"I bought this to go with the All Clad set I bought. The 7qt is just a little smaller than I thought it would be, it is hard to gauge size when it isn't in your hands. However it does a great job with a pound of pasta. You probably could do two pounds or a little more. So the important part how did it perform? Since was my first multi pot I was curious to know this answer. It did great and made a large difference in cooking pasta. The fact that you can lift the insert and drain the pasta is what makes this great. Prior my wife had to lug a full pot to the sink and try to not to get burnt as she drain through a colander. You simple lift and hold for a few seconds and the pasta is perfectly drained. Then you can dump the pasta into the sauce or another bowl. Remember not to put salt in prior to the water boiling, my wife forgot and she got some white spots on the bottom of the pot. Not a big deal because after the second time using it and cleaning the bottom lightly with Bar Helpers the spots are now gone. Since this is basically a pot for boiling there may be other cheaper options but I do not regret buying this one. It cooks pasta very well and the function of the multi pot is a step saver. Clean up is a breeze for the full set."