Stainless steel is the way to go and is what my first expandable trivet is made, with twelve plastic caps for the SS legs.to sit on and not produce any scratches. I bought it purposely for use in the bottom of my HB slow cooker. It fits and does its job perfectly. When cooking is done it's fairly easy to clean.Quite expandable it will serve many other uses. Should last almost a lifetime. Shipping was ahead of schedule. Highly recommended.UPDATE: Not highly recommended since the plastic caps I found, after first one fell out, ooze faulty black adhesive and black gook will line your cooker. ...the next 11 (loose) I pulled out myself. Smarten up: Stainless is great - but mfr. should un-gook those horrid leg-caps. Might even be POISON!