I put my IKEA's new $35 cast iron pan head-to-head with my Lodge skillet — there was a clear winner

It's not very often that I compare an IKEA product to a cheaper alternative, but when the budget homeware brand came out with a cast iron frying pan, it was only right to put it head-to-head against the best cast iron skillet I've tested, and that comes from Lodge.

Lodge's 10.25-inch Seasoned Cast Iron Skillet costs just $25, whereas the new IKEA VARDAGEN Cast Iron Frying Pan will set you back $35. But which is better?

A cast iron pan is the biggest daily driver in my kitchen, so I've given both the new IKEA VARDAGEN Cast Iron Frying Pan and the Lodge Skillet a good few weeks of daily use. Here's why IKEA's new cast iron pan is good, but not good enough to oust Lodge.

Design

All cast iron skillets look broadly similar, but the likeness between IKEA and Lodge is uncanny. Both have two handles, making them easy to take in and out of the oven, and both have a double-sided pouring spout and deep sides, which is ideal for baking as well as frying.

The main difference is that IKEA's VARDAGEN is 11-inches wide, compared to Lodge's 10.25 inches (although you should note, Lodge makes skillets in a whole range of sizes) and the IKEA has a much longer handle. The VARDAGEN's handle is 10 inches, compared to Lodge's 4.8 inches. On a specs level, there's nothing to make one pan better than the other. It depends on your preferred look and user case.

Overall, the Lodge has a more 'All-American' vibe, whereas IKEA's pan has a more minimalist, Scandi vibe. Which makes sense!

Cooking

The key to getting the most out of your cast iron skillet is to ensure it's well-seasoned, and to pre-heat it before every use. While they're capable of cooking at very high heats, I rarely turn my gas stove above the halfway point when cooking with cast iron. Because the material retains heat so well, you don't need to blast it with fire to get a perfectly even result. That is, if it's a good pan.

I'll address the obvious disadvantage here: my Lodge pan is my daily go-to, and that means I've been using it and building up its seasoning for nearly a year. I will say though, it arrived with a very impressive pre-seasoning, meaning it was ready to go from my first use.

IKEA's VARDAGEN does also come pre-seasoned, but I gave it a helping hand by using it a few times and re-seasoning in the oven between uses. So, not 100% on equal footing, but both should be more than capable of cooking up some tasty meals.

You can see in the photo above that I cooked eggs and bacon in both pans, testing how well they were able to sear bacon and cook up a tasty fried egg without sticking. The Lodge is pictured on the left and IKEA on the right.

One advantage of the IKEA over the Lodge pan was its long handle. This meant I was able to hold onto the edge of the handle with my bare hand while I took a spatula to my egg and stirred sauces. In the Lodge pan, that's simply not an option due to its much shorter handle, which gets too hot to touch without oven mitts.

While both pans did a good job, the Lodge was a clear winner for me. My egg didn't stick, and got nice and crispy on the base, whereas I did need to handle my egg and bacon more carefully in the IKEA pan, and despite giving it the exact same pre-heat, I found that the bacon took longer to crisp up, suggesting that the IKEA pan didn't retain heat as well as the Lodge pan.

Winner: Lodge

Cleaning

Although I've been using it for over a year, I can still remember how easy the Lodge skillet was to use from the very first day I tested it. Its seasoning is incredibly robust and forgiving, making it ideal for beginners. It's a true workhorse in my kitchen, and even when I mistreat it by not drying it off immediately after cleaning, or cooking acidic sauces for a prolonged period of time, it still bounces back with some TLC.

IKEA's VARDAGEN is also forgiving, and its pre-seasoning is also thorough enough that you won't need to give it any special treatment. But it's just not quite as hard-wearing as the Lodge. Put it this way — I'd trust my partner to clean the Lodge pan, but I'd want to clean up the VARDAGEN myself, just to make sure nothing goes wrong.

Winner: Lodge

Verdict

If the IKEA VARDAGEN was significantly cheaper than the Lodge cast iron skillet, I'd be a bit less decisive in my rankings. But considering it's actually $10 more expensive, less forgiving to use and didn't outpace the Lodge on my cooking tests, I think this is a clear-cut case. Buy your bookcase from IKEA, and buy your cast iron from Lodge.

I do admire IKEA's 15-year warranty, which shows that it's willing to back its new cast iron range, and I also prefer the longer handle and more minimalist aesthetics. By no means is this a bad pan, it's just less brilliant than my favorite skillet.

Follow Tom's Guide on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds.

More from Tom's Guide

• IKEA unveils the Klippfisk — an Always Pan rival for a fraction of the price
• I just tried Ikea’s portable induction cooktop — 5 things I like (and 1 I don't)
• IKEA’s new countertop organizer is a game-changer for small kitchens — and it’s just $7