You can efficiently cook your favorite meat cut, bake bread, or roast vegetables in your own kitchen. You only have to find baking sheets that will suit your requirements. They are categorized under baking pans along with pie plates, muffin pans, and cookie sheets. 

A baking sheet’s surface is wide, ideal for roasting veggies and meat. You can use one sheet for cooking an entire meal. It comes with a variety of features, depending on the brand and make. They vary in thickness, coatings, and sizes, and some sheets may have silicone pads and grip handles. 

To help you decide what baking sheets to buy, here is a guide on the factors to look into:

1. Thickness. These sheets are generally thin, which helps in speeding up the process of cooking or heating. The edges have short or no rims, and the sides are also short. The thickness is typically not more than 0.5 millimeters. Rims are generally about an inch high. The only exception when it comes to thickness is the cast-iron baking sheets. While they are thinner than most kinds of cast-iron cookware, they are denser and thicker than other baking sheets.
2. Size. The standard size for this product is 18×13 inches, referred to as a half sheet. The common diameter of these sheets is approximately around 14 inches. The small ones come in 13×8.5 inches, and the medium ones at 14×15 inches. The sizes will slightly vary depending on the manufacturers.
3. Material. The most common material used in making baking sheets is aluminum. Aside from being inexpensive, it’s corrosion-resistant, distributes heat evenly, and is durable. Heavy-duty sheets are made from aluminized steel or a combination of aluminum and steel. These sheets are more expensive than the ones without steel. However, it is important to note that you have to line aluminum baking sheets with a silicone mat or parchment paper when cooking acidic ingredients. Aluminum reacts to anything acidic, which might cause your food to taste like metal.

There are also baking sheets made solely of stainless steel. Such type requires careful handling when cleaning. Also, steel is not as good as aluminum in retaining heat. You will also find baking sheets made of cast iron, which is durable but also tends to be expensive. The material takes longer to heat but efficiently retains heat longer than the other types.