Customer Reviews

Cuisinart CVR-1000 Vertical Countertop Rotisserie with Touchpad Controls

5 star:		(89)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

Our first rotisserie was an older compact Ronco with a cylindrical cooking chamber and a horizontal spit, a nice enough product that delivered fine results -- but it was a hassle. The chicken had to be very carefully and tightly trussed, because of the side-to-side orientation of the spit. The quad spikes that made up the spit had to be very carefully centered on the bird, so that the relatively weak motor wouldn't hang up as it tried to lift the heavier side, a process complicated by moving bird parts if the chicken wasn't perfectly trussed. Anything more than a 3.5-4 pound bird ran the risk of brushing up against the drip tray on every rotation, and in general, we found the whole process to be more trouble than it was worth. We just didn't use it very often.

Enter the Cuisinart CVR-1000. Everything that was wrong about the Ronco was right about this one. The vertical spit, the spacious interior cooking space, the ability to choose different temperature settings, even the clean lines and stainless exterior. The cooking process couldn't be much easier and more convenient. Because it's a vertical spit, you just truss the legs together (or not), and slide the cavity of the bird down over the central support. That's it. No sharp metal spikes to drive through the bird, no trying to properly orient the weight of it all, no trying to match the ends of the spikes to metal sockets on another round disk. The support sits in the round drip tray (looks like a small cake pan), and both come out of the oven easily. So you can set everything up on the counter, slip it right into the oven, turn it on and an hour later you have a wonderfully cooked bird.

Cleaning is a cinch. There's a polished heat reflector behind the heating elements that just slides right out. The drip tray catches all the juices, so what's left is just a quick and easy wipe-down on the glass door and interior walls.

The oven sports an interior light, which is really more novelty than tool, but it's nice to be able to see a little more clearly how dark the skin may be getting.

I try to avoid superlatives in reviews, but with products like this one, it's okay to fail sometimes. This is the best rotisserie I've owned. Performance and aesthetic appeal matched with wonderful ease of use and convenience. I do highly recommend brining your birds before cooking. While rotisserie chickens are often juicy and flavorful without, you can end up with some absolutely amazing results with. A delicious maple brine we use consists of 2 quarts water, 1 cup dark brown sugar, 1/2 cup soy sauce, 1/2 cup real maple syrup, 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons sea salt, 5 whole cloves garlic (peeled), 4 whole bay leaves, 2 large sprigs of thyme, 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns. Mix it together, bring it to a boil and cook it until all the sugars are dissolved. Let it cool to room temperature before adding the bird. Refrigerate both together (bird fully submerged -- this is enough brine for one 4-4.5 pound chicken) for between 5.5 to 6 hours, then toss it in the rotisserie according to the included instructions (about an hour + 5 minutes for that sized bird). What you'll have at the end is a subtly flavored smoky sweet very juicy and flavorful bird, superior to anything you might find at typical groceries or rotisserie fast food places.

Love this machine, and will highly recommend it to friends and family.

This is not the Cuisinart solid construction that you knew in the 80's and 90's. It's not rickety by any means, but it falls short of the Cuisinart tradition. It cooks a good chicken, but if you want one more than 4 1/2 lbs it's hit or miss. The included cookbook doesn't even have a standard cooking chart for different foods. Just recipes that call for specific weights and rubs, etc. For the seasoned rotisserie cook this will not be a problem, but for the occasional roaster like myself you get a two hundred dollar piece of eye-candy (It does look sleek and modern) that you have to figure out the cooking times for on your own. One tip I see often recommended here is the brining and I will go along with that. I had never brined a chicken before and I WAS amazed at the results. The cookbook does have instructions for that. I just wish they'd done a guideline chart and it would have been a useful cooking tools for every level of chef.

The chiken you get after using this Cusinart is delicious. Easy to use, easy to clean, fast cooking and most importantly great results. I haven't seen a similar product on the market yet. Lets not forget about price, which is very convenient. My friends are envious and some already ordered the same rotisserie.

the cuisinart rotisserie is absolutely great. Does a super job and really drips all the fat off the meat. Most of all it truly is the easiest small appliance to clean. I had another rotisserie that was old and needed to be replaced and there is no comparison. This is a beautiful appliance. I only wish it had a "stop and sear" feature. That would make it a five star rating.

I bought this rotisserie after trying the roast beef and chicken at a friend's house. He raved about the ease of cooking and cleanup. I ordered it and, now, I don't know how we did without this for soooo long. My husband never liked chicken, and now requests it at least once a week. All I do is rinse and pat dry a whole 3-4 pound chicken, roll in EVOO and poultry seasoning and plunk it on the chicken skewers...no trussing, no tying. The skewers hold the wings and you can tuck the legs into the openings on the base. One hour and 15 minutes at 400 degrees, and the most perfect, moist and tender chicken with crispy skin! Yum. Pork roast is done similarly and comes out crisp and moist. What a wonderful product. It is not too large and sits proudly on my kitchen counter. I would recommend this rotisserie to anyone who loves food but also loves the ease of cooking a simple, wonderful meal. I will give this as a wedding shower gift!!!

This gift from my husband makes a tasty rotisserie chicken, but I'm not sure if I'd buy this product on my own. It is HUGE. I like uncluttered counter tops and don't want to take up prime counter real estate for a product that we'll use maybe 3-4 times a month. It would take up too much room in my cabinets, so I have to keep it on a shelf in the pantry. OK, no big deal, but something to consider if space is an issue.

We buy pastured chicken from a farmer, so I can't buy the same quality of pre-made rotisserie chicken in my grocery store, but personally, if I ate conventionally raised chicken, I think I'd skip this product and buy my rotisserie chicken at the market. This cooks it faster than my stove, but I lose any time I save by having to brine and truss it up. And that brings me to my final point--I'm not convinced this makes a bird significantly better than my oven, especially if I brine the bird and flip it over during roasting (as in Joy of Cooking, start out breast down, use a wooden spoon in the cavity to turn it over after 45 minutes). I haven't used the skewers yet and I think that will be fun, but since I haven't cooked food on skewers in over a decade, that alone doesn't justify an expensive and large purchase to me.

So bottom line is, this rotisserie does what it's supposed to. It looks nice. It isn't hard to clean. You have to weigh whether you'll plan to eat enough rotisserie food to justify this purchase and the space it will take up.

Works well. Easy maintenance. Just know that when you use it for a chicken the chicken will slump slightly on the stand. This does not happen with one where the chick is horizontal. Just a detail and cooking is not affected but this is still a nicer unit than my previous one. Perfect for roasts.

The Cusinart CVR-1000 is a great additon to our kitchen. It is very easy
to use with the simple touchpad buttons on the front. It also cleans up
easily. I would highly recommend it.

Even though this rotisserie received high reviews, I was not sure it would meet the standards implied. But I must say that I was thoroughly impressed with this unit as it is lightweight, browned and roasted the 4 lb. (2-hour sea salt brined and rinsed; seasoned with coarse ground pepper and sprayed with olive oil) chicken to perfection remaining plump with crisp wings and a very thin crispy outside that was a golden color with succulent moist meat. The interior light with on/off button is a nice feature. I was pleased to find that it emitted very little external heat, nor did it pop and spatter or emit smoke. Clean up was simple and quick. Removing the chicken from the rotisserie required care and a steady hand so as not to spill the juices from the drip pan. As a comparative test, I also roasted a second chicken prepared in the same manner in a conventional oven at the exact temperature for the same length of time. That chicken had a shrunken appearance yet not completely cooked and the oven was a disaster from the popping and spattering, plus the vent fan had to be operated for the smoke that was produced. The conventional oven had to be preheated and the Cuisinart did not. I would highly recommend this rotisserie to anyone interested in a perfectly cooked end product that does not heat up your kitchen, easy to clean and is more cost effective.

This is my second vertical rotisserie, first one was lost due to a house fire. This appliance makes cooking so easy and the food comes out smelling and tasting fantastic. If you're the kind of person that likes to fix it and forget it then this is the appliance to have. I own many other cuisinart products and I highly recommend them all.