This is not a sponsored post!
Back in graduate school when we had very little money, I bought a Le Crueset Dutch oven with my first NSF fellowship check (I got paid once a semester) along with a bed mattress (the rest went to paying my mother back for loaning us last month’s rent and deposit). It was extremely important to me and I wasn’t sure how I would be able to cook without a good quality Dutch oven.
Fast forward ~25 years– DH drops the lid on our floor and the lid cracks all the way through, both the enamel and the metal underneath.
DH called Le Crueset to ask if there was a way to buy a new lid. They said there was not, but if we sent the entire pot back (at our expense), they would send us a new replacement (at their expense). No receipt needed.
We sent it back. About three weeks later, we got a brand new one, with a nicer knob than we originally had (one of the metal ones that you can use in the oven when making Jim Lahey’s no knead bread).
It’s just like the old one (but with the better knob).
We were so happy that DH reminded me that he’d always wanted to get a larger size. So I said yes and suggested a dark blue to match the stand mixer and our kitchen’s trim. So that should be in our future. We also have a smaller one for rice that we got once we had more money and could indulge in that luxury.
They are expensive, but you can’t really beat the customer service. Plus it’s just so much of a better product than the cheap dutch ovens you can get at Target (we used a hand-me-down one of those for a year while on leave– not as nice).