Customer Reviews

VitaClay VF7900-4 Chef Gourmet 8-Cup Rice and Slow Cooker Pro, Brushed Stainless

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

PROs:
- easy to clean and use
- both brown and white rice are cooked perfectly.
- overall design and look is sleek
- rice retains its taste and texture even after a few days

CONs:
- size, occupies to much space
- `rice cooking` indicator light stopped working after 2 weeks
- cooking time is a little bit longer than regular rice cookers
- claypot should be handled with care as it might break

Overall I would recommend this product for its health benefits and quality of cooked rice.

I had trouble cooking my rice since this is my first time using a clay rice cooker. Instructions on the packet of rice was not quite accurate and my rice didn't cook. Called customer service and I must say they provide excellent support thru tel and email. Cleaning the pot is a breeze.
Update: I found that my cooker is faulty. Took more than a month to get it back and i had to pay for shipping it to them. I was told that it would take only a week to troubleshoot but it did not happened. I had to contact them several times to "hound" them for my cooker. now it takes close to an hour to cook 4 cups of rice. Buyer Beware. It was 5 star rating in the beginning; now it is no star...jut that i am unable to edit the stars.

I bought the Vitaclay 8 months ago after extensive research. I so wanted to love this rice cooker but it just wasn't in the cards! I wanted a rice cooker that wasn't coated in Teflon and I loved the idea of the clay pot so there was no hesitation about spending $100 on a rice cooker. I used it about 50 times but had to discontinue using it because mold is growing in the clay and I can't get rid of it. I've tried everything and now the mold is growing inside the machine. I take care of my kitchen appliances and take great care in thoroughly cleaning and drying them when I'm finished using them so I doubt the mold is a result of misuse or improper care. I had to remove it from my kitchen because it stinks of mildew.

I also wasn't terribly impressed with the quality of the rice it produces. It's pretty inconsistent - sometimes it's mushy and sometimes it's hard. My $10 Rival does a better job.

The nice thing of this cooker is that it combines two functions in one as both rice cooker and slow cooker. I made very nice soup with its slow cooking function. I just need to set up the time for slow cooking, and leave the rest to itself. At first, I was concerned the liquid would run out, but it didn't. As long as you follow the instructions to put water no more than 3/4 of the container, it is fine!
Thanks to the purple-clay material, it keeps the food inside much warmer in longer time comparing to other kind of rice cookers or slow cookers. I don't even need to use its Warm function at all, which in turn saves energy in one way. I believe I'm going to use this cooker a lot more than my previous rice cooker.

Our "no-stick" aluminum rice cooker finally gave up the ghost, and we ordered the VitaClay. I love it! It is absolutely easy to use and it has no bits of no-stick stuff coming off on the rice. It makes absolutely gorgeous rice. People say it takes a bit more care not to crack the cooker when cleaning or removing rice, but I have had no problems with it. Well worth the bit of extra cost.

I bought this cooker and keep using it daily. It is a good cooker but has problem on the clock. It never has the right time even you correct it frequently. The big problem and risk - after using it around 6 months E1 error code comes out on every use. As per the instruction manual that is internal and need to call for assistance. I email and call to the warranty center in CA but not get any prompt reply. Finally talked to them and told me that may be too much water added. I do what they has told me and same error pop up every time. Again I inform them but so far no reply. I also find out this cooker doesn't has an UL listed or approval. Is this safe to use?

We loved this rice cooker, though the clock never kept time accurately and had to be reset every few weeks. Perfect brown rice and lentils every time with no teflon exposure--BUT after about 15 months it died without as much as an error message. The clock still received power, but the cooker wouldn't turn on. I called the distributor Essenergy, Inc.(who by the way doesn't answer its toll free number) to learn that it was not economical to repair an out of warranty cooker and I was advised to buy a new one. At least the company representative in commiserating with me, said I would have a spare clay pot! You know, we paid about $160 for this item which was "hot" when we bought it. For this amount of money, I would expect a bit more than 15 months of use. This is not a very sophisticated device and if it were not for the attraction of the unglazed clay pot, it would not be much different than the $25 cookers available at Target or Walmart. At this price it should be backed better.

We have been cooking rice in this about once or twice a week for a month and a half. Makes good rice. I do a 2-1 ratio of water to rice (twice the amount of water to the amount of rice) and haven't had burning or any undercooked batches yet. I have also cooked orzo in it and it turned out well too.

We chose this to avoid non-stick and/or aluminum cooking pots. Only found one other cooker with an acceptable pot(stainless)but cost $50 more so we opted to gamble on clay. So far so good.

This cooker is very nice although smaller than I would have liked. The exterior handle is very handy for transport. Care must be taken to handle the interior pot to prevent breaking but the results are very good. It is easy to program.

We purchased this product to avoid the teflon and aluminum rice cookers. It makes great rice the first night. But by morning the rice is cooked onto the bottom of the pot and the rest that is not stuck is watery. Clean up is a nightmare. The clay pot cannot handle temperature change, so first it must be cooled, then the rice that is stuck must be soaked off. It will not pry off the pot with my plastic rice paddle. Cleaning and rice preparation thus takes about 30 minutes.

At least when the teflon and aluminum pots hardened the rice they were easy to clean up.