What makes the pots and pans at restaurants so special?

Are they higher quality than something you could buy at a store like Nordstrom or Macy's? Do they do anything that cannot be done with "regular" pots and pans? Do they distribute the heat more evenly or anything like that? What are some of the most common brands of pots and pans used in restaurants?What makes the pots and pans at restaurants so special?
We use Matfer and Carlisle for the most part and have some All Clad.

Commercial cookware IS different than what is used in households, as is the other equipment such as refrigeration, stoves, dishwashers, etc. and to an extent the dinnerware. Hence the word commercial. Restaurants would not pass an inspection with household equipment and cookware.

More important than the equipment surviving the restaurants cooking process, it has to be able to withstand the restaurants cleaning and sanitation process. Some codes require that pots and pans be done by hand to remove residue. But we also run them through the dishwasher because its the hottest water and allows us not to have to use a chemical solution for sanitation which could be harmful is not thoroughly removed. The commercial dishwasher alone would destroy some household equipment after a few uses. Then you have the human dishwasher..lol Chefs can be rough on cookware and equipment too. At home, you might use a skillet once a day if that, but in a restaurant, the same skillet is used and washed several times. We cook on "HIGH" to maintain nutrients and get food to the table.

Sometimes pots or pans are on the stove all day, meaning that they are constantly rotated-used, washed and returned, or sit for max allowed time, washed and returned.

Edit - to answer your questions Ashley,
Quality depends on the material. For instance, if a restaurant uses cast aluminum, it will be better then the store bought cast aluminum, but perhaps not not better than store bought stainless steel.

Restaurant quality cookware is equivalent to what you buy in the store. They do the same thing, act as a vessel between your food and the stove. Heat is distributed by a number of factors, manufacturer, cost and type of material being a few. There are a few brands, as a matter of fact most are the same that manufacture for home, just under a different name.
Ive worked in a few restaurants and you'd be surprised what goes on in every kitchen. It'd put you off. And its not just ba practice where i worked. Everywhere does bad habbits. And the pots and pans are not any better than what u would use. Infact theyre often worse than what u use at home. The only difference is that most restaurants use industrial size stuff so they can cook more at a time and quicker. And often precook food so they can serve it faster. If you saw how many stains, scratches and other damage and dirt these pots pick up over a couple of months circulation in the kitchen that cannot be scrubbed off, plus after all the being scrubbed clean everyday, several times a day all the outta material such as lacker and whatever else they use to line the outside of pots, pans and trays, gets scrubbed off with the dirt so they end up looking always filthy although it isnt ussually dirt, its the material being scraped off. It does look off putting if you saw it. But its the way it is in any restaurant other than maybe the posh expensive ones where they would try and hold the highest standards. But most restaurants work on a budget and use their equipment till its destroyedWhat makes the pots and pans at restaurants so special?
They generally have big reasonable quality pots and pans, often ones that not all that expensive as they will get a lot of use.

Frypans are often quite cheap and small as they require many of them that are constantly used such as a steak where only one is cooked at a time
If its because you're wondering why the food is always nicer is because they have trained chefs in the kitchen who are superb cooks.



I would say the only difference us that they're bigger in restaurants due to them needing to cool more.
If you purchase good cookware with heavy bottoms, they are not much different than restaurant cookware. There is a good possibility that some home cookware is actually better quality than restaurant pots %26amp; pans.
The quality of them has to meet the standards of everyday use...simple yes?
This is a good question, i like it.