To me, someone who celebrates a bit more of the spectrum than most: Metal hot. Make food hot.
Non-stick means easier cleanup, but my wife seems to think cast-iron is necessary for certain things (searing a prime rib roast, for example.).
After I figure those out, then I gotta figure out gas vs. electric vs. induction vs infrared…
Watch a video on how to cook properly on a stainless pan. Changed my outlook on from how I thought they were trash to they are my favorite to use in daily stove cooking.
Also I use steel wool to clean them when it’s needed.
Carbon steel is great as well and to be treated like cast iron on the seasoning side of things. The woks usually heat up really quickly and pretty non stick like iron and it’s totally ok to use metal cooking utensils.
I stay away from chemically non stick just from how toxic that stuff becomes after it ages past it’s prime.