I have seen many recipes where cooking with a heavy-bottomed pan is advised, as the heat is distributed more evenly and avoids "hot spots".
With that in mind, is there ever a situation where it would not be beneficial, or even be a hinderance, to use a heavy-bottomed pan? If not, why do light-bottomed pans exist?
Best Answer
Firstly, light-bottomed pans exist partly because they save cost and weight (the latter being relevant for, say, taking a pan when hiking). However, there are applications for which a light-bottomed pan can be preferable. These are when you need responsiveness to external heat more than heat retention and evenness. Taking a light pan off the stove will more quickly halt cooking, because it has a lower thermal mass. The pan will also heat up more quickly, but this is less relevant when compared to a properly preheated, thicker pan.
This article goes into some detail on considerations for pan selection. Crucially:
Additionally, as mentioned by @Blargant in a comment, while responsiveness is less relevant in situations where a relatively large amount of water is used, the positive properties of a thicker pan are also less useful in those cases. Thus, cost becomes a concern, which is why commercial stock pots and the like tend to be thin.