Lodge 10.25-inch Cast Iron Skillet review: everyday cooking

Useful everyday cooking, from two publications and owners

Worthivo recommends the Lodge Classic 10.25-inch skillet for ordinary cast-iron cooking: frying, searing and oven dishes. A July 2020 review on minhandtim.com, written after a few months with this skillet, describes useful cooking and a pan that holds its heat. Good Housekeeping's test of this size, published in November 2024, reports successful browning and oven dishes. [5] [6]

Pseudonymous Amazon owners point the same way. One owner who wrote in January 2018 added an update after three months: following several extra rounds of seasoning, burgers and bacon cooked well, though some residue remained. Another wrote in September 2026 that the factory seasoning was a useful surface from the start, and that food released well when the pan was preheated with oil or butter. [8] [9]

Both publications carry shopping links to this skillet: Good Housekeeping's are affiliate links, and minhandtim.com's Amazon links come with an associate disclosure. The two Amazon owners showed no sales link or incentive disclosure, so the favourable case does not rest on the publications alone. Nor are the publications uncritical: in Good Housekeeping's test, an egg fried without fat needed force before it released. Useful cooking and imperfect release belong in the same picture. [5] [6] [8] [9]

Seasoning, sticking, bowed and broken pans: what owners reported

Lodge sells the pan seasoned and ready to cook, so that surface is part of what you buy. Pseudonymous owners on two sites said it fell short. An r/castiron owner wrote in April 2021 that the seasoning was still uneven after about six months; Amazon owners in August and September 2026 described a poorly seasoned surface and seasoning efforts that failed. The January 2018 Amazon owner above had food sticking at first, before those extra rounds of seasoning. In June 2026 another Amazon owner wrote that burgers and eggs stuck despite oil, that the pan rusted, and that a smoke-alarm concern in their apartment ruled out reseasoning it in the oven. [1] [7] [17] [16] [8] [15]

Two owners described problems with the pan itself. On r/castiron in October 2023, an owner wrote that a brand-new 10.25-inch Lodge had a raised centre that made oil pool, present from the box and still there when heated; other replies in the thread describe similar or flat pans, but not clearly of this size. On Amazon in October 2026, an owner wrote that the skillet arrived with a broken handle, and reported rust and peeling. [10] [18]

Why still Recommended? These reports mean you should not count on easy release from the first meal, and Worthivo does not put them down to user error. But they describe different things. The six-month forum owner wrote about how the seasoning looked, not about food sticking, and the Amazon owner whose seasoning efforts failed still liked the skillet otherwise. The two direct sticking reports, from the January 2018 and June 2026 owners, both come from one Amazon listing, not separate sites. The bowed pan and the broken handle are separate problems, one owner each. Against them stand two publications and owners describing useful cooking, some over months. The recommendation rests on that cooking evidence, not on a buyer reseasoning the pan. [7] [16] [8] [15] [10] [18] [5] [6]

A heavy pan, a hot handle and a regular care routine

Lodge gives the weight as 5.66 pounds, before food. The July 2020 review describes the handle getting hot, and the September 2026 Amazon owner called the skillet heavy. The long handle and helper handle are useful, but they do not make a full pan light or the handle cool. If you need light cookware or a cool handle, skip this design. [1] [5] [9]

Lodge's beginner guide, dated May 17, 2022, sets out the routine: preheat, cook with fat, clean, dry and oil lightly. Its warranty for seasoned cast iron covers qualifying defects but excludes rust, roughness, sticky seasoning, flaking and misuse, and its returns page lists the support routes. These are terms, not a remedy for disappointing seasoning. If you want a pan for the dishwasher, for soaking or for putting away without drying and oiling, choose a different kind of pan. [11] [12] [13]

Which skillet this verdict covers

This verdict covers the classic 10.25-inch Lodge, model L8SK3, sold on Amazon US as B00006JSUA. The Amazon listing gives model L8SK3PLT and UPC 075536300801. A Lodge product table dated January 31, 2022 and the current Abt listing match that UPC to the L8SK3 in this size, and Lodge's own page gives the same size and dimensions. [2] [3] [4] [1]

The accounts behind this verdict date from January 2018 to October 2026, and the Amazon ones come from the US listing. The longest ownership they describe is about six months, in the April 2021 forum post. Longer-running accounts of other Lodge sizes describe different pans, so they do not count here. [7] [5] [8] [9] [18]

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission's recall and warning listings, searched on October 17, 2026, showed none for the L8SK3; the Lodge results concerned unrelated products. The publications and owners examined describe varied cooking, use beyond first impressions and real dissent, and nothing in them shows the attention being manufactured. [14] [5] [7] [8] [9]