Oh, are we talking about cast iron master race things? Because we are now.
Regardless of the safety of your various non-stick pans, they just plain suck. Fuck em!
Cast iron, stainless steel carbon steel, that's where it's at. Ceramic is fine too; some pans are cast iron - ceramic. I don't use them because they stain. I only use cast iron and stainless steel.
Let's see. Cheap as fuck to buy cast iron. $20 gets you a lodge pan, and lodge is good old american quality. No, it's not wagner or griswold, the surface isn't machined, but apart from that, no complaints. Each $20 pan or $30 pot lives pretty much forever; it may well outlive you and me. Very little care required. Can be used on any cooking surface under the sun, and maybe on the sun's surface too, if the radiation don't kill ya. (Okay, no, 6000K will probably melt cast iron, and the 2000000K of the corona through which you have to pass first definitely will.) Makes food taste great. Oh, and if you're anemic, it solves that by putting iron in your food. Buy it for life and spend nearly nothing on it? Yes, please.
Stainless steel is good too. Especially if it has aluminum or copper inside for heat distribution. Pricey, though!