Last week, my Le Creuset skillet affectionately known as Baby fell off the kitchen counter and the handle snapped off the pan.

For our tenth anniversary, my husband and I bought each other Le Creuset at Williams Sonoma in lovely Marseille Blue.

My husband got a tea pot, as we had struggled to find a decent one for his evening peppermint tea and my Traditional Medicinals Valerian Nighty Nite.

My daughter melted the tea pot.

• 

• 

The skillet means a lot to me. Always has. This skillet was one of those purchases that I splurged on and wondered if it would be worth it.

I also have some Lodge cast iron cookware I picked up at Target for a fraction of the cost. Is Le Creuset worth the extra money? I honestly don’t know. But I do know my Le Creuset skillet never disappoints me.

I’ve been cooking in it since 2009.

So I filed a claim with Le Creuset. They got back to me and said the injury sustained by Baby was not a manufacturer’s defect and therefore not covered under their warranty.

But they offered to send me a new one if I destroy the old one.

And I realize… one can’t destroy a cast iron skillet and it seems very wrong to relegate to a landfill. And I can’t throw it out. I can’t.

Some of the best times of my now defunct marriage revolve around that skillet and I told the customer service rep that.

Your claim does not fall under our Limited Lifetime Warranty coverage. Our warranty only covers manufacturer defects. The damage to your item was caused by falling onto a hard object or hard surface. What we would like to do as a one-time courtesy is to offer to replace the item for you at no charge.

Samantha, customer service, Le Creuset

She says a new one is in the mail. I am so surprised at how upset the idea of “losing this one” makes me.