Customer Reviews

Crock-Pot SCVT650-PS 6-1/2-Quart Programmable Touch Screen Slow Cooker, Stainless Steel

5 star:		(55)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

I spent a year looking for a good slow cooker that (1) When set on low did not boil food too hot (2) Could hold enough for large batch cooking (3) Did not have a hinged lid (hard to clean and breaks easily) (4) Is programmable for a set amount of time, then switches to warm (5) Was reasonably priced. I tried cheapo store brand round slow cookers which nuked my food - no need to explain since most people have had one at one point or another. Last fall I purchased the top of the line All Clad slow cooker with non-stick insert from Williams Sonoma. After sales tax it cost me a little over $300 which made me nervous. The first meal I made in it was braised short ribs. I browned the ribs in the slow cooker insert on the stove and set it on low for several hours. The food was delish and it kept a gentle simmer but I was horrified to find light scratch marks on the inside of the insert as I was washing the dishes. I used the All Clad for several days and then finally returned it because I couldn't bear the thought of having paid that much money for something that wasn't going to last. Besides, I felt a bit weird about simmering food for many hours in that non-stick coating that may one day start coming off. I then decided to look for a traditional crock pot with a timer - if I need to saute or brown I now do it in a cast iron pan the night before, deglaze, then dump all of the contents into a container that goes into the fridge if I am going to start the crock in the morning. When I get up I fill up the crock pot with the prepped food from the night before, hit the buttons, then leave for work. So far this ELume version has been great.

Pros: The low setting is actually a low simmer. I've made Indian lentil/dahl curries, bbq pulled pork, baked beans, Chinese jook/congee, Beef stew, Chili verde,red chili, soups, stock, the list goes on. I typically program it to cook for 10 hours on low and it works like a charm. Food is really slow cooked, and there are no hot spots, burned, stuck on food like previous appliances I've owned. The polished stainless finish looks beautiful - although not it does not have as high of quality finish as the All Clad.

Cons: The programmable button/pad area can be improved - the numbers are difficult to read unless you are looking at it directly at eye level, meaning you have to bend down to see what you're pressing. Mine came with a burned-out area on the keypad but I didn't bother returning it since it didn't affect the function - you can still see that it's the "on" button, it just doesn't light up. The black keypad part feels a tad cheap and you can almost pry it off if you wanted to (esp. when it gets hot) because it's glued on (!) albeit very sturdily - hopefully this lasts for a while. The crock pot itself gets a bit hot when cooking but not excessively hot like ones I've had before.

Bottom Line: I paid about $75 for this including tax. Purchased at Linens N Things with a coupon. I'm giving this a four star rating - good quality for that price but I would pay no more. Compared to my week of owning a $300 slow cooker, this is a bargain.

Let's have a rundown of slowcookers I've owned over the last 10 years:
The All Clad slowcooker was great; however, the computerized panel stopped working altogether AFTER the warranty ran out. The Kitchen Aid slow cooker was way too hot, even on the warm cycle. The Hamilton Beach Set n' Forget Programmable slow cooker cooked everything great; however, it would randomly shut off or stay on cook, making it unreliable.

The new Crockpot SCVT650 is awesome. The touchpad is very 21st Century. It's so easy to program that I'm still astonished with it. It cooks great. Like most programmable slow cooker it goes from low or hot to warm once the meal is completed. You can set the time as low as 30 minutes and as high as 20 hours. The stainless steel exterior is something you can proudly put on your countertop.

The hole in the lid is no big deal. It's purpose is to keep the handle in its proper place. To clean the hole, if it gets gunked up with food, you just use a phillips-head screwdriver to remove the screw. That's it. Just make sure that you don't tighten it too much or you might break the glass lid. It's an easy procedure, even for the mechanically challenged.

My mother used to make slow cooker dinners for us back in the early 70s. They were awful. I don't know if she had a beta model of the slow cooker, or that no one had yet figured out the science of cooking with crocks, but I was a bit traumatized by the dinners that didn't taste like anything but all tasted the same (sorry mom!). 40 years later, I thought a Crockpot might help me prepare food for my family because chaos always breaks out when dinner preparation starts (i.e. client calls, etc). A friend of mine is an expert cook and she swears by her crock. I decided to give it a shot. I researched models, and decided that this large size, easy to program model was a good fit. I was right. The first dish I made was chili, the second stuffed peppers, the third was navy been, beef brisket, chicken & sausage gumbo, then I moved on to steel cut oatmeal, unstuffed cabbage, and am cooking up a sausage chicken dish as I write this. Each dish has turned out better than the last. Here's the surprising thing: I NEVER COOK, ever. My husband does all the cooking. No one is more surprised than I am that I am cooking and the food is amazing. The unstuffed cabbage is a family specialty- and the crockpot made the dish better than anyone has so far.
For non-cooks, I completely recommend this Crockpot! If someone actually knows how to cook, I only imagine that the flavor is even better.
The controls- simple to use. Cooks evenly. The size is perfect for our family (4 people) with plenty of leftovers. Easy to clean. The best part is that I am able to make a meal for my family before the unexpected craziness of the day starts. This Crockpot has changed they way I think about slow cookers, and changed the way I think of myself as a cook.

For years I resisted getting a crock pot because I thought they were a silly fad or that I wouldn't use it. I was wrong. I finally decided to take the plunge and after looking at a gazillion of them, I finally decided to order the e-Lume and I am glad I did. I can put the ingredients into it before I got to bed and when I get up all I have to do is put the food into containers, put a container in my lunch bag and off to work I go with a delicious homemade meal. And the white meat chicken comes out so tender and moist it almost falls apart. I am thrilled that the crock is dishwasher safe. And even though I am quite computer literate, sometimes programming an appliance can be confusing. But this is so intuitive that I didn't even have to read the user manual to figure it out. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who is looking for a new crockpot or looking to jump into crock pot cooking. The only negative is that the crock is very heavy and could easily be dropped. To the person who said it took two hours to warm up, my soup was boiling in 45 minutes on the high setting. To the person who was concerned about the hole in the lid, it is kind of odd, but the moisture seems to drain out very quickly when I turn the lid sideways and it doesn't seem to have a negative effect.

I am not what you call a typical impromptu buyer. After having bought my new house, I wanted to have some home cooked meals rather than the pre-prepared frozen or canned foods that I had been buying in the past, and I knew the easiest way for juicy, tender meals would be a slow cooker.

I read many review and cooking websites trying to find what was recommended as a good brand or model, and then afterward coming to read all of the previous customers' reviews here on Amazon. It took me quite some time, and a large amount of nervousness to finally come to a decision. Many people complained about burning or boiling too quickly even on the low setting - this was the most concerning factor for me and my purchase.

I eventually bought this model. There were few reviews, but none of them had mentioned burning, and the star ratings were so good, along with the automatic warming feature, I thought this was the perfect buy. I believe I was right.

The first meal I made with this slow cooker was a Wild Mushroom Beef Stew. The beef I bought was already a prime choice meat, but the slow cooker really brought out the flavor and made it more tender than I could have hoped for. This recipe called for a 12 hour (max) cook time on the low setting. There was never any burning, and although it did come to a very low boil (tiny bubbles; to be expected in order to reach necessary heating of meat), this was not an issue and it did take its time to get there. I couldn't have asked for a better cooking product.

Out of curiosity, I let the timer expire while cooking to see how it would go to the automatic warm (plus I was on the phone with my sister raving about this thing and the wonderful smells coming from it at the time). When it completes its cooking time, it automatically switches to the warming mode (showing as such from a back-lit display), and emitting about 15 high pitched electronic beeps to alert that the cooking has been completed.

The unit was extremely easy to clean, and although there is that odd hole directly under the lid's handle, it's not really an issue (design defect or not). If food does get stuck under there, the lid's handle can be removed with a screwdriver quite easily, but since this doesn't boil over, unless it's over-filled, I don't foresee that being a problem from cooking alone. The stoneware is heavy, as it should be, but it removes very easily from the base. Since it overlaps the edges of the base, spills and drips (for me) haven't yet touched the outer base, so other than wiping the metallic base with a damp cloth, no further cleaning of that was necessary (just the stoneware and the lid).

I've already recommended this product to friends and family alike.

Was able to get this beautiful slow cooker for $75.43 with free shipping and no sales tax on Amazon.com last month. Loved the look and rating on the All Clad cooker, but at $179...way too much for a slow cooker. I have cooked three dishes so far, and all have turned out wonderfully, whether cooking on high or low settings. The digital controls are wonderful...loud audible alert when cooking is done, and warming function up to 6 hours with auto shutoff is genius. The removable 6.5 quart capacity stoneware is wonderful and easy to clean...the look and feel of the unit is both impressive and simply elegant. Highly recommended for looks, functionality, and price...thanks again, Amazon.com !!

I've had this slow cooker for 6 months now and used it several times. I do like the way it cooks - not too hot, like my old Rival. The programming is limited. You can choose low or high, and for then choose the number of hours, it then switches to warm after softly beeping. Food turns out beautifully with no off tastes or burning. The controls are easy to read and use. There is a hole in the lid to allow water to drain out when you wash it - the hole lets air come in so that the water, that might otherwise be trapped under the handle, can drain out. The stoneware crock and the glass lid do not retain any cooking odors from previously cooked meals, as did a different brand I purchased from that well-known giant in retailing. The reason I'm giving this only 4 stars is that the outer metal of the slow cooker gets HOT, 190 degrees as recorded by my instant read thermometer. Because it cooks so beautifully I decided to keep it, even with this flaw. Be warned though, that you will need pot holders to move this slow cooker if it's been cooking for a while, the little handles are too, too hot to touch, and the dinky bit of silicone on them is insufficient to keep your hands protected.
If I had my wishes for improving this slow cooker it would be to first, insulate it better so that the outside metal doesn't get so hot, and secondly to have some programming flexibility. It would be great to find a slow cooker that would allow you to set the cooker for high for an hour or two, then switch to low for the amount of time you set.

I loved my Crockpot right up until the handle separated from the glass lid. After reading many complaints on consumer sites about this problem, I called the company to complain and ask for a replacement. They said no because it was 13 months old. The replacement is only $15, but they have been out of stock for months. Now I have a $100 really big paperweight.

I saw this slow cooker rated in Cook's Country food magazine. I knew I wanted one. I have cooked chicken, beef, and pork with wonderful results. As a matter of fact, I got home very late one night so consequently my pork dish had been in warm mode for 5 1/2 hours, but it was perfect. Hubby had no complaints. I am a teacher so I guess enough said. I like coming home to dinner!

I HIGHLY recommend this slow cooker.

This is the second time I am returning this crockpot. The first didn't heat at all - ruining a meal that I placed in the crockpot in the morning and when I came home from work - everything was stone cold.
I returned and ordered a replacement. Only half of the crockpot heats up on the replacement. Very disappointed.