It depends on how you are asking the question. If you have done any cooking at all, you already know that the kind of cookware you are using has a huge impact on your style. This is not to say that what cookware you use is irrelevant. Nothing could be further from the truth. Your cookware can partially determine the purposes to which you put it. Copper cookware, for example, is great for making more delicate foods because of the control it affords you over heat conductivity. The other way you could ask the question is if you are making a certain dish, say a sauce, when should you use copper cookware? The answer is you should have been using it from the beginning, especially when it comes to sauces.

You need copper cookware if you like French foods, especially. The French love copper for their cookware; in fact, one of the most popular cookware-making companies in the world is a French company, Mauviel. Cookware that is copper is also best for certain Italian foods, particularly sauces. You need copper cookware when you are ready to expand your skills as a cook to include more challenging foods. It is fine and good to know how to cook breakfast, lunch and dinner. Cooking those fine foods that make you think you are at a world-class hotel is another matter.

Choosing your cookware is not as easy as I am making it sound, of course. If you are a beginner or an amateur cook, stick to the things you know. Buy a good recipe book and try some of the easy ones. It is important to master one skill level before going on to the next – no one ever made it to the top of Everest by hiking it without ever hiking up any other mountains! Keep to your skill level in cooking before trying more difficult dishes. Get some copper cookware only when you need it.