Stainless steel pots and pans are durable, conduct heat well, and are fairly simple to take care of. However, this type of cookware still has pitfalls to be avoided, and to save you from having to replace your stainless steel tools after accidentally damaging them, never add salt to a pot or pan of cold water.

Something as simple as salting your pasta wrong can wear out your seemingly indestructible stainless steel pots. If you add salt to cold water in your pot or pan, you can cause a type of damage called pitting, a form of rusting that causes the pot's protective layer of chromium oxide to break down.

Pitting results from salt settling on the bottom of the pot, rather than dissolving immediately, and often creates many tiny circular indents across the stainless steel surface. Adding salt only when the water is hot can prevent it from sinking to the bottom of your cookware and eating away at its coating.