncoated. For example, Emile Henry makes an enameled clay ceramic Dutch oven and Dansk makes an enameled carbon-steel Dutch oven (er, “casserole”). You can even get high-quality raw cast-iron Dutch ovens from brands like Smithey and Lancaster, but they require seasoning and more maintenance than enameled cast iron.

However, enameled cast-iron Dutch ovens are the most ubiquitous. The cast iron offers incredible heat retention and is compatible with gas, electric, and induction cooktops while the durable porcelain enamel protects the cast iron from rust and corrosion caused by water as well as acidic foods like tomatoes. The enamel also eliminates the need for seasoning.

One of the biggest misconceptions about this kind of cookware is that people think the cooking surface is supposed to be nonstick. It’s not. Porcelain enamel may look like a ceramic nonstick coating, and it’s far easier to clean and care for than raw cast iron, but it is not a nonstick surface. Its purpose is to protect the cast iron underneath. That said, with the right temperature and enough butter or oil, food releases from enamel pretty easily.

Enameled cast iron can withstand high heat as well as freezing temperatures, but you do want to avoid thermoshocking your Dutch oven. For example: Don’t take it from the fridge and put it straight over high heat on your stovetop. And when you’re preheating it, do it slowly over low to medium heat. Sudden temperature changes can cause the enamel to chip and in some cases damage the cast iron itself (up to and including actually cracking it), and this kind of damage will often be grounds for the manufacturer to void the warranty.

Many Dutch oven lids are pocked with divots, which supposedly help to evenly distribute moisture when braising—in theory, kind of basting the meat inside the closed pot. That said, in many years of testing, we haven’t seen any clear evidence of this actually happening.

This large, oval Dutch oven from Great Jones (another DTC cookware brand) is gorgeous. We love the color options, and for a 6.75-quart enameled cast-iron Dutch oven from a popular brand, the sub-$200 price tag is nice too. But, with only one rather large size and the oval shape, it’s not the best option for everyday use—or for induction cooktops with round “burners.” But it’s the perfect size for roasting a whole chicken and large cuts of meat, and the large loop handles are easy to grab with or without oven mitts. Great Jones does offer a smaller round Dutch oven, the Dutch Baby but at 3.5 quarts it’s on the small side of the Dutch oven sweet spot.

Tramontina’s relatively affordable stainless-steel cookware is often compared to All-Clad, so we had high hopes for the Brazilian brand’s 5.5-quart enameled cast-iron Dutch oven too. Out of the box, we liked the tall sides (great for deep-frying), but unfortunately it just didn’t perform well in our testing. Our testers noticed a persistent cold spot that resulted in uneven cooking—and food sticking to the smooth, light interior enamel.

We like Cuisinart’s enameled cast-iron skillet, but the Dutch oven is disappointing. Unlike the skillet, which has a dark, textured interior enamel, the Dutch oven has a smooth, light interior that didn’t perform well in our sear test. We also found multiple cold spots even when it was fully preheated, which produced pork that was unevenly cooked.

In addition to its popular pottery and ceramic tableware, English brand Denby offers a small selection of enameled cast-iron cookware, including several Dutch ovens—which it calls “casseroles.” They’re moderately priced compared to similarly sized Dutch ovens from other well-known brands. When we tested the round 5.5-quart (listed as a 26-cm size) the performance was adequate, but the handles were small and hard to grab, especially when it was hot. And overall, nothing about it wowed us. But if you like the look and it’s within your budget—and you don’t mind the small handles—you may be happy with the Denby Dutch oven.

We love a lot of KitchenAid gear (hello, gorgeous stand mixer!) but in general, we haven’t been that impressed with the brand’s cookware. Either way, the KitchenAid enameled cast-iron Dutch oven didn’t impress us—though we were certainly impressed with its heft. Empty, the 6-quart Dutch oven weighs 20 pounds! That’s the only size available, and it only comes in two colors too.

Over the years, we’ve have tested both Lodge Essentials Dutch ovens and Lodge USA Enamel Dutch ovens, the latter of which is made in a newer manufacturing facility in North America. Unfortunately, not all Lodge cookware is created equally, and even though the USA Enamel line is clearly a much higher quality than the Lodge Essentials enameled cast iron, customers have complained about chipping with both. On the other hand, a colleague has been using a Dutch oven from the USA Enamel line for more than a year and hasn’t experienced any chipping. The issue here seems to be inconsistency in quality, but we’ll continue to use these Dutch ovens to see if the newer lines prove to be more durable.

The first time we tested Misen’s Dutch oven, we really liked it. It’s large and deep, which is great for deep-frying_, and it made a pretty good stockpot too. But then Misen changed some design elements—most notably it did away with the traditional Dutch oven lid and instead offers the choice of either a silicone option or an enameled cast-iron grill pan that can double as a lid (a traditional lid is available on the larger 7-quart model, which, as we’ve said, is bigger than most people need). Both lid alternatives made this less functional and appealing than it was when it had a traditional enameled cast-iron lid with a metal knob. Also: Our testers have experienced some minimal enamel chipping with long-term use.

This 4-quart Dutch oven from Vermicular comes as-is or alongside Vermicular’s Musui-Kamado, a stand-alone induction heating element that holds the pot, sort of like a very high-end, precise slow cooker. The interior enamel is an off-white color and minimally textured to aid in browning and release, but it’s not as textured as the dark interior enamel of the Staub. The rim is left unfinished to provide a “precision seal.” However, this makes it susceptible to rust, and during testing, did not do a better job at sealing in moisture than the Le Creuset and Staub, which do have an enamel coating around the rim. The side handles on the lid were also unnecessary, and made it difficult to grab, especially when removing it from the oven.

This is one of the few cast-iron Dutch ovens without an enamel coating. While this is a beautiful piece of cookware, it’s the sort of thing that only really makes sense for dedicated cast-iron enthusiasts who love to care for and maintenance their cookware.

We’ve found that developing a seasoning on this is quite challenging, and that the type of cooking we generally employ our Dutch ovens for (soups, braises, stews) tends to hinder the process. While Smithey recommends a just cook with it method for developing the seasoning, and also claims that it’s fine to use when making soups or acidic braises. However, we found that tomato sauce stripped the seasoning and developed a metallic taste. A really robust seasoning would potentially withstand this, but you’d need to do several rounds of seasoning on your own, and with a big pot like this, it’s not an easy task.

We also found that the cast-iron lid is prone to rust spots. This is because (if you’re primarily cooking on the stove top with your Dutch oven) the lid never gets hot enough as has no direct contact with fat which means that it will not develop a seasoning as you cook with it. This is a problem especially as moisture condenses on the interior of the lid while cooking.

All in all, having this sort of Dutch oven is a labor of love. If you do a lot of deep-frying, or cooking on open fires, or just really like to season cast-iron as a hobby. you might be able to tame this beast. If you’re just looking for a regular shmegular Dutch oven, we’d advise against it.

Price isn’t always indicative of quality. In the case of this $100, 6-quart enameled cast-iron Dutch oven from Marquette Castings, it is. In our testing, the sear was uneven and scorched in some places. The metal knob was also uncomfortable to hold so this one was a hard pass.