About Our Place

An Invitation from the Kitchen

Everyone has their own cooking story. Ours began with a search for belonging.

Our Place was founded in 2019 by Shiza Shahid and her husband, with a mission to reinvent cookware for the modern, multicultural, global kitchen. Shiza was born in Pakistan and her partner grew up in Iran. When they immigrated to the United States, cooking and sharing meals around the table became their way of finding community, making friends, and discovering their “place” in a new country. As Shiza puts it, “We found our place through cooking and sharing food.”

Why We Love Our Place

Cooking made simpler. Traditional cookware brands push 16‑piece or even 18‑piece sets, but Shiza realized during her time at Stanford that this is overwhelming for most households. Our Place embraces a “less is more” philosophy — one product that replaces many, keeping your kitchen tidy and bringing joy back to cooking.

Non‑toxic and family‑safe. While many cookware brands still rely on PTFE and PFAS (the so‑called “forever chemicals”) for non‑stick coatings, Our Place chose a different path from day one. They developed their own healthy, non‑toxic ceramic coating called Thermakind®, which contains no PTFE, PFOA, PFAS, lead, or cadmium. As Shiza says, “We want to provide a safe and healthy cooking experience for this generation and future generations by using non‑toxic materials.”

Every culture matters. Unlike traditional cookware brands that focus mainly on Christmas and Easter, Our Place celebrates the rich and diverse food cultures and holidays from around the world — Diwali, Persian New Year, Shabbat, Lunar New Year, and many more are all given the respect they deserve.

Our Signature Products

Always Pan — The Do‑It‑All Pan

The flagship product of Our Place, Always Pan became an instant sensation — its pre‑order waitlist grew to over 30,000 people, and Oprah Magazine called it a “kitchen magician.” Always Pan combines ten functions in one: sauté, sear, fry, steam, strain, braise, boil, bake, serve, and store. Made from 100% post‑consumer recycled aluminum, it’s lightweight, durable, heats three times faster than stainless steel, and is beautiful enough to go straight from stove to table.

Perfect Pot — The One‑Pot Wonder

If Always Pan is the master of everyday cooking, Perfect Pot is the champion of slow cooking. It replaces eight different pieces of cookware in a family kitchen — stockpot, Dutch oven, saucepan, steamer, colander, braiser, and roasting rack — handling almost any dish that requires long, gentle simmering.

More Choices

Our Place continues to expand its product line, from cookware sets, tableware, and kitchen tools to the new Tiny series. Every piece follows the same design philosophy: versatile, non‑toxic, and beautiful.

Commitment to Quality & the Planet

Our Place works with manufacturers that pay a living wage, tracks and offsets its carbon footprint, uses responsibly sourced materials, and ships in biodegradable packaging. The brand is committed to supporting causes that align with its mission — for example, it has donated nearly 700,000 meals to food banks across North America and the UK. Part of the Traditionware collection is handcrafted by artisans in Mexico, many of whom are exporting their products overseas for the first time. With every purchase, we help preserve these precious crafts.

Join Our Table

As Shiza says, “For us, mission is in everything — the stories we tell, the communities we give back to, the food we talk about.”

Our Place is more than a brand name. It’s a belief that the kitchen can be a bridge between people and between cultures.

At Cook & Gather, we’re thrilled to share Our Place products with you. Whether you’re a beginner in the kitchen or a seasoned cook, we hope our products make every meal something to look forward to, and every dinner a reason to gather with family and friends.

Welcome to Our Place. Welcome to our table.