In the past...
I do not know when I started getting into cast iron really seriously. Before I was married, I know my Dad had some cast iron pans, because I remember cooking with them. I have no idea what those pans were. Certainly by the time he died... he was ill for a while, had some in home care folks come in and out of the house (R.I.P. my 30-30 deer rifle, God alone knows where that is), my sister took care of Dad's estate when he died, I was away when all of this happened... so the cast iron pans my Dad used to cook with, and that I grew up with, I have no idea what happened to them. To be fair, I don't even know if he had those same pans later in life after I got married.
I am not worried about it.
My mom had some enameled cast iron pans when I was growing up. I know she had rules about them but I don't remember the rules she had now. I have educated myself enough about enameled cast iron pans that I would certainly use my rules for cooking with them. She's mentioned she doesn't like the heavy big pans, but she still has some smaller pieces.
I first started taking notice of cast iron pans when I was dating my now wife. She had moved to Minneapolis and had her own cast iron pans (which I will talk about below). After getting married, I slowly started getting more cast iron pans.
At some point after getting married, I started reading more online about cast iron. This is when I went through the "oooh we have to be very twee with the fwagile wittle cast iwon pan so the seasoning isn't damaged" phase. I went through a phase where the only way I would clean my cast iron was by scrubbing it out dry with salt. It was a whole ridiculous procedure. My wife at this point banned me from using "her" 10 inch pan (she doesn't remember it this way) and I got my own. We continued this way for quite some time, and then... about 5 years ago the madness slowly crept over me. So here is my current list of cast iron pans.
Skillets
Peggy's 10 inch Lodge:
I didn't have any cast iron in college. So my wife's 10 inch lodge skillet was the first . My earliest memory of this pan was when my wife was my girlfriend and I went over to her place and she cooked some truly atrocious meals with this. Now, I want to be fair to my wife here: I'm sure she cooked delicious meals with it too. I only remember two bad meals and I don't remember any of the others.
At least one of the dishes was like, the first time she had tried to cook chicken thighs in a cast iron pan on an electric stove. And they came out burned on the outside and raw on the inside. And again, in all fairness, if you would have given me the job of cooking chicken thighs in a cast iron pan on an electric stove on that day in 2003, I would have only maybe done marginally better. There is nothing wrong with being unable to cook because you are new at it.
At any rate, we got married, and at some point she got pissed at me that I was screwing up her cast iron pans, so I got my own.
Peggy's 6 inch Taiwan (I think): I think it says Taiwan on the bottom. These made in Taiwan pans are still pretty cheap on eBay and as general user pans they are amazing. Milled on the bottom and smooth, with just a teeny circular texture that makes things even more non-stick.
Perfect size for one single grilled cheese.
Peggy's 4 inch small pan: A no-name pan but also milled smooth on the bottom.
My 10 inch pan: I didn't like this one much because the preseasoning was very light in color. It felt weird to use (and I didn't know any better). Also, wasn't a big fan of the lower sides, I felt like I was spattering all of the time. And if I was pushing the pan to capacity, it was hard to stir everything without spilling.
8 inch lodge: I got this for really cheap a few months ago. I use it occasionally but I think it makes it into the rotation quite a bit with all of the kids. Last time I looked at it, it was absolutely destroyed.
10 inch crofton Chicken fryer: I picked this up to do some chicken frying in. I have used it once or twice to make doughnuts. Have not done chicken frying because I have a mental block around chicken frying. See, I want to get a chicken, butcher it, and fry it. That is the goal. Problem is, finding the chicken. Either whole chickens are priced ENTIRELY INSANE, or they are at a reasonable price and not available, or they are reasonably priced, available, and I am just running to the store for something really quick and can't possibly grab the chicken because there is no where to put it.
10 inch terrible garage sale pan:
12 inch utopia kitchen:
Square ridged pan:
Square small pan: A smooth bottom square pan, I bought this, was excited about it, cleaned it up, then put it somewhere in the basement and I have not found it since. I want to make a little grilled cheese with it.
Dutch Ovens
Whatever capacity original lodge bean pot:
Massive Utopia Kitchen bean pot:
Camp dutch oven:
Teeny dutch oven:
Enameled Cast Iron Pieces
2 qt Crofton dutch oven: It was a bad day at work. I was feeling like crap and I was at the Aldi I don't normally go to. And they had this little bitty dutch oven there. And I said fuck it, this can be my emotional support dutch oven. I bought it and put it on the front seat on the way home and it gave me something nice to think about when I needed it.
At that moment I was thinking of one thing: spaghetti Bolognese. I figured, hey, maybe this Bolognese recipe I was thinking of would fit in this pot.... maybe.
Turns out it did. Turns out, this pan is FANTASTIC for making spaghetti Bolognese. I have also used it to make beans. And small batches of chicken noodle soup.
My mental model for this thing is "low and slow" and it delivers. I have also used it as a stovetop pan in a pinch when the other two saucepans are occupied. Example: one kid made caramel sauce and it is fused to the bottom of the pan, which is in the refrigerator, and the other pan is in the dishwasher, and I want to make ramen noodles. It works but is kind of a pain in the neck because you need potholders.
4.6 qt Oval Crofton "French Oven": I just got this one and cooked a roast in it.
Unreasonably large Crofton Brasier: I got this as a Christmas present for myself. By the time I pulled the trigger, someone else bought the color that I wanted. But I settled for white, and it's fine, I just think the gold knob on top is kind of ridiculous. But who cares. It is fabulous for braising.
Mom's tiny Le Creuset pan: Mom was going to throw it out and I saved it from being thrown out. Maybe it's too far gone, IDK. I use it to melt butter for popcorn sometimes.
Griddles
Lodge griddle: Peggy uses this more than me, but she loves it.
Lodge "Pizza Pan": I made one or two pizzas on this. Got it for really cheap at Sierra, it has a blemish on the top of it that is just barely big enough for me to say, eh, I wish that wasn't there. That said, it was really cheap.
Haven't really used it since because it got too hot over the summer to crank up the heat on the oven inside. Looking forward to winter when I can start to use it again.
Blackstone griddle
Specialty pans:
Breadstick pan
Aebleskever pan
Lodge sheet pan: I use this for roast vegetables, mainly, just leave it in for a few extra minutes so the pan has a chance to heat up properly.
Lodge casserole pan: I need to work out a good cornbread recipe for this pan. I developed the perfect cornbread recipe (I used to cook it in one of the skillets), never wrote it down, entirely forgot it, and I'm discouraged to try again because I don't want to put in all of that work a second time.