Why We Chose Enamel

So here at Seed & Sprout HQ, our product team have been flirting with the idea of baking trays for quite some time now. We've kind of gone deep on which direction to go in (and we mean deep!). It's taken years in fact. And here's what we've found and why we're going with enamel as the material for our first ever (coming soon!) bakeware...

Every Tray Claims to Be the Answer

Before we landed on enamel, we went through pretty much everything else first.

• Aluminium heats up fast and evenly, which is great, but it warps under high heat and reacts with anything acidic, so your tomato bake can end up with a faint metallic edge.
• Anodised aluminium fixes some of that with a sealed surface, at a higher price.
• Stainless steel won't rust or warp but heats less evenly, so you end up with hot spots and a heavier tray.
• Carbon steel develops its own natural non-stick patina over time, the way cast iron does, but it needs seasoning and a bit of ongoing care to keep rust at bay.
• Glass is easy to see your browning through and won't react with anything, but it's heavier again and a sudden temperature change can crack it.
• Silicone is light, flexible and easy to clean, but it needs a rigid tray underneath for support in the oven and it won't brown food the way metal does.
• Cast iron holds heat beautifully and gets more non-stick with age, but it's a genuine workout to lift out of the oven.
• Then there's the non-stick family. Standard non-stick coatings work well for a while, until they don't. Ceramic-coated trays get marketed as the greener option, PFOA and PFAS free, but they chip more easily than the coatings they're replacing.

None of these were quite it. What we landed on was enamel, a vitreous coating fused onto steel, made to go the distance rather than the year.

The Trouble With So-Called Non Toxic Bakeware

Most standard baking trays rely on a polymer coating to stop things sticking. It works well at first. Then the scratches start, the coating thins, and eventually it flakes into your food or the bin. None of that is a great outcome for your roast vegetables or the planet.

We wanted non-toxic baking trays that didn't come with an expiry date built in. Something that could go from freezer to oven to table without a slow countdown to replacement.

The Enamel Cookware Benefits That Actually Matter

Our enamelware is crafted with a durable vitreous enamel coating fused to steel at high temperature, around 780–850°C. During firing, the glass forms a true bond with the metal rather than sitting on top the way a non-stick layer does, so unlike non-stick coatings, it won't peel. It's also non-porous, so it won't hold onto old garlic smells or last week's curry stains.

This is where most of the enamel cookware benefits actually come from. It handles high oven heat with ease, up to 250°C, cleans up without a fight, and simply lasts. A hard enough knock can still chip it (enamel is glass, after all), and once a chip exposes the steel underneath, that's the point to retire the piece rather than keep using it for food. But under normal home use, that's a long way off, and there's no built-in countdown the way there is with a coated tray.

The enamel itself uses frit and pigment sourced from Italy, a country with a long industrial history in vitreous enamel production, so it's not a shortcut version of the real thing. It also comes in enough finishes to make the retro-kitchen crowd happy, though we'll admit that's a bonus, not the reason it made the cut.

Worth being upfront about too: enamel is heavier than an aluminium tray, and it sits at a higher price point. That's less about the coating itself and more about what's underneath it. You're paying for steel that isn't trying to be replaced next year.

Why It's Safe to Trust With Your Food

It's non-reactive, which means it won't leach into food while it's intact, and it's why something acidic like a tomato sauce or a jar of pickles can go straight in without a second thought. Our enamel is manufactured to meet food-contact safety regulations, including restrictions on lead, cadmium, mercury, and chromium VI, and every piece is tested to a 20-cycle dishwasher standard before it's approved. The one condition worth remembering is that a chipped or cracked piece shouldn't go back into food use, since that exposes the steel underneath.

If you're wondering how it compares to ceramic, the two aren't the same thing. Ceramic is clay-based and fired on its own, while enamel is glass bonded onto metal, which is also why enamel tends to handle a drop better and isn't as prone to cracking. The one place it can't compete is the microwave. The steel base means it's oven, fridge, freezer and dishwasher friendly, but never microwave safe.

How to Actually Use It Well

A few small habits go a long way with enamel:

None of this is complicated. It's the same basic care most good cookware asks for, just without the anxiety about what might be leaching into dinner.

Bringing It Into Your Kitchen

If you're building out a kitchen that leans on fewer, better pieces, our Enamel Bakeware Range is a solid place to start, alongside the wider Baking Collection if you're after mats, utensils or storage to go with it. We've also got a Complete Enamel Baking Bundle for anyone who'd rather have the full lineup in one go.

There's a longer-life angle here too. When a piece does eventually reach the end of its life, the steel base can go into standard metal recycling streams, depending on your local facilities, unlike a tray built around a polymer coating, which typically can't be separated out and recycled the same way. Not the reason to buy it, but a nice side effect of buying something that lasts.

And if switching out one part of your kitchen has you thinking about the rest of it, our Spring Kitchen Reset Guide walks through it zone by zone, no overhaul required.

Don’t know where to start? Start with the tray that's already showing its age. That's usually where the switch makes the biggest difference first. Shop the Enamel Bakeware Range →

If you're stocking the rest of the kitchen at the same time, this is where the mats, utensils and storage live. Shop Baking Tools & Accessories →

Pair your new tray with a utensil set that won't scratch the finish, oven to table, no metal required. Shop the Silicone Cooking Utensils →