Do you look for high quality on your pots & pans or do you look for functionality and budget?

We use mostly the set that came with our convection burners or a combined set of enamelware (the old blue-with-white-flecks stuff) made from a set we bought ourselves and some really old pieces I inherited from my mother. We have a large set of cast iron, but they're so damned heavy we've stopped using them in recent years.