Pot capacity by job and household
Quick answer
The capacity each cooking job needs once headroom is accounted for, from pasta water to frying oil. There are 40 tables in this set, each one worked through for a specific combination rather than described in general terms.
- Cookware
Pot size for pasta for 1
Pasta for 1 means about 0.25 lb of dry pasta, which comes to 1 quarts of contents. Allowing for headroom so it cannot boil over, buy a 2 qua...
- Cookware
Pot size for pasta for 2
Pasta for 2 means about 0.5 lb of dry pasta, which comes to 2 quarts of contents. Allowing for headroom so it cannot boil over, buy a 3 quar...
- Cookware
Pot size for pasta for 3
Pasta for 3 means about 0.75 lb of dry pasta, which comes to 3 quarts of contents. Allowing for headroom so it cannot boil over, buy a 5 qua...
- Cookware
Pot size for pasta for 4
Pasta for 4 means about 1 lb of dry pasta, which comes to 4 quarts of contents. Allowing for headroom so it cannot boil over, buy a 6 quart ...
- Cookware
Pot size for pasta for 5
Pasta for 5 means about 1.25 lb of dry pasta, which comes to 5 quarts of contents. Allowing for headroom so it cannot boil over, buy a 8 qua...
- Cookware
Pot size for pasta for 6
Pasta for 6 means about 1.5 lb of dry pasta, which comes to 6 quarts of contents. Allowing for headroom so it cannot boil over, buy a 12 qua...
- Cookware
Pot size for pasta for 7
Pasta for 7 means about 1.75 lb of dry pasta, which comes to 7 quarts of contents. Allowing for headroom so it cannot boil over, buy a 12 qu...
- Cookware
Pot size for pasta for 8
Pasta for 8 means about 2 lb of dry pasta, which comes to 8 quarts of contents. Allowing for headroom so it cannot boil over, buy a 12 quart...
- Cookware
Pot size for soup for 1
Soup for 1 means about 1.5 quarts of finished soup, which comes to 1.5 quarts of contents. Allowing for headroom so it cannot boil over, buy...
- Cookware
Pot size for soup for 2
Soup for 2 means about 3 quarts of finished soup, which comes to 3 quarts of contents. Allowing for headroom so it cannot boil over, buy a 5...
- Cookware
Pot size for soup for 3
Soup for 3 means about 4.5 quarts of finished soup, which comes to 4.5 quarts of contents. Allowing for headroom so it cannot boil over, buy...
- Cookware
Pot size for soup for 4
Soup for 4 means about 6 quarts of finished soup, which comes to 6 quarts of contents. Allowing for headroom so it cannot boil over, buy a 1...
- Cookware
Pot size for soup for 5
Soup for 5 means about 7.5 quarts of finished soup, which comes to 7.5 quarts of contents. Allowing for headroom so it cannot boil over, buy...
- Cookware
Pot size for soup for 6
Soup for 6 means about 9 quarts of finished soup, which comes to 9 quarts of contents. Allowing for headroom so it cannot boil over, buy a 1...
- Cookware
Pot size for soup for 7
Soup for 7 means about 10.5 quarts of finished soup, which comes to 10.5 quarts of contents. Allowing for headroom so it cannot boil over, b...
- Cookware
Pot size for soup for 8
Soup for 8 means about 12 quarts of finished soup, which comes to 12 quarts of contents. Allowing for headroom so it cannot boil over, buy a...
- Cookware
Pot size for a braise for 1
A braise for 1 means about 1.25 quarts of finished braise, which comes to 1.3 quarts of contents. Allowing for headroom so it cannot boil ov...
- Cookware
Pot size for a braise for 2
A braise for 2 means about 2.5 quarts of finished braise, which comes to 2.5 quarts of contents. Allowing for headroom so it cannot boil ove...
- Cookware
Pot size for a braise for 3
A braise for 3 means about 3.75 quarts of finished braise, which comes to 3.8 quarts of contents. Allowing for headroom so it cannot boil ov...
- Cookware
Pot size for a braise for 4
A braise for 4 means about 5 quarts of finished braise, which comes to 5 quarts of contents. Allowing for headroom so it cannot boil over, b...
- Cookware
Pot size for a braise for 5
A braise for 5 means about 6.25 quarts of finished braise, which comes to 6.3 quarts of contents. Allowing for headroom so it cannot boil ov...
- Cookware
Pot size for a braise for 6
A braise for 6 means about 7.5 quarts of finished braise, which comes to 7.5 quarts of contents. Allowing for headroom so it cannot boil ove...
- Cookware
Pot size for a braise for 7
A braise for 7 means about 8.75 quarts of finished braise, which comes to 8.8 quarts of contents. Allowing for headroom so it cannot boil ov...
- Cookware
Pot size for a braise for 8
A braise for 8 means about 10 quarts of finished braise, which comes to 10 quarts of contents. Allowing for headroom so it cannot boil over,...
- Cookware
Pot size for stock for 1
Stock for 1 means about 2 quarts of finished stock, which comes to 2 quarts of contents. Allowing for headroom so it cannot boil over, buy a...
- Cookware
Pot size for stock for 2
Stock for 2 means about 4 quarts of finished stock, which comes to 4 quarts of contents. Allowing for headroom so it cannot boil over, buy a...
- Cookware
Pot size for stock for 3
Stock for 3 means about 6 quarts of finished stock, which comes to 6 quarts of contents. Allowing for headroom so it cannot boil over, buy a...
- Cookware
Pot size for stock for 4
Stock for 4 means about 8 quarts of finished stock, which comes to 8 quarts of contents. Allowing for headroom so it cannot boil over, buy a...
- Cookware
Pot size for stock for 5
Stock for 5 means about 10 quarts of finished stock, which comes to 10 quarts of contents. Allowing for headroom so it cannot boil over, buy...
- Cookware
Pot size for stock for 6
Stock for 6 means about 12 quarts of finished stock, which comes to 12 quarts of contents. Allowing for headroom so it cannot boil over, buy...
- Cookware
Pot size for stock for 7
Stock for 7 means about 14 quarts of finished stock, which comes to 14 quarts of contents. Allowing for headroom so it cannot boil over, buy...
- Cookware
Pot size for stock for 8
Stock for 8 means about 16 quarts of finished stock, which comes to 16 quarts of contents. Allowing for headroom so it cannot boil over, buy...
- Cookware
Pot size for deep frying for 1
Deep frying for 1 means about 0.5 quarts of oil, which comes to 0.5 quarts of contents. Allowing for headroom so it cannot boil over, buy a ...
- Cookware
Pot size for deep frying for 2
Deep frying for 2 means about 1 quarts of oil, which comes to 1 quarts of contents. Allowing for headroom so it cannot boil over, buy a 3 qu...
- Cookware
Pot size for deep frying for 3
Deep frying for 3 means about 1.5 quarts of oil, which comes to 1.5 quarts of contents. Allowing for headroom so it cannot boil over, buy a ...
- Cookware
Pot size for deep frying for 4
Deep frying for 4 means about 2 quarts of oil, which comes to 2 quarts of contents. Allowing for headroom so it cannot boil over, buy a 5 qu...
- Cookware
Pot size for deep frying for 5
Deep frying for 5 means about 2.5 quarts of oil, which comes to 2.5 quarts of contents. Allowing for headroom so it cannot boil over, buy a ...
- Cookware
Pot size for deep frying for 6
Deep frying for 6 means about 3 quarts of oil, which comes to 3 quarts of contents. Allowing for headroom so it cannot boil over, buy a 8 qu...
- Cookware
Pot size for deep frying for 7
Deep frying for 7 means about 3.5 quarts of oil, which comes to 3.5 quarts of contents. Allowing for headroom so it cannot boil over, buy a ...
- Cookware
Pot size for deep frying for 8
Deep frying for 8 means about 4 quarts of oil, which comes to 4 quarts of contents. Allowing for headroom so it cannot boil over, buy a 12 q...
Common questions
Where do these figures come from?
Every number on these pages is calculated from the same material properties and published manufacturer specifications that the calculators use, so the two can never disagree. Each page is labelled as resting on either a published standard or a kitchen convention, and where no defensible figure exists the page says so rather than inventing one.
Why are there so many of these pages?
Because the useful answer is almost always specific. A page that tells you what size pan four seared portions need is far more useful than a page about pan sizing in general, and there are genuinely that many combinations worth working through. Each one carries its own worked table rather than a generic one.
Are the prices on these pages current?
Product prices come from live retailer data at build time and they move constantly, which is why every product card carries that warning rather than presenting a figure as fixed. The calculated figures, meaning areas, capacities, temperatures and hardness, do not change.