Calphalon Commercial Hard-Anodized 6-1/2-Quart Saucepot with Pasta Insert

There are two disadvantages:

1. The 6 1/2 qt. size is barely sufficient for 16 oz of macaroni. An 8 qt. pot with insert would've been better. I know Calphalon has an 8 qt. stock pot and an 8 qt. insert, but they don't appear to offer these packaged together, making a set prohibitively expensive.

2. Contrary to what Top 100 Reviewer Michela says above, the stainless steel insert does get hot, and you can burn your hands on the insert handles if you're not using towels or mitts.

Water, aluminum, and stainless steel are fairly good conductors of heat, so all of the elements of this set get hot (which is what you want) EXCEPT for the silverstone handles on the stock pot.

I have mixed feelings about using an insert. You usually have to dispose of the macaroni cooking water anyway, so dumping the entire contents of the pot into a colander makes sense, rendering unnecessary the insert.

Also, if you sauce your macaroni in the pot in the traditional Italian fashion, you're not going to want the water in there, again eliminating the need for an insert.

Alton Brown makes a good point in his new book about getting the biggest pot for making macaroni that you can fit in a cabinet. He suggests going with a cheap aluminum job from a restaurant supply store, because you want it to be as light as possible when filled with water and macaroni.

As other reviewers have noted, 6.5 quarts is sufficient for 16 oz of macaroni or less. If you routinely need to cook more than a pound, you're going to need a much bigger pot.

I have a monster 16 qt. Farberware stainless steel stock pot for times like this. It may not be quite as light as Alton Brown's suggested non-anodized aluminum restaurant supply store model, but it will hold up better over the long term and probably didn't cost too much more.