Customer Reviews

CorningWare Programmable Slow Cooker - 4-qt.

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

My husband and I purchased this unit several weeks ago from Target through Amazon, and have used it twice, both times with very good results. I read a number of negative reviews of some other slow cookers, many saying that the lids were flimsy; this cooker features a sturdy glass lid and a lovely French White cooking/serving dish. Clean-up has been quite easy, as well. And while I am not a huge fan of cooking (it's a means to an end for me rather than something to enjoy while doing), I have found that I enjoy planning and preparing meals using this slow cooker. (We also bought a big Betty Crocker slow cooker cookbook through Amazon, which has been useful so far.)

First qualification -- and I have e-mailed Select Brands (manufacturer) for more about this: we found a recall notice for this unit at the U. S. Consumer Product Safety Commission website. The notice is dated August 2004, and specifically says that the recall is for a product with the same name and model number sold by QVC between Jan - April 2004; the notice was issued because QVC received several complaints that the heating unit melted the plastic base and scorched the owners' countertops (no injuries were reported, according to the notice).

Now, I am pretty confident that the problem has been fixed by now, or Target couldn't have sold it to us; so confident, in fact, that we're planning to use it to cook a pot roast tomorrow. But I have contacted the manufacturer just to be certain, and I will let you know if/when I hear back from them about it.

Second qualification (and this is mostly my fault): when we received the unit, I was disappointed to find that, though it is called "programmable," it is not programmable in the sense that you can say "Start cooking at 9:00 am for 6 hours on low, then shut off/down" -- it is programmable in that once you turn it on and start it, it will cook for the number of hours you've programmed, and then will revert to the warm setting.

Though I thought I read the description carefully, I must have misunderstood this feature, because I was looking for and thought we had bought a cooker that would turn itself on at a programmed time. Even so, we are pretty happy with it, so it's not a big disappointment.

I've always been pleased with the results of this cooker. It cooks evenly and accurately. And the size is just right for a family of four to six. My only complaint is that since it is digital, you can't program it to be on the low setting for four hours or less. Although the fact that it goes into keep warm mode when it's done cooking is a nice addition. Plus, I really like the cool touch exterior which keeps me at ease with my toddlers curious hands lurking about.

I purchased this because I want to eat healthier foods, but I'm short on time, and I dislike cleaning up lots of pots and pans. It has worked out well. The CorningWare ceramic pot is very nice. It looks good and it comes with a plastic sealable lid if you want to store leftovers in the refrigerator. The slow cooker itself cooks at the correct temperature. I actually went through the trouble to fill it with water and test it with a candy thermometer. The exterior does get warm, but not really hot. The automatic reduce-to-warm-when-finished feature helps keep the food from overcooking.

I only have two minor complaints. First, I'm a little paranoid about leaving any kitchen appliance plugged in for a long period. I even unplug the coffee maker. Therefore, I think it would be a good idea to include an idiot shutoff feature that shuts the appliance off after, say, 24 hours. Second, it does make the counter top a little warm. Perhaps the bottom legs need to raise it up a little higher. In any case, I purchased a tempered glass cutting board, which is heat resistant and can be used as a trivet. I placed the cooker on top of that and I no longer have any worries about my counter top.

A few cooking tips:

* Coating the CorningWare with cooking spray makes cleanup easy.

* It works best when it's full of food.

* Don't put too much water in it if your cooking with vegetables.

* Fresh ingredients work best.

* The general idea for many recipes is

a) Place heavy roots and vegetables, like carrots or potatoes, on the bottom

b) Place light vegetables, like corn, in the middle.

c) Place meats on top.

This is the first slow cooker I've purchased. Being that I am a new mom with a hectic schedule, this has been a big help. I've made soup, chili and stews - all with great success. As it states in the instruction manuel, it does have a burning smell when you first use it. Don't be alarmed and send it back - it's normal. I also suggest getting a good slow cooker cook book. When I tried to make things on my own without a recipe, some ingredients took longer than others to cook (making for an unpleasing texture). Other good points are the stay warm feature which allows me to have perfectly cooked items warming and not overcooked when arrive home after work, the outer casing stays fairly cool, it has nonskid feet, it holds 4qt (perfect for a family of 3), it is easy to clean and it has a heavy glass lid. The funny thing is that I am a chef by trade, but this thing helps me provide easy, nutritious, one-pot meals ready to serve when I am. I didn't give it 5 stars only because it only allows you to cook on "high" when you program it for one, two or three hours. If you want to cook something for more than three hours it automatically cooks on "low," You can only cook on high for more than 3 hours if you are around to reprogram to high after three hours are up. Also, I haven't had much success cooking anything on high for three hours, or less, and have it be brought to tempurture, nor cooked completely. If the folks at Corningware could tweak this and make it fully programable, it would be 5 star. Otherwise, a great slow cooker for those who want something to cook all day and have something ready and perfectly cooked when you arrive home.

The lid did not fit correctly and there was a large gap between the glass lid and the corningware liner...thus, water evaporated from the food and thus we needed to add more water as the food cooked. This cooker is not made by Corningware Electrics, but rather Select Brands, which I feel is pretty misleading. Also, it is listed as a "programmable" slow cooker. This is only partially correct: you cannot program it to cook for example for 4 hours at low, it is preset to cook for 1-7 hours on High; and 8-10 hours on Low and then to switch to warm. And finally, it did not come with a cookbook. For 39.99, there are better choices: either a Smartpot from Rival which is a 5 qt machine which is fully programmable Usuallly sells for $30) or I would pony up to the Cuisinart which is a 4 qt fully programmable that sells for $80 or the KitchenAid ($120)which is a 7 qt model.

We did a large amount of searching online & in stores to choose the right slow cooker, and decided on this Corningware 4-qt one. After a few uses, we love, love, LOVE this slow cooker and are SO happy with our choice!!

First, if you're like us and have the other round white Corningware dishes with glass lids that you cook and serve in for everyday meals, this matches it. It even has the white groove lines on the side just like the other Corningware dishes. Which is nice because you can bring the dish directly to the table and it matches your other serving pieces. Second, we've had it cook the meat perfectly every time...beef roast for 8 hours, pork roast for 9 hours. The texture is wonderful, perfectly moistened, especially if you stir the meat with the juices in the pot, and shreds very easily with a fork. The 4-qt size is perfect for us, very roomy without being this huge hulking thing you have to find a place to store. It's white which we personally like, and that's hard to find except with Rival which cooks too high, from what we've read and heard from others. The sides are cool-touch...the sides only feel warm even after cooking for 9 hours, which makes us feel much better with little kids in our house. It's oval rather than round, so that you have greater flexibility in cooking longer-shaped meats. And the programmable aspect is great, which was a priority for us as well.

We haven't tried cooking on high yet so can't rate it on that. So we have no idea if it cooks too hot on high or not. But it works perfectly on the low setting for the 8-10 hours usually specified for slow-cooking, and that's the kind of recipe we want a slow-cooker for anyway.

As others have said above, the only thing we don't like about it is the nature of the programming. You can't set it in advance to come on at a certain time of day, say as with a coffeemaker. It starts as soon as you program it. But you can't find that in any slow-cooker right now, at least not one in this price range, not that we've found. Maybe for one that's $100-$150, but we weren't interested in spending THAT much on a slow-cooker. And even if we were, they're usually the big hulking ones that we wanted to avoid. Also, you can't set it for the low setting for anything under 7 hours. I'm guessing that's a liability precaution on their side...if you cook some meats on low for under 7 hours, it won't be done enough to have killed any food poisoning bacteria that might occur in the low-heat setting. That's my bet on why they and every other maker sets it up this way.

I think 1 or 2 people might have mentioned that the glass lid doesn't completely seal exactly, and they even sent theirs back to get another one because they thought it was a mistake. My engineer hubby looked at it and says it's intentional, to keep it from cooking too high. There's a tiny gap between the lid and the pot on 1 or both ends, and there are even 4 small holes around the side of the lid. These are intentional, to help a tiny bit of heat release, so that it moderates the heat inside and doesn't cook too hot. It even mentions the intention of this in the owner's manual.

Anyway, we LOVE this slow cooker and highly recommend it!! Big A+++!!

I talked to the manufacturer (Select Brands Inc.) about the recall and was advised that the recall problem has been corrected

I work 12-hour shifts and always burned other slow-cooker meals because they cooked too long. Everything turns out perfect. I highly recommend this cooker. It isn't too large either.

Didn't have huge expecations for this cooker, but we had experienced the way-too-hot Rival versions and needed to leave that behind. The reviews for this one seemed reasonable, and it was pretty much the size we were looking for. For some reason, any sort of programmability seems to come with large size in this field.

The packaging seemed brand new, the unit seemed brand new. What eventually led to our returning it was that the ceramic insert would not sit flat and stable in the heating base. It wanted to cock forward or back, and was not stable in the centered position. It was like it was warped, somehow, or designed for a slightly different unit. It wasn't something immediately obvious, you had to play with it a bit to realize that something just didn't quite fit.

Also somewhat disturbing was the fact that although the packaging and the unit both seemed brand new (if not quite "right"), the back of the owners manual was covered with various names and phone numbers, hand-written in pen. Obviously, the manual, at least, had been pre-owned, and it didn't have that new, crisp feeling you'd expect. That led us to wonder if this unit might have been previously returned as defective, for the same reason we found, given a cursory inspection (if that) and then just re-sold.

Too bad, it seemed like it was a pretty nice unit otherwise. We actually considered returning it for another of the same model, but we were both hesitant to reward the business practice that led to this, and concerned that it might be a flaw of the design, model, or production run, rather than just the unit we received.

I looked for slow cookers for quite awhile before settling on this one. Needed a programmable one to set in the morning before work and come back. I've used it about 10 times for all day cooking in the past 2 months

Pros

Low oval shape--fits on any shelf in the fridge. Oval shape allows it to hold more than expected, plus more surface contact with heat.

Pretty insert--as one person wrote, the dish itself can be used as a serving dish since it has nice ridges on the side

two covers-a plastic one for using the fridge and microwave, suctions very well, no leakage.

The only slight issue I've noticed is that unlike the problems with the other slow cookers, esp rival crock-pots, it doesn't cook too quickly or at too high of a heat. The reverse is actually true--I have to set it on the max every morning, ten hours, and although food is cooked, it's not always fall apart.

QVC has a better price and their s/h is cheaper.