Why I don’t stack hot pans in the sink

After supper the hot pans fly into the sink in a stack “to soak”. Easy: the metal warps from the sudden cold, the base buckles, steam hits the face, the lower lid scratches the upper. I leave the pans to cool on the switched-off hob or on a stand — and only then wash them one by one, not in a sink stack.

Why I don’t stack hot pans in the sink. Frying oil goes into a jar, not the drain; a wooden spoon does not soak in a puddle; hot glass does not sit on a wet cloth; an empty pan heats before the oil. Here it is only hot metal after the hob: cooled apart, not stacked in the sink — not a speech about a new set of pans from the aisle.

If I already dropped a hot one into cold water — I take it out, let it reach warm, wash without a scourer on a warped base. I’m not choosing a new “unbreakable” pan in this note — only the ones already by our hob.

I don’t need to save a minute at the cost of a warped base. I need cooled pans and a quiet wash. In your kitchen do hot pans cool on the hob — or already stack in the sink?