Just my two cents here....but what is so difficult about cast iron?  The "hard" part I guess is the first seasoning for a brand new pan, but that takes the i.q. of a squirrel.  Most come pre-seasoned nowadays anyway.  Just keep cooking and it gets better!  Wipe it out when your done, oil lightly w/ olive oil and you're ready to go next time.  If you burn stuff, don't be afraid to scrub it out - it won't the hurt the pan at all.  Re-oil after.

These pans wear like....well - iron!  My great aunt had some from her mom.  WAY better than non-stick.  Unless you dunk the whole thing in cold water when it's really hot (something you wouldn't do with any pan) they won't warp, don't ever go bad - even rust will scrub out and then you reseason - and are the ultimate in heirloom durability.

They say they use more energy to cook with, but since they hold more heat (which means less escapes) they actually are about the same as other pans IF you turn off the heat before you take the food out.  You put all the heat into the pan, simply use it.  It's not as tricky as it sounds.  Also, you can use a much lower heat setting.

I have the 12" Cuisinart "green" non-stick.
It sticks, burns, and may not even be green.

I've had mine for about 6 months.  It worked for a  month or so, then started developing "sticky" spots, where eggs would stick during cooking.

The pan is not very non-stick at all anymore, regardless of the amount of fat I put in.

Avoid it, get stainless or cast iron.

Yes, iron is so easy I can't understand how Teflon ever caught on.  And it doesn't take water to clean, which is even better for the environment.  Also, for those of us who are vegetarian, it gives us much-needed iron supplements!

In terms of the reduce-reuse-recycle trinity, you can get old cast iron that's just as good as new, and cheaper.  I got a skillet at an antique store this summer that was ridiculously cheap and had been refurbished and pre-seasoned.  

As for baking dishes, I prefer Bennington Pottery ware.  Not only is it tough and safe, it's also beautiful and distribues heat better than other bread pans or pie plates.

I have two cast iron pans (well, one is a griddle).  The actual pan I got from my dad, and is older than I am.  I'll probably be able to hand it down to my kids and so forth (or they may have to pry it out of my cold dead hands.. so to speak).  The griddle is a more recent purchase, due to wanting to cook more than one pancake at a time.

The lovely thing about cast iron pans (imo) is the way they radiate heat.  A good pan will spread the heat out evenly, cooking your food perfectly (this is especially important for pancakes).  I don't get the same even temperature out of my wok pan or my stew pots (respectively made of non-stick aluminum and steel).

As other mentioned, seasoning them isn't that big of a deal.  Don't was with soap, and especially don't use detergent on it, and your pan won't need to be seasoned very often.

But the biggest thing is to get pans that will last a good long time.  After all the first R is reduce.

so, my wife and i received nonstick calphalon pots and pans for a wedding gift a few years ago.  should we stop using them for health reasons and try to phase in alternative material versions?  any advice is appreciated...

Nothing better than cast iron. Look in thrift stores. Cheap. Last forever.

I did have a couple of cast iron pans, back in the day.. too many roommates leaving them in the sink, scrubbing them with Brillo, throwing knives on top of them... yes, they were a pain in the butt.  I left them in an apartment somewhere along the way. I'm sure now that I'm older and don't live with a revolving set of 20-year-olds, they would be easier to maintain but I've never found out, since I bought my Chantal (enamelware) pan set.

Nearly 20 years ago I convinced my Mom to split the cost of a set of Chantal pots & pans with me as a birthday present.  (At the time she thought I was crazy to be spending so much money on pots & pans when I was just out of college and starving at my first 'real' job.  Shortly thereafter, she went out and bought a set for herself!) These pans have been tried & true, and are still going strong.  They are not non-stick, but things slide off enamel much easier than they do off of stainless steel (although stainless does a better job at browning meat, IMO) and other than the rims being a little dented (from my bad habit of banging wooden spoons and such on the side of the pan) they are in nearly the same condition as 20 years ago.  I'm sure they will be about the same 20 years from now.

My fiance has a set of Caphalon pans that he used before we moved in together. They now reside in our garage.

Did Umbra not go into enamel or did I just miss it somehow?  I know some chef-type folks who swear by Le Creuset-type cookware and I'm curious about the safety of it...

The price of brand name enameled cast iron has always given me pause: a Le Creuset dutch oven costs $200 or more.  The last time I went to Ikea, I discovered their very own enameled oval dutch oven for about $70... and made in France, to boot!

The secret to maintaining cast iron cookware is to obtain a bamboo cleaning brush at an asian supermarket. Once you are done cooking an item a splash of water and immediate application of the bamboo brush will take off almost anything you've managed to char to the pan.

Follow with a quick rinse of hot water, return briefly to the flame and let cool and it's done. I'm 43 and I've been using the same cast iron pans that my mother raised me with. The 40 year-old pans are better than the new pans as the years of patina are incomparable as a cooking surface.

btw- For those disasters where roomates or well meaning guests use detergent on your pans a visit to the interior of the wood stove for a HOT fire will return your pan's virginity. The bottom of a bonfire works well in a pinch also.

I was thrilled to see so many suggestions for cast iron in the comments. I use cast iron almost exclusively for everything from braising to broiling. One of the most convenient uses is to use your pan to defrost. The iron conducts ambient heat very well, so put whatever it is you need thawed on the pan. It will thaw out much quicker than if you just placed it in a bowl on the counter and uses a lot less energy than the microwave.

Last but not least, a little trick I learned at work. If you have a gas range with a pilot, you can melt butter by just placing it in a skillet over the pilot. Prep the rest of your things, and the iron will pick up the small amount of heat coming off the pilot leaving you with melted but not hot butter.