I used to have a pot that had the stainer build in. It was very convenient at the time, but cleaning was a little annoying. There would be pieces of pasta stuck around the edges and in the cracks. It’s probably better for the storing reason.

I am totally posting this out of my area of expertise, however I will state my thoughts.
First, I will admit that my wife of 44 years has probably had, and still has, most any kitchen item ever created, and sometimes many of each. I don’t mess with her on that, and I am one well fed and happy husband.
On times where she is away for some reason, I have cooked my own meals, and I enjoy it. My total cookware is one (1) eight inch cast iron frying pan, a turner, and a fork. Whether it is a fried bologna sandwich, or a small rib-eye steak, the one pan is the trick. I do things with ground beef in it, and I do fried potatoes. I seldom fry an egg, because I don’t have the touch on cracking them open. (too messy picking shells out of the pan). I know well that with the one pan I make a mean meal on my own. I also use that pan for a toaster. A spoon of butter and in goes the slice of bread till it’s brown. I prefer rye or french bread.
If it were just me living here, I could go for a neat set of the pots shown in the post. I could however just get by fine on the 8″ iron frying pan. I sometimes put foil in the pan to avoid having to wash it up after I cook something.
When I am cooking, I usually have a couple of ice cold Killian’s Irish Reds to stimulate my appetite. I have a pint mug that I frost for that. By the time I have absorbed the two pints, I could eat the north end of a south bound skunk sizzled in my skillet. Good brew indeed sets the appetite!!

Great topic. I hate having too much crap in the kitchen. It makes me nuts.

As for the pans with plastic lids. I often use our pans in the fridge with their regular lid (or a large convex plate that nests on top) in the fridge. It works for us, but we usually eat our leftovers in a day or two.

I like using the same pot for storing leftovers as for cooking because it’s one less thing to wash and you don’t have to have containers just for storage.

I hear you on the coated pans. Not only does the coating tend to come off (I saw that this year with some of DH’s pans that are about 10 years old). But that coating, when it does come off–and before you can visibly see that it is peeling–is NOT GOOD for you.

Actually, We have a ‘brocante’ in town that sells home items that are not quite considered antiques in France–50-100 years old usually. They had some great looking all metal pans that have obviously outlasted their owners . . .

@Kris – That’s a great pdf file. This kitchen actually looks fairly close to the compromise DW and I have reached in terms of how much to stuff into the drawers.

That looks like a nice kit for a tight space. I’m going to check out that .pdf now, too.

The link in the post has changed.

And the set is just over half the price here: http://www.galleyware.com/Fagor-16-pc-Multifunctional-Cookware-Set/

I am in the process of consolidating two households into an RV, with someone who really like to cook (she even teaches cooking for a living). Looks like this set could make a good compromise to all the pots and bowls and such that she wants and the lack of space hogging clutter I want.