Over the years I've exchanged almost all of my pots and pans from whatever brand I purchased at the time, to All-Clad d5 or stainless. I have been extremely pleased with every piece. That said, there are certain of my assortment that get the most frequent use, and this 8-quart pot is the #2 most used (10" skillet is #1). After it became available I began getting the d5 series over the standard stainless series because I like the d5's flanged lip better than the standard series straight lip. Also, the d5, as the name implies, is actually 3 stainless steel layers clad with 2 aluminum layers between them, for a total of 5. The standard is 2 stainless layers and 1 aluminum one. In my experience, the difference is relatively minor for my cooking, but the d5 does seems to be slightly better at heat evenness across the pan. It does everything well that you'd expect of a high-quality pot: soups, stews, chili, all at medium temperatures yielding thorough cooking and no burning. However, when you want the heat, it can take it. I also use this pot as a Dutch oven, browning meat at higher temperatures to sear and to create fond, for sauteing, for scalding milk, boiling pasta, and so on. It accomplishes anything I throw at it very well. I've even made a huge amount of pastry cream in this with no difficulty.It is advertised as dishwasher-safe, and I've washed it many dozens of times this way with no damage or discoloring to the beautiful stainless finish. That said, recognize this is a huge pot with substantial handles that will take up over half your bottom dishwasher rack.As to handling, again it is a large pot. It is substantial in its own right, but filled with hot liquids it is not something easily manipulated with one hand. That means pouring out of the pot is strictly a two-handed effort, and scraping the sides of, say, mashed potatoes into a bowl while holding the pot in one hand is a non-starter.I use natural gas and induction cooktops. I'm using the induction more and more so I wanted cookware that was compatible. Most stainless is alloyed with nickel which kills a magnetic field and is therefore useless for induction. The middle and inner stainless layers of this pot too are alloyed with nickel for the added strength and ability to shine the surface. However, the external layer avoids the nickel and therefore it is this layer which translates the induction field into heat, which is then conducted through the other 4 layers into the inside of the pot evenly, and effectively. I can fill this pot with 6 quarts of cold tap water at about 52ºF, and get it to the boil on the induction hob in under 4 minutes. Even my 18,000-BTU gas burners at highest setting cannot do better than 22 minutes on the same test. The point is this pot works on all heat sources except, hopefully obviously, microwave.My latest trick for this workhorse of a pot is to use it for sous vide cooking. I place the pot on the induction hob, attach an immersion heater/recirculator to the side, add desired amount of cold water, and turn on both the immersion device and the induction cooktop until the desired water temperature is reached, taking only a few minutes to do so. Then I turn off the induction unit and the immersion unit maintains the temp on its own. Just add food sealed from the water and get some amazing fish, veggies, steaks, ribs, chicken and duck, etc. Because of the immersion unit, the pot's lid won't fit but for longer sous vide cooking where evaporation could be a factor, I just cover with aluminum foil or plastic wrap.All in all, a great pot that fails at nothing and excels at everything better than anything else I've used in decades of home cooking.UPDATE 3/22/2018 - I’ve owned and heavily used this pot now for almost 4 years. Today the pot is as strong, shiny, and useful as the day I got it. I almost never wash it by hand, and it has been through the dishwasher hundreds of times on pots-and-pans cycles to no ill effect. I see this essential pot lasting a very, very long time. All-Clad hit it out of the park with this pot.