Nordic Ware Natural Aluminum Commercial Baker's Quarter Sheet

After months (close to a year) of searching and trialing different baking sheets, I have found the perfect (or two perfect) ones for your consideration. I am hoping this to be a very informative review and I hope you will like it! I hope this is going to be helpful to you. Learn from my experience (and trial and error) so you buy the correct baking sheet the first time—save you time, money, and energy.This review is going to focus on two of my favorite brand’s QUARTER SHEET BAKING SHEETS. The results may or may not apply to HALF SHEETS or any other sizes. Why? Because a manufacturer may make their products differently for different product lines. Just like Ford may make good truck but not their sedans, or Subaru makes good SUVs but not necessarily pickups. It’s just an analogy! Anyway, Nordic and Vollrath are being compared here. I didn’t get the Chicago Metallic brand… maybe next time!!To start – I baked side-by-side using both brands and here are my findings:They are both “standard sized” quarter sheets – but one is slightly larger than the other. The Vollrath brand is slightly larger (or perhaps Nordic is slightly smaller??). Your “standard size” quarter-sheet baking rack will sit perfectly inside the Vollrath sheet flush and flat. On the other hand, the same rack will not sit flush in Nordic pan. In fact, you will have to very carefully balance the rack on the edge of the Nordic quarter-sheet … and if you but it just a little . .. . slush~ the rack will fall into the pan or fall off entirely.See the attached photos. So, is backing rack an important feature for your particular bake job? If yes, then you will have a hard time using the Nordic brand—either that or you have to buy purposefully smaller sized baking rack than what is “standard sized.” If not, who cares. I do need a baking rack for many of the things I bake—a rack that falls off easily is not acceptable to me. But who needs a rack for cookies? Wings? You have to think about this aspect for your own purposes.Manufacturing: the Nordic pan was perfect in attention to details. The photo of the back of the quarter-sheet pan shows you how each manufacturer rolled their heavy duty aluminum. Nordic rolled theirs much more perfectly and more detailed. See photo. On the other hand, Vollrath pan was kind of …Meh~ Like as if the manufacturer said “that’s good enough of a roll.” Does the bad rolling job make the Vollrath pan useless? No. The baking result is not impacted from my test-baking. But there’s something to be said about perfection.True Heavy Weight?: Both brands claim to be “Heavy Duty.” Check out the photos: Vollrath weighs in at 348 grams while the Nordic weighs in at 460 grams. If you do the math, this means the Nordic quarter sheet is approximately 30% more material! Yes, there’s 30% more aluminum in the Nordic quarter-sheet than the Vollrath product. That’s “30% heavier” duty.. I suppose you can put it that way. But the baking result with the Vollrath is not impacted (no warping, food bakes out equally on a side-by-side bake test). So is the extra 30% more material necessary? Thin baking sheet has the problem of bending and warping during baking (this is a known problem). If the product does NOT bend of warp… 348 gm vs. 460 gm ? Hmm. I dunno.But then again .. . Nordic is heavier weight, great, but it doesn’t accommodate a “standard sized” baking rack!!! Which is more important?? Now that’s where you need to decide for yourself.If you bake often foods that require a rack, you absolutely need a smaller rack or use the Vollrath quarter sheet to accommodate standard quarter-sheet racks. The Nordic will not fit those. On the other hand, if your bake often foods that sit directly on the pan and do not need a rack, or only uses the rack sporadically, you might be better off getting the Nordic quarter sheet and enjoy its 30% heavier weight and better machine job / better attention to details. Or get both – one Vollrath for one job, one Nordic for another job.OR, go find a smaller quarter-sheet rack (say, 1/8” smaller each side) to accommodate the Nordic quarter-sheet, then you have the best of both worlds. But that means you have to buy “less than standard sized” baking rack by about 1/8” smaller each side. Why can’t just “standard sized” things work standardly? Why don’t they just work perfectly? That was my frustration with Nordic quarter-sheet this entire time. I love that quarter-sheet but whenever I needed to use a rack, Nordic became useless to me.Thickness: You can see from the photos that the Nordic quarter-sheet is slightly thicker than the Vollrath. This came from being 30% more weight/material. I am not detecting the benefit of this extra thickness. Better heat retention? More anti-warping? More stable? Heavier? Stronger?Other things: Both quarter-sheets are NOT (I repeat, NOT) safe in dishwasher. They both need to be hand washed. They both do NOT come seasoned and they are NOT non-stick. Your best bet is put down a sheet of silicon baking sheet. I personally don’t recommend aluminum foil (but that’s what everyone does). My recommendation against aluminum foil is the excessive intake of aluminum which may be associated with Alzheimer’s disease. (This is not a medical preach, please use your own research). I simply recommend you use a silicon baking mat instead of an aluminum foil bottom to avoid getting even more aluminum in your diet. I do NOT recommend baking directly on either Nordic or Vollrath quarter-sheets: food spot will be permanently baked into the pans, black scorch marks and carbon deposits will permanently cook into the aluminum sheets and there is no easy reversal (if at all). I know, it’s only $15 a quarter-sheet so it’s not too expensive. I happen to like my things to last for years. :-)I hope this has been helpful. Write me comments if you need to ask more questions. I am attaching 8 or 9 photos to help with this review. Thanks!! Happy shopping!!

But DO NOT put them in a dishwasher, they turn an ugly black!

Exactly what I wanted!

This quarter size sheet pan is well made of heavy gauge aluminum thick enough to not warp under baking and roasting heat ranges. Further, its dimensions are consistent with standards for the genre. A stainless steel flat roasting grid fits perfectly inside. The only real problem with any aluminum cookware is that it is inappropriate for cooking very acidic foods and this one, as nice as it is, is no exception unless lined with foil or parchment. Why sheet pans of this quality are not made of stainless steel with bonded thick aluminum bottoms to provide rigidity, superior and even heat conduction, and a nonreactive cooking surface as an option is beyond me.

I didn’t realize how useful a 1/4 sheet pan would be until I bought one. This pan is substantial, thick aluminum and very sturdy. I’ve been using it for a few months now for many things in the kitchen I wouldn’t have expected from small batches of cookies to aging meat to using with a rack as a drip pan for small roasts. It has not warped like many of my other sheets and is thicker material than your standard sheet pan. Definitely a size of sheet pan I didn’t think I’d need and it has now become my most used baking sheet in the kitchen mostly for non-baking things.

I ordered two (2) of the Nordic Ware Aluminum 9" x 13" Quarter-sheet pans to use in a smoker. These pans are well made, and really heavy duty with a large rolled lip at the top. They're easy to grasp and fairly deep, which is great for my needs. Physical dimensions on these pans are: 9-5/8" x 12-7/8" at the outside edge of the rolled lip. The inside pan bottom measures 8-3/16" x 11-17/32". (it was just the tiniest bit over 11.5").So my next step was to verify that the racks I had fit inside these pans fairly well.THE BIG PLUS - I had previously ordered two (2) of the CoolingBake 8.5" x 12" Stainless Steel Cooling Racks. These racks fit perfectly inside these Nordic Ware pans. Now, when I say "perfectly", I mean they couldn't have fit better if the pan and rack were made as a matched set. They fit like they were custom-made just for these pans; all four feet of the rack sat on the pan bottom and little to no rack movement. Not sure if every size will work as well as these did, but this size combo could not have been a better fit.My thoughts, FWIW: if you're looking for a nice quarter-sheet aluminum pan, then you've found it. If you want a cooling rack that fits inside like a glove then check out the CoolingBake 8.5" x 12" SST Racks.

I bought these to replace some ceramic baking dishes I had that cracked in the middle of cooking. These are no-nonsense baking sheets that can be used to heat up frozen foods like corn dogs or roast meats such as whole chickens and tri-tip.I specifically selected this type of pan due to it's lack of nonstick coating--I was not interested in having the finish flake off as time goes on. Sure, things stick to the pan, but I rarely put food directly on to the pan. I always line with aluminum foil or parchment paper, which makes clean up a breeze.I'm not sure if you're *supposed* to toss these in the dishwasher or not, but I do. They're a bit discolored from this, I think, but as a busy working mom, I'm okay with that. They're also not pretty like my ceramic bakeware was, but if we have company, I just replate whatever I've made onto serving dishes. Yes, this creates more dishes, but I've been super paranoid about cracking dishware, so it's a trade-off I'm willing to make.All-in-all, this is a simple, sensible product that has served my needs very well. I bought two of these, and I use these at least every other day, if not every day. Highly recommend.