Our Place Is Having Its Biggest Black Friday Ever – Here’s What To Get

Prior to today, the OPCU (Our Place Cinematic Universe) primarily set the scene around its fan-favourite cookware, the Always Pan, while occasionally sprinkling in some other quality kitchen essentials: knife and cutting board sets, bamboo steamers, drinkware sets etc. But for the first time since debuting in 2019, Our Place's beloved Always Pan has a successor: the Perfect Pot, currently on sale for £40 less in honour of Black Friday. For £100, the new non-stick and non-toxic ceramic dish (dipped in nine super Instagrammable colours) serves as a stockpot, Dutch oven, sauce pot, roasting rack, steamer, bread pot, braiser and spoon rest. Even better? The brand's 45% discount for Black Friday extends to all of its cookware offerings — yes, that includes the Always Pan and the Oven Pan.

According to Our Place's site, this do-it-all dish should give you the creative freedom to boil, crisp, bake, braise, roast, steam, strain, store, serve, pour and steep whatever your stomach is in the mood for. Sound familiar? Essentially, if you're a fan of the Always Pan's ingenuity, we have an inkling that you'll get a kick out of its fresh-out-of-the-oven younger sibling. Read on for all you need to know about what makes this pot so perfect, including reviews from R29's very own Shopping team, coming to a computer screen near you.

The Perfect Pot is a larger-than-life, Dutch oven-adjacent cookware that covers your basic cooking needs. Its main selling points are its lightweight stature (2kg), aesthetic appeal and, unlike the Always Pan, you can pop this guy in the oven up to 215 degrees Celsius. Once you buy, you receive the pot, a beechwood spoon, a biodegradable sponge and a roasting rack. Rather than including a strainer similar to the one that comes with the pan, the Perfect Pot is equipped with built-in side vents that get the same job done.

You can tackle anything from chicken roasts to hearty lentil soups, one-pot pasta ensembles and roasted veggies. If you're looking at your Always Pan and wondering if you really need to add this pot to your cabinet, ask yourself if you want the option to bake mac and cheese in the oven, boil up to 5.2 litres of water and feed your entire family with one dish, besides more endless kitchen possibilities.

"I'm an everyday type of home cook (specialising in breakfast and dinner) who loves a good one-pan meal that can be served up and enjoyed in a bowl on the couch. Easy cleanup is key for me when I’m doing my thing in the kitchen. I already own two Always Pans (Spice and Heat colourways), which I use just about every day to make my eggs in the morning — their non-stick abilities are unparalleled and they really do look very nice left out on the stovetop — so I was pretty amped up to try out the Perfect Pot.

My first out-of-the-box impressions were that it’s super lightweight compared to the Always Pan! Although I’m an AP stan, I do feel that the piece can be a bit heavy and cumbersome inside a tight kitchen space. The Perfect Pot, in comparison, is a cute compact size that’s surprisingly un-hefty. The Blue Salt colourway is so beautiful in person — it may be my new stovetop spotlight favourite (sorry, Heat).

Over the weekend I made two meals in my Perfect Pot. The first was a tomato and mozzarella pasta salad and the second (pictured above) was an oven-roasted chicken dish. Normally, for these types of meals, I would use my Le Creuset Dutch oven — which is an extremely heavy-duty pot — but, in happy contrast, the Perfect Pot did my Dutch oven’s job just as well while being so much easier to handle. Boiling water was a breeze instead of a lugging struggle to and from the sink. Moving it to and from the oven was similarly breezy during my chicken-roasting feat — it's important to note here that the Always Pan CANNOT be put in the oven (I made that sad mistake with a very limited-edition lavender hue).

Cleanup, as with the Always Pan, was no sweat for both dishes; the hardened cheese from the pasta and crusted chicken grease scrubbed right off with minimal effort and zero residues left behind. I highly recommend this pot to anyone looking for a more compact, lightweight, and stylish alternative to…well…just about any other option out there. It’s a yes for me! Although, I would like to petition its renaming to the 'Everything Pot.'” – Elizabeth Buxton, Deputy Editor

"This is my very first and only Our Place product and this may be a pathetic thing to admit but I never cook. It doesn't really bring me joy and I find it to be a chore (and bore). Plus, I hate the clean-up that's required afterwards and actively try to avoid doing it.

My first thoughts were, 'Woah, this Pot is HUGE!' and 'Where is it gonna live within my limited NYC cabinet space?' (reader, I made it work, but barely). Next, I was taken aback by all the thoughtful details and accoutrements — like the steamer rack with silicone legs, the wooden spoon with ridges, the scrubbing sponge, and the indent spout for where the spoon chills AND where you can easily pour out liquids.

For my first trick, I made a sophisticated meal of salmon and green beans using the steamer rack. I poured some water in, brought it to a boil, placed all the stuff directly on top of the non-stick rack, covered it, and let it do its thing. In no time the fish was cooked to a perfect medium and the string beans had a perfect bite. It was so easy — I was feeling like Alison Roman over here. One thing to note is that the Pot gets SUPER hot and it stays that way for a while, so if you have food chilling in there but it's off the heat, it WILL keep cooking. Also, don't accidentally burn yourself! But all-in-all, clean-up was a breeze because of the non-stick finish (thank goodness). And although I DID have to entirely clear out my small sink to accommodate for the Pot (file under: NYC apartment problems), the actual washing of the Pot didn't take too long.

Overall I'm very pleased with this Pot — it's the kind of product that makes me wanna host a three-bean chili dinner party or something. I would absolutely recommend this Pot to friends who love to cook, or (as a tip) would suggest my engaged pals put this Pot on their wedding registry." — Jinnie Lee, Freelance Affiliate Writer

"I have the Always Pan in the green colour (Sage) and I cook a lot, at least five to six times a week.

At first glance, it’s much larger than I thought it would be, but it has a nice look and feel. It’s also a bit heavy, but the Always Pan is pretty weighty, so that’s something I expected. I didn’t realise it came with a roasting rack. If I ate meat and roasted full chickens or something, I feel like this accessory would be pretty useful. But I’m not sure how much use I’ll get out of it since I’m just a roasted veggie girl. I do also appreciate that it comes with a wooden spoon. It’s more of a classic spoon shape compared to the wooden spatula that comes with the Always Pan. You can never have too many wooden kitchen utensils!

Since the Perfect Pot is pretty big (definitely not something to use for just a single serving of food), I decided to make a lentil chilli. It was a joy to cook with and super easy to clean. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes to cook soups, stews, etc." — Kate Spencer, Creative & Updates Editor

"I have the Always Pan, the bamboo Spruce steamer attachment, the Fully Prepped Knife + Cutting Board bundle from Our Place, and now I also have the Perfect Pot. Despite having a kitchen decked out with Our Place products, I give myself a six out of 10 on the home cook scale. I whip something up at home every once in a while to survive and save money, but I almost always cave and order delivery. That being said, I think I make good food when I get serious. 

My Perfect Pot (or as my mother likes to call it, “The Everything Pot”) arrived at my doorstep and it had the signature sustainable, aesthetically pleasing Our Place packaging — all cardboard, no plastic, and lots of info packets + a free sponge. The Pot truly is huge, but if I needed to I could throw it like a baseball. It is so lightweight and I can pick it up with one hand with no problem. The outside coating is exactly like the Always Pan and BONUS! Their lids are interchangeable. Meaning, if you want to use the Perfect Pot’s built-in strainer lid on your Always Pan, you can. 

To test it out, I went with my ol’ reliable one-pot rigatoni, sausage, and veggie pasta dish that usually sustains me for about three days. One thing that surprised me: I actually like the size. I live alone and my kitchen is practically non-existent so it is kind of in the way, but I can make enough pasta in this single dish to last me for at least four days.  My other small cookware appliances just don’t have the range. 

Making the pasta was a breeze, sizzling the Italian sausage and sauteeing the spinach was great as well. The real kicker was when I went to pour the leftovers into my Tupperware and it was like a slip-and-slide. The non-stick is no joke.

All in all, I would gift this to someone with a family to feed before gifting it to a young professional in their 20s, BUT I am very happy that this pot is now a part of my collection. Calling all meal-preppers and big-portion-lovers, this pot is probably perfect for you." — Alexandra Polk, Associate Lifestyle Writer