Customer Reviews

Euro-Pro KC276T 6-1/2-Quart Gourmet Slow Cooker with Bonus Little Cooker

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

When searching for a slow cooker, I was overwhelmed by the choices. I had never owned one before and had no brand loyalty because of it.

I needed something that could cook on its own while I was at work and school, so a timer was important.

I usually only cook 3-3.5 quarts at a time so I was worried this one would be a little too big. But it promised the cooking would work even when just half full.

So far it has turned out to be great!

I've cooked dal (a lentil soup) and chickpea dishes.

The first time I used it I was at home to observe all day and the cooker's timer behaved just as it was supposed to. Started off at med heat for 8-10hrs then cylced to warm until I was home (up to six hours). It allows you to program up to 24hr in 1 hour increments and allows for 4 heat settings.

No problems with steam escaping or exterior dripping.

Another plus is that there is wrap around heating, so things are cooked through out, not just from the bottom.

I do not cook meat so I couldn't tell you how it works for that.

However, it did appear to do everything it said it would do in its product description.

This is a fabulous slow cooker. The Euro-Pro brand conveys quality and if you have a large family as I do (6), then this one is a good choice for you.

What amazed me about this pot is its self-adjusting heating. If I set it to HIGH for an X amount of hours, the temperature adjusted itself to maintain a contant heat without burning the food. In other words, if it got too hot, the temperature gauge would reflect that, and the heat would toggle down to med-hot and the MED light would be flashing until the heat stabilized itself back to HIGH. That is indeed "Intelligent" cooking. It took me a while to figure that out because I couldn't find about it in the manual. Because the temperature stayed an even heat, I never had to worry about scorched foods. When I first set it to HIGH, the LOW light would flash and then the MED light would flash until the temperature read HIGH. Heating was gradual and I was able to see exactly what level it was increasing to.

Because the switches are push-button and there is a digital hour countdown, to me that is more accurate than the dial-types of slow cooker. When the timer reaches "0", the cooking is done, and the pot automatically switches itself to "WARM" for up to 12 hours. So if you're really late for dinner, you don't have to worry about your food spoiling, or overcooking. That is a very nice feature.

The insert is heavy and made of nice, thick ceramic which conducts heat well. Clean-up is a breeze because nothing gets burnt.

You also receive a Bonus Little Crock Pot perfect for single meals or for melting chocolates and such. I haven't used the Little one yet, I may give it away as a gift for one of my single friends who live alone.

I recommend this Euro-Pro Slow Cooker; I am more than impressed with the quality and functions of it.

Got this slow cooker to make life easier as a mom who has to take her kids to all of their dinner-time activities. We can come home and just place dinner on the table.

One nice feature of this machine is that it has is a MEDIUM setting-very useful for splitting your cook time. As I am a stay at home mom I don't have to put together the whole meal early in the morning to have it cook on slow for 8-10 hours nor do I necessarily want to break up my after noon to place it on high for 4 hours. I can easily split the difference (which has worked several times) and have the machine automatically go into warm mode when cooked.

I have had nothing burn. All of the meat cooks more tenderly than I've ever eaten it in the same dish cooked the conventional method.

A bit of warning on the mini crock: I used it to keep a chocolate dip warm and it was frying it after an hour. Same thing happened to my cheese dip.

When my old, ugly, but fairly trustworthy Rival crockpot broke down, I started looking for a new one right away. Can't do without a slow cooker! The reviews I read here on Amazon made me shudder: ill fitting lids, cracking handles, incinerated food, two day pot roasts, a good slow cooker wasn't so easy to find apparently. I finally settled on this one, and so far so good!

I did the temperature test the first day, filling it with water and reading the temp on different settings: 'Low' is about 155 F, 'medium' is about 170 F and 'High' is 200 F. Now, I read somewhere in a review that 'High' is supposed to be 300 F but that really doesn't make sense. Water boils at 212 F and a crock pot is not supposed to boil. Ever. 200 F for the Hot setting thus seems excactly right. Everything I have cooked in it so far has come out great (including a 3 lb meatloaf, chili and baked apples), neither over- or undercooked and the keep warm setting it automatically switches to is great. No, it is not the nirvana of programmable slow cookers where you can have it on hot for so many hours, then automatically switch to low for so many and then to warm when it's done, but it'll give you however many hours you want on the setting of your choice, which is better than most.

The lid fits good, the handles, so far, don't show any signs of cracking and the recipes I have tried are done when they say they are supposed to be done. I am happy!

P.S. For those of you who have trouble getting their dried beans/lentils/peas to get done in a slow cooker: try cooking them without any salt. Even low-sodium stock will prevent your beans from ever getting soft, so add the salt after the beans are done and not before.

I have only had this slow cooker for 5 months, but so far, it is the best I've ever used. I used to be afraid of leaving my crock pot at home without a babysitter, but no more!! It has cooked everything I've thrown in it perfectly to date, including some recipes that failed in our old crock pot. It is HUGE (the biggest I've seen), yet it cooks small amounts nicely, too. It's also stylish to look at. I haven't had any of the problems with faulty lids or burning that I've read in other reviews of slow cookers. A nice feature is that I can set it in one hour increments up to 12 hours, and it counts down the hours. My FAVORITE feature, however, is that if I have a recipe that calls for low temperature, but I'm running late, I can set it to "medium", and it does just as well (in a shorter time period). It's also large enough that it feeds my husband and me for a week. I hope it lasts a really long time, because I don't ever want a different slow cooker.

OK, I'm OCD.

I research and plan and research some more. It took me months to pick the slow cooker I wanted.

I read books on selection of slow cookers and how to use them and how to calibrate them. Thank your lucky stars you don't live next store to me!

This is by far the best of the breed, so far as I can tell. Certainly there are a few things I would change. For starters, I would have a delay start setting. I work nights and get home in the morning, but for some things I will only need 6 hours of cooking and I will be sleeping much longer than that. Fortunately I have a dog walker that comes while I sleep and on occasions, I have her push the start button.

The auto warm is perfect. There is little that I would change about this machine. My biggest puzzle is how another reviewer thinks this one is not hot enough. I have yet to use "High." In fact for most things, I wish the low setting were even lower. It is now 6 months old and I use it three to four times a week.

It was a fine purchase for me. Your mileage may vary.

This slow cooker is big enough for the whole gang and stylish at the same time. The features are easy to learn and it has more cooking options than my old Rival ever did, which translates to being able to use it for more kinds of dinners. I have a personal fettish against cluttering my kitchen with one use wonder gadgets. Versatility, quality and style is what I wanted & what I got!

Also, it's big, but you can make small dishes just as well. I wouldn't buy this only for large group cooking occassions.

I FOUND THIS PRODUCT TO BE SATISFACTORY IN PERFORMANCE AND APPEARANCE. IT'S WELL-MADE AND DOES WHAT THE POSITIVE REVIEWS I READ STATED. I RESEARCHED THOROUGHLY BEFORE BUYING, AND ALTHOUGH NOTHING IS EVER PERFECT, THIS CAME CLOSEST TO BEING THE BEST CHOICE I COULD FIND FOR AN OVERALL GOOD SLOW COOKER. I LIKED HAVING THE OPTIONS IT GIVES AND THE LARGER SIZE (WHICH ACTUALLY ISN'T SO LARGE THAT YOU CAN'T USE IT FOR SMALLER MEALS WITH GOOD RESULTS). IT LOOKS GOOD ON THE COUNTER BECAUSE IT HAS A NICE DESIGN. I'VE GIVEN IT AS GIFTS TO 2 PEOPLE IN MY FAMILY, AND HAVE RECOMMENDED IT TO OTHERS. EVERYONE SEEMS TO LIKE IT. READ THE DIRECTIONS WELL BEFORE COOKING AND YOU'LL HAVE EVEN BETTER RESULTS THAN JUST LEAPING IN. SLOW COOKERS HAVE THEIR OWN QUIRKS AND NEED TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY. I HAVEN'T USED THE LITTLE COOKER YET, SO CAN'T COMMENT.

I was interested in several of the supposed features of this cooker: set any time length; countdown so you know when it will be done; high quality; etc. But immediately out of the box, it had a cheap feel. The handles were not very solid and had uncomfortable ridges on the underside (unlike the Rival I had been borrowing). The manual was very bare bones, and that's also an indication of the quality. It did let you set the time by hour for any length, and not just the presets on other cookers; but there was no delay, which would have been nice. The countdown was kind of a joke: it only shows hours, not minutes, so within an hour, your guess is as good as mine. A previous reviewer thought that the temperature indicator (warm, low, med, high) was somehow high tech when it showed that the cooker was lowering the temp during cooking to maintain the temp over all, but it seems to me that all cookers must have a thermostat or else the temp would get higher and higher, and that doesn't happen. Finally, I cooked a lentil recipe on High, and I kept having to add cook time (the recipe said 4 to 5 hours, I ended up at 8, and they're still a little crunchy), and that was the last straw. I returned it.

After going through several slow cookers over the last 16 or so years, this one is the best.

It cooks great without burning, cleans up easily, and the timer works correctly. The quality of manufacture is A plus, and it looks good on the counter top.

Walk though any Thrift or Salvation Army store and you will normally find five to ten units of the other brand of slow cookers that I previously owned sitting on their shelves.

I purchased this one from Amazon over two years ago and it has performed very well.