Abstract: A cooking or food warming appliance having a heated heat sink plate situated in a vacuum environment within an outer shell. A food vessel intimately engages the heat sink plate along a food contacting surface thereof by virtue of the vacuum. The vacuum eliminates air gaps between the food contacting surface of the food vessel and the heat sink plate so as to provide instantaneous and uniform heating of the food vessel. The vacuum environment also provides thermal insulation for the heat sink plate whereby heat loss by convection is virtually eliminated.

Abstract: A method of making a stick resistant cook surface or cooking vessel having the stick resistance in which a hard substrate metal is treated by mechanical buffing/polishing and/or by electropolishing to a high luster surface finish of less than 20 microinches and then coated with a layer of a ceramic nitride, such as zirconium nitride. The electropolishing step is particularly suited for treating non-round shapes or deep drawn cooking vessels having high side walls, such as pots and pans, or square or rectangular shapes which are otherwise difficult to mechanically buff in the interior due to the side wall geometry and/or corners.

Abstract: A composite griddle plate comprising a first sheet of metal defining a cook surface and a core plate of a metal having a relatively high coefficient of heat conductivity wherein the first sheet remains in intimate contact with an upper surface of the core plate with the aid of a vacuum.

Abstract: Cookware having improved uniform heat transfer over the entire cross section thereof, the cookware formed from a multi-layered composite metal having a layer of titanium roll bonded at or near the core of the composite. The titanium layer is roll bonded to layers of aluminum which, in turn, is roll bonded to layers of stainless steel. The layer of stainless steel adjacent to the cooking range may be a ferritic stainless steel if induction-type heating is desired. The multi-layered composite is also suitable for making a sole plate for an iron. Both the cookware and sole plate may include a non-stick surface applied thereto.