Putting a wet pan on hot stove top

The usual heat transfer issues all apply.

What are those? Well, let me see

• The handle will warm up until it's total heat losses equal the total heat coming in.

• Heat comes in mostly by conduction from the body of the pot.

• Some materials conduct heat better than others. Metals tend to have high thermal conductivity (with aluminum and especially copper begin particularly good at it). Plastics and wood tend to be poor thermal conductors.

• Thick pieces of material can conduct heat faster than thin ones, but they also take proportionately more heat to increase the temperature, so this is a wash...unless you connect a solid handle to the body with thin spars (as in your upper photograph).

• The handle loses heat to the air by conduction (very little), convection (much more), and radiation (very little until it gets to hot to hold). For all of these having lots of surface area improves the rate at which heat can be dumped into the surrounding environment.

• Shape and orientation matters a lot to convective heat losses, but the dependence is too complicated to describe in a few words.

I find that bent sheet metal handles tend to stay cool, while solid handles get hot. If the half-n-half version you describe above has a pretty solid piece of metal that that part will behave very much like a all-metal handle (it may even be worse as the teflon will insulate the underside).

Short of taking detailed photos and constructing a model in a thermal simulation there is no rigorous way to know in advance. Still, if you've been cooking for long you probably have some intuition in this matter. Trust it.

The reason that cookware warps is that it is has too thin of a base. When it has been heated to a high temperature, it warps upon cooldown. The only way to avoid this is to buy very sturdy, heavy duty cookware. You need to look for something with a very thick and heavy base, then you will have no issue.

And don't think that it will put you in the poor-house. I bought new pans 6 years ago, and they are still fine. The most I paid was $30 for my 14 inch pan. Every other pan I bought on sale for 10-15 dollars.

As for pots, you should be able to get a good set of Lagostina (or comparable brand) which are certainly not professional, but they will do the job. They will not run too much money.

Just reread your post, originally missed the bit on the end. You absolutely do not need to spend 200 dollars on a pan. Just do your homework on the brand you are buying. Where do you live (country, I mean. Not trying to be too personal)? I may be able to suggest some places if you live in North America.