Slow Cookers Reviews

Although we found several sources of slow cooker recommendations, including Southern Living, Shape and Good Housekeeping, these magazines don't specify testing methods, and sometimes it’s unclear whether editors examined any slow cookers in person. Cook's Illustrated and its sister magazine, Cook’s Country, are the best review sources we found for slow cookers. In 2004, editors there prepared pot roast and chili in eight slow cookers, evaluating models on overall results, ease of use and value. In August of 2007, they repeated their testing with seven models, adding water evaporation and internal meat temperature to their criteria. Of the reviews we read, these are by far the most credible and detailed.

We also found an excellent slow-cooker review in Slate Magazine, where author Jill Pellettieri prepares 15 dishes in eight slow cookers. She awards points for performance, ease of use, aesthetics, value and flavor of the finished dish. We found comments posted by owners at Amazon.com, Cooking.com, Target.com and Epinions to be very helpful, particularly with regard to reliability. Unfortunately, Consumer Reports magazine has not covered slow cookers since 1993.

Slow cookers are widely known as crock pots, but "Crock-Pot" is actually a trademark of Rival, which dominates the market. Unfortunately, the loudest complaints we read were aimed at Rival crock pots -- in particular at the Rival 38501 Round 5-quart Smart-Pot Crock-Pot (*est. $40). The Smart-Pot is one of Rival's programmable slow cookers, which can be set on high for either four or six hours or on low for eight or ten hours. After that time, the cooker switches to warm. However, dozens of owners posting comments to Epinions and Amazon.com say that even the low temperature setting is too high and that food can boil and burn on low. Several owners also complain that escaping steam causes the lid to rattle and that condensation runs down the outside of the pot.

In her review for Slate magazine, Jill Pelletieri reports that the West Bend 6-Quart Crockery Cooker (*est. $20) heated ingredients to boiling, spit water, rattled and ultimately cooked beans dry. "Unless you like disruptive and hazardous appliances, I do not recommend this slow cooker," she wrote. Although this slow cooker has been discontinued, you may still see it on store shelves.  ... Continued

Our Consensus Report shows how many times products are top-ranked by reviewers included in our
All The Reviews Reviewed chart.

Although several Rival crock pots are recommended in reviews, we found just as many complaints about overheating and breakage. Several owners complain that the Rival VersaWare’s handles are apt to break.