What's not to like about this Cooker?
936074
I have own this Slow Cooker for a couple of Years now & Honestly say its My Favorite cooking appliance,also I have yet to have a Truly Bad Meal prepared in it. What's not to love about it. I usually get up early gather up all My ingredients ,Lots of Spices (Hey I am a Spicy Guy) arrange them in the Crock& like they" say set it and forget it".When i come Home from Work, I have the most Wonderful Meal. Heck I have even Mastered My Mothers incredible Vegetable Soup with This Device. Go ahead get Ur Self one You will not be Disappointed. Its even Easy to Clean. Got to Love that Right!.
113286
Very pleased with the cooker. Easy to use and handle makes it easy to carry.
3377406
Though we have to shift among which appliances appear on the counter, this takes up less room than many. It isn't made for cooking for a family gathering without resorting to multiple batches, but works just fine when it is just the two of us. It is sturdily made with a flip up lid, indicator lights that are understandable and helpful and easy settings.

My weakness is onion rings and this does them nicely. Chicken comes out cooked but not over-cooked and French fries are tasty. The non-stick interior, though common these days, makes for easy clean-up. The basket is sturdy and clips to the edge when draining. The basket handle is removable and can be stored inside the cooker along with the cord.

With the smaller size the oil gets hot relatively quickly and this cooker is something to use without having to plan too much ahead. Though we try to watch the quantity of fried foods we eat, this will fit right in when we need to cure a craving. T-fal has come through again with a well made and thought out product.
177425
I received this as a wish-list gift last year, and I'm in love with it.
I like to have cooked, not cooking itself. I hate to be standing over a pot, or watching things to make sure it doesn't burn. No one really discussed how hard it is to burn anything in this cooker. It's probably my favorite feature, overall. I'm so sick of scouring stove-top pans from rice, steel cut oats, and custards, but now I use the pot-in-pot method, and I never have any pots to clean at all. Just the dish, which I use for serving. So easy to clean! That alone makes it worth the purchase price for me, but it doesn't stop there.
All the great things that other people have raved about are true. I love having perfectly cooked grains, beans, soups, eggs and veggies in so little time. I'm an impatient eater, and I hate planning hours ahead for a meal for myself. This makes it so easy to eat in a hurry.
I never liked beans before, but a cup of soaked black beans, about a half a bottle of barbecue sauce, and enough water to cover the beans to a depth of about an inch makes the best beans I've ever had. Yeah, two ingredients and water. Whoda thunk it? You can dress them up, too, but when you're in a hurry, why bother? (Good additions are pearl barley, onions, tomatoes, garlic, and, at the very end, sweet potatoes.)
I had a few frozen chicken drumsticks, threw in a cup of water and most of a jar of Trader Joe's green curry simmering sauce, and I could not believe how much better the meat tasted than doing it on the stovetop.
I now have a second pressure cooker, one that I found at a thrift store, and now I can make dinner in one pot, and rice or dessert in the other. I hardly ever use my 'burners' anymore. I use pop-in-pot method to reheat leftovers, too. I'm seriously thinking of getting rid of my microwave.
Last night, I steamed a whole winter squash on the rack, then removed it, cleaned it out, threw the squash meat back into the pot, with some chicken stock and peeled, cut-up apples, and cooked it for another 6 minutes. An immersion blender made it into a very easy, delicious soup, which is going to be the base tonight for sausage stew. Yum. Gotta go!
240351
Right now, I've used it twice; so we're in the 'shake-down cruise stage' of getting to know each other and not yet at the point to see if some of the other product reviewers are accurate about when it stops working.  Other than that, I've very happy with its appearance, design and features.  This is my 4th crockpot/slow cooker in some 30 years; the first a Regal Mardi Gras Pot O' Plenty (which I quickly got rid of because it never 'slow cooked'); my trusty, reliable Rival 5 qt. Crock Pot (we did a lot of fine cookin' together, then a Rival 3.5 qt. Crock Pot (to accommodate RV living and smaller space to stow an appliance and less fridge-freezer space for left-overs).  Well, the 3.5 kept over-flowing and so it was time to re-invent the wheel.  I'm not disappointed with my decision to up-grade to 6 qts; although I 'thought' the model I selected had a 'hinged lid' which would have been a convenience given space limitations.  It doesn't.  The other thing is the removable insert.  It doesn't look very 'clay or crock-like' and is black; yes, matching its steel-gray exterior.  My concern is -- and I hope I'm wrong -- that while made in Taiwan, the paint or whatever is used to create the black color, isn't something we're going to read about as a health hazard some day.  About the unit itself; I've made two items; a brisket using the thermal probe and the other, German Short Ribs experimenting with 'programming'.  The brisket turned to its pre-set internal temperature in about 4 hours or less and held at "warm" approximately another 8 hours until it was time for dinner.  The meat was this side of rare and a real disappointment. One of two things may have happened: (1) the slab of brisket was too thin to work with a thermal probe or 2) the probe doesn't work properly. Regardless, I'll continue to experiment and we'll soon learn which is which. The thin metal construction of the probe itself and its 'wire connection' to the appliance, is kind-of 'thin and flimsy' compared to the thermal probe  with my mid-1980's JC Penny's combo microwave-convection oven.  The second item prepared was my favorite German Short Ribs and they were dee-licious!  The recipe suggested 6-8 hours and while I violated the basic rule of slow cooking -- fill no more than 1/2-2/3 to the top with some 5 lbs of beef short ribs -- I set it for 7 hours and then, it held nicely at "warm" the few hours later at dinner time.  And here's my biggest gripe: "When was the last time you purchased a product without an accessory guide?"  Well, this will be the one.  The Rival 5 qt or the 3.5 had a little booklet for convenient inserts, like a "meat rack" to keep things off the base and from sitting in the juices or a carrying case or a dust cover and those things just isn't available with the Hamilton Beach.  So, I've got to find an appropriate trivet and something to keep the campground dust off it when on an open shelf.  But good news and bad news: The 'good news' is that sent an e-mail to customer service inquiring about an accessory guide and they responded faster than a microwave cooks fish and said they'd mail one to me.  The 'bad news' is that when it arrived, it wasn't an accessory guide, rather a photocopy off the Internet of some of the recipes for it.  Wellll...another e-mail exchange and I learned they simply don't have an accessory guide.  Come-on Hamilton Beach -- let's get some business savvy here.  It would have received a preliminary "5 Stars" but for the issue with the thermal probe, that it didn't have the 'hinged lid' I though was the items I 'clicked-on' and NO accessory guide.  Kudos, however, to the quick response by Customer Service at Hamilton Beach!
784136
I am so glad I researched Crock-Pots before choosing one. What sold me on this particular model was the fact that I could choose however long I need it to cook in 30 minute increments at either high or low and that it would it go into 'warm' mode once the cooking cycle was completed. Some of the primary complaints about other models with fewer options focused on the downside of pre-set times for either high or low so I decided I wanted more leeway, and this model gives me just that. I've already used this several times and consider it money well-spent. My old slow cooker (the kind that sits on a separate base) is now history since I never thought it did a good job. My only complaint about this slow cooker? The torture that comes with having to smell the delectable odors emanating from it while it cooks! My husband says he will lodge a formal complaint - nudge, nudge, wink, wink!
1785924
It is the perfect cooker for one (or two) people.  Made a few dishes, chili, beef stew and lentil soup....all came out great. I stuck to my own recipes.
I would like if there was a light for the on and off,otherwise I like it a lot.
4790233
Even at my age I don't like doing many things slowly.  No leisurely soaks in the tub for me, no strolling when a brisk walk will do, no yoga if aerobics and weights are available, heck, I even did that meet-and-marry thing pretty quickly decades ago.  So the only thing I usually do slowly is to "repent at leisure" when my haste didn't work out so well.  (Not the "marry" thing.  It's lasted 45 years so far.)

Anyway, headed into my seventh decade of life, I realized I've never used a slow cooker.  It's not exactly on my bucket list, but when I saw this available to review, I did get mildly excited about it.  (Mildly.  It is just a slow cooker, after all.)

So far I have a very favorable impression of this cooker.  Visually it's very attractive, with shiny chrome base unit, glass lid, a black stoneware cooking pot and a sleek electronic control area.  And it's user-friendly and easy to program.  Set the heat with the mode selector button on the left, then the time with the up or down arrows in the center.  (The power on/off button is on the right if you wish to turn the cooker off manually before the time you've set is up.)  When cooking with this, once the cooker has reached the time you've set it for, it will set itself to warm automatically and stay there for four hours.

I haven't used this yet for anything that required more than 5 hours at the high temperature selection so I can't address the complaint of some users that the cooker shuts itself off.  It hasn't done for me but that could be an issue when setting this for 8 or more hours of cook time.  If in my later cooking experiments, I encounter this problem I'll add that info to this review.

I'm very happy with my cooking results so far.  One of my biggest successes has been slow-cooked rice pudding.  It's the most delicious and creamiest I've ever made, better than stove top or oven prepared.  One important thing to remember when slow cooking is not to use as much liquid as you would on the stove top.  There's very little loss of liquid with the slow cooker so you don't want to end up with soup if your goal was stew.

The manual that comes with this cooker has only two recipes in it.  You can access more at the Bella website or just any website that offers slow cooker recipes.  That's how I found my rice pudding recipe (actually there were dozens to be found when googling).

I have found this to be a satisfactory slow cooker.  It is, of course, my very first slow cooker so I have nothing to compare it too.
1595534
After several unsuccessful meals cooked in a different slow cooker, we researched the market, and bought this Crock-Pot brand as a replacement. It works! Food cooks evenly throughout. The timer can be set up to 12 hours (real slooooow cooking), the unit itself is attractive in design, and if the recipe directions are followed, the food comes out as promised. Who knew?

Beware: the outside of the cooker gets extremely hot to the touch, and even the handles are too hot to handle without hot pads. Also, the shiny finish on the stainless steel cooker shows stains. I'd prefer a burnished finish, but the unit doesn't come in that finish.
3125648
I have been cooking with pressure cookers for around 30 years. My mother and grandmother consistently cooked with pressure cookers. I have used Mirro, Presto, Fagor. I just bought this Imusa and am most satisfied with it. Some of the others would sputter and spit, making a mess until enough pressure built up to form a tight seal. This did not sputter or spit, and formed a tight seal quickly. There is no residue on the lid or outside of the cooker when complete. I just cooked a wonderful beef stew in it in 15 minutes start to finish. The multiple safety valves seem to work well and make me comfortable with using it. The only thing that might bother some people is that it makes a faint whistling sound while under pressure. Sort of like a whistling tea kettle - but very faint and not piercing. One nice addition to this one is that there is a strainer cap that fits over the pressure hole, to prevent items from plugging up that hole, which should be very advantageous. The capacity of this cooker would be ideal for a large pot roast.

My only disappointment is that the directions were very sparse, and there was not a recipe booklet included (I like to get recipe booklets specific to an appliance). I would definitely recommend that anyone who has not used a pressure cooker get one that includes a recipe/detailed instruction booklet. It is essential to have good instructions for cooking things like beans and rice in a pressure cooker. However, an experienced pressure cooker user should be quite satisfied with this sturdy product. I bout a Fagor a couple years ago, and the flimsy plastic parts broke quickly, rendering it unsafe to use.
1630605
This is a fantastic cooker.  I have experimented with this puppy since I got it. Fabulous.
4798026
Summary Review:  A fantastic basic slow cooker.  Simple to use with high, low, and warm settings, this cooker is larege enough to handle everything Ive tried to cook in it.  Standard recipes Ive used have all listed the necessary cooking time perfectly.

Pros:
 Large capacity
 Simple to use; basic controls
 Even heating; recipe times always work perfectly
 Easy cleanup in the dishwasher
 Great value for the price

Cons:
 A bit unwieldy in storage due to lid clips

I bought the Hamilton Beach Stay or Go 6-Quart Slow Cooker (33262) five years ago and must say it has performed beautifully, especially considering the price.  It gets heavy use from me, once or twice a week EVERY week.  Its big enough for me to cook just about everything in it, from 6 quarts of chili to a good-sized roast.  The clips on the side are used to secure the lid when you transport the slow cooker (not used when cooking), and have worked well the time or two that Ive used them.  For standard sloshing around in the car it has been fine with no leaks at all.

Ive found that following many recipes I find on the Internet, the suggested cook time works fine, with everything cooked through but not over-cooked.  Ive cooked all your standard slow cooker recipes in this, from beef stew to chili to cheese dip, and everythings come out perfectly.  As an added bonus, Hamilton Beachs website has great recipes, especially their Slow Cooker Gridiron Chili, with which I won the annual chili cook-off at work.  I routinely store leftovers in the fridge still in the crock with the included lid on top; the rubber gasket seals it just fine.  Cleanup is super simple, too.  Just rinse out the crock and the lid and stick them in the dishwasher.

The only drawbacks Ive seen over the years are it takes up a good bit of storage in my medium-sized apartment kitchen cabinet, mostly caused by the clips for the lid, which stick up and out to the sides.

Overall Im very pleased with this slow cooker, and if I was in the market for another one Id buy the Hamilton Beach Stay or Go 6-Quart Slow Cooker again without hesitation.  Highly recommended!
2471619
A good little cooker. It DOES know when to switch to warm without overcooking the rice! That's better than I can do on my own...
1258405
This is for people who know rice is not just rice. For the price you'd expect a lot and that's perfectly fine because this cooker cooks rice and porridge consistently perfect. Aside from that it's also good looking, easy to clean and I'm actually quite happy with it's size, I cook for 1-2 people at a time.

My only gripe is when I press the 'cook' button the song is twinkle twinkle little star, I wish the stainless/black model had a more manly song; like valkyrie.
2098027
This is a value priced rice cooker, and performs as such. A nice bonus? It includes a saute feature for cooking veggies and such. It works well, but...it was important for me to experiments with the liquid to rice ratio. Once I figured out the optimal ratio, everything turned out pretty tasty, and surprisingly...not scorched. The exterior is attractive and compact, and the interior surfaces is very non-stick. Yes, it's true that this rice cooker isn't going to set the world on fire with professional grade extras or fancy settings to infuse your quinoa with aromatic herbs, but if you're looking for an appliance that you can fill, set up, walk away, and come back to a pot of nicely cooked rice, this one fits the bill.
3008440
I love this cooker!  It browns, then pressure cooks meats in minutes!  I've made many "one dish" meals since purchasing it and wonder how I ever did without it.  I've raved about it so much other family members have bought one!  It's the best small appliance purchase I've ever made.
2021243
I see my review is not necessarily needed to support this product, but I will add to the rave reviews anyway.

It's a a great slow cooker that does everything! These are a couple of my favorite features:

-The size is excellent! (I know, I know, "That's what she said...")

-The fasteners on the top! I really didn't think these were necessary at first, but now that I've loaded this thing up I can say that those fasteners are awesome for holding contents and more importantly heat inside!

-I haven't used the meat probe, but it's a great concept. I like how it's detachable so you don't have to have it dangling off the side of your slow cooker if you don't plan on using it.

-The appearance. Ya, it is solid looking. However, once you remove the ceramic insert it weighs next to nothing.

-The controls are very intuitive and easy to use! No need to hang on to the manual. There are 6 buttons.

-My previous cooker didn't have a timer or digital reader (it was old school), this is an awesome upgrade!