Ah well, thanks for checking. I did see that they have codes f1, f2, f3 for discounts of 10-20% depending on total order cost. With the F2 code I can get the monster 9.5qt pot w/ lid and 1.5qt w/ lid and save $100... but it's still almost $800 total.
I'd imagine that the copper would really shine in applications where you're trying to maintain temp w/o burning the bottom of large volumes of liquid (like soup / stew) or where you're trying to very precisely heat small volumes (like melt butter / make sauce).
Well, thanks again KKF/ Deckhand for adding yet another expensive line to my wishlist.
Back to the OP though, I had a debuyer mineral pan for years. It warped very early on but I kept using it because my apt's crappy coil electric burners where not level anyway. However, I recently moved and I've got one of the equally annoying ceramic top ranges, so the uneven bottom of the pan would cause it or spin and wobble and slide all over. I never had a warping problem with the pan, and when I finally returned it, I found out that W.S. stopped selling them awhile ago because so many people had the same problem. Perhaps there was some defect in their early mfg process that created uneven stresses in the metal?
Anyway, I dug though a bunch of reviews and ordered a "Paderno Heavy Duty Carbon Steel 11 Inch Frying Pan" - should be here next week.