ANNR,
The few things you've said about your cooking style reveal quite a bit about the kind of pots and pans you might need, but of course only you can be the judge of exactly what you want.
Costco has had several different Kirkland Sig. lines in their pots and pans, both SS and non-stick. My best guess is that they have simply changed vendors several times. I saw a nice SS set about 2 years ago, but since then I haven't been too impressed. Thin walls, not very good polish, etc. The Kirkland Signature (as opposed to their other Kirkland brands) non-stick set has looked to be quite nice and reasonably priced. If that's what you want, and it's the set I'm thinking about, it's not a bad choice, especially for $200. However, you can't throw a saute pan that you've just sauteed something in into the oven to roast with non-stick, it's way too risky.
That said and all, I think your actual cooking needs are not represented by anything like a set. You've said that you cook things from scratch and without a lot of unnecessary fats and sugars. That probably means that you do a lot of fast and slow cooking, but not much in between. For that you would only need a few pans.
I've always been of the mind that one should buy once and cry once, and likewise I am of the mind that one should purchase the best item of a type, regardless of whether it matches the other things in your house or kitchen. So when I want a Chef's knife, I buy the best Chef's knife I can find, and then the Santoku that might sit next to it in the block might well be a totally different design and brand.
Not knowing the particular avenue of cuisine that you like, I can guess that you need a good saute pan, a skillet, maybe an egg pan, a pasta/small stock pot and some form of a dutch oven.
Lodge makes excellent products, and they even have a couple of fancier lines for different uses, like woks. Best of all, Lodge probably has the most reasonable prices of any high quality kitchen items on the market.
For saute pans and such, All-Clad is really hard to beat for a million reasons.
Copper is only useful for looking pretty and being extremely reactive to heat. If you shut the heat off on a copper pan, it stops cooking. Likewise if you turn up the heat, it starts cooking evenly and almost immediately. If you want to sear a piece of duck and then turn down the heat to simmer it with some mushrooms a copper pan is your huckleberry. Electric burners don't turn on and off like a gas stove however, rather they ramp up and ramp down heat. If you want copper pans because they are pretty, then only your wallet need know your shame. Otherwise, save your money.
For electric burners, aluminum core is much better because it diffuses heat evenly, something that electric burners are not able to do very well. So unless you plan on getting a new gas line and stoves put in some time soon, stick with aluminum core pans, especially ones that spread the core evenly up to the lip of the pan to maximize evenness.
Which brings me to Revere pans. There's nothing wrong with them int he grand scheme of things. Back in the day, they were well made and served the average home well. I grew up with them myself.
But not only are their modern products garbage now, but they do not have a copper core up to the lip, only at the bottom. Therefore the heat only comes from the bottom rather than enveloping the food being cooked.
All-clad is one of the companies that pays specific attention to really good cores, but they're not the only one. I buy US-made when I can, which is why I push Lodge and All-Clad whenever I can. But, there are some really fine products out there from Belgium, Switzerland and so on that are equally good and equally expensive, as well as some products that are not much less good but much less expensive, however made in Thailand. Analon for example makes some really nice pans. One other advantage of All-Clad pans that knife nuts can appreciate is that they use much better steel than most cheaper companies. Analon is a notable exception in some of their offerings. Lower grade steels will develop tiny scratches much easier, which will make food stick more and the pans will be harder to clean. If you have a nice bistro style restaurant nearby, try to look into the kitchen to see the saute pans. Most likely, the inside walls of the pans will be covered in oil seasoning from years of cooking, but the floor of the pan will be glass smooth and bare steel.
As for a pasta pot, you need at least one that is not cast iron. The simple reason is that while cast iron is the bee's knees for a lot of things, sometimes you simply don't need to spend all the electricity heating up a pot, boiling some carrots and moving on to the next thing. You can save some money on this option because it's not such a crucial thing to make sure every last inch of your pot is heating evenly when it's filled with water.
Then get yourself at least one enameled oven, maybe a small covered roaster. You'd be amazed the kinds of things you can cook in one of those without paying attention to detail. They're a lot like a crockpot in that you can throw food in them, essentially forget about it, and come back later to something lovely. In addition, they are really awesome in that they can hold amazingly high heat so alot of chefs these days actually use cast iron to cook things quickly when they need to sear over and over. Let's say for example you're having a dinner party and you need to brown some game hens before putting them all in a pan to braise. The advantage of the enameled pot is that you can use it as your no-brainer slow cook pot. You don't have to worry about breaking the seasoning, you don't have to worry about putting the leftovers in the fridge still in the pot and having it rust out, and the next day you can throw the pot back in the oven or stove and heat it up. Le Creuset and Staub are the standards, but there are other good ones as well.
And by the way, what you lose when you buy a cheaper cast iron pan of any kind is usually even thickness, absolute flatness on the bottom of the pan (your oil will drift to one side or the other and things will not cook evenly) and a nice not too rough not too smooth texture that allows great seasoning and non-stick qualities. A good quality well seasoned iron skillet is as non-stick as any teflon available.
What you get with a full set is a simple answer to all your needs, but you usually don't save any money. Instead, what you get is matching looks and a few extra perfectly good pans that you will never use. It's a judgement call what you want. Personally, I'd get one great pan at a time on a timeframe that you can afford. Gradually as you accumulate the nice pans, throw out the old ones.
BTW as an edit to this long post, if you feel like getting your hands dirty and being creative, you can enamel your own cast iron pans. Any good clay supply store in your area will have enamels that seal at about 800 degrees, many of which are certified non-toxic. If you know somebody with a kiln, or if the clay store offers firing you can paint on the enamel and do it yourself for much less than the cost of a Le Creuset.
[tangent]Mmm, butter, oil, lard, bacon grease, more butter, clarified butter, ghee, more oil, lots more butter. . .[/tangent]
but it will likely be canola or olive oil; I can just see that stuck-on cheese
. No, I'm not a nit picker (low standards) when it comes to cosmetics
I studied their website and had understood that only the lids come from China. I looked at the item in the store and the boxes near the display; all said made in USA, except the lids. Evidently I didn't see the box for the item I later bought online.