Product Description

Great food takes time something you just don't have. KitchenAid's patient slow cooker does most of the work for you, gently heating the most tender roasts and sumptuous stews you've ever tasted. Just fill the 7-quart ceramic pot with your favorite ingredients, program the 10-hour timer with digital display and let the 400-watt heating element slowly simmer your meal to perfection. The 5-setting cook and serve control keeps food warm until it's ready to serve. Hassle-free one-year replacement warranty.

Product Details

• Brand: KitchenAid

Features

• Electronic temperature management system
• Food temperature alert
• Includes glass lid with large handle and soft seal

Customer Reviews

BEWARE!! - My crock cracked during 3rd use
After my experience, I looked up KitchenAid's website. There they have a forum and a special thread for those who have had their crocks crack. Some people are on their 3rd replacement and the crocks are cracking in the same place every time.

MY REVIEW:
I bought this KitchenAid slow cooker in black and I really had to talk myself into buying it because it was so expensive. I kept telling myself you get what you pay for. Well, tonight I want to cry because I had just started a pork roast to cook overnight. After leaving the kitchen, my husband and I both heard a loud pop. I went back and found my slow cooker leaking liquid all over the place. I took out the crock, turned it upside-down and found a winding crack all along the bottom.

I've only owned my KitchenAid slow cooker for about 2 weeks and the crack occurred during the third time I used it. At this point I don't know if I want a replacement slow cooker directly from KitchenAid or whether I want to return the slow cooker to Amazon for a refund. If I got a replacement, I would be nervous to leave it on overnight or when I leave home, which is the whole benefit of having a slow cooker. Worrying about your slow cooker that has a retail price of $150 doesn't seem like a very good value to me.

Great slow cooker
After my old Rival slowcooker stopped working, i decided to get one that didn't boil or run so hot. And I wanted a bigger one.

The KitchenAid one cost more (take 25 off with Amazon) but I like that it has a simmer setting that is great for soups.

Pluses: Huge. The lid seals to the pan so no steam escapes. Digital timer. Looks nice. Programmable timer. Cool on outside. Maintains proper temperature.

I've cooked twice with it and the results were excellent.

The prior reviewer commented it was too heavy to take to potluck with her. Well..yeah. Get something smaller for that. It's absurd to rank this product based on that.

UPDATE: WARNING ABOUT QUALITY PROBLEMS; Beautiful & Well Designed
NOTE: AMAZON DOES NOT LET YOU CHANGE THE NUMBER OF STARS WHEN YOU EDIT A REVIEW. IF I WERE ABLE TO, I WOULD CHANGE MY REVIEW TO 2 STARS

INITIAL REVIEW (NOV 06)
I bought this about 6 weeks ago and have used it several times. It is huge & well laid out. The oblong design makes it easier to work with large cuts of meats -- they can be laid on their side instead of on end with many other slow cookers. What I especially like -- what makes it worth the $$-- is that it can be set to a warming mode after the cooking cycle is done. It is also beautiful -- very modern looking, not like some kind of 70's throwback.

UPDATE (FEB 08):
I have owned this slow cooker for over a year. I have loved it. The last time I used it, I had a big burned glob of sauce on one side and when I took out the ceramic pot, there was burned sauced oozed all over the cooker. It was a mess. My pot has a hairline crack running all along one side. I assumed that someone had cracked it while washing & went to the Kitchen Aid site to buy a replacement. There I read on a customer forum (and now see here in all the 1 star reviews), that there is clearly a manufacturing defect in the ceramic pots. I called Kitchen Aid and politely asked for a replacement, letting them know that I had read about all the other problems. They are replacing it at no charge for "customer satisfaction". No manufacturer would do that for out of warranty product unless they knew they had a problem. Based on others comments, it sounds likely that the replacement pot could crack again.

UPDATE (OCT 08):
The crock cracked again under normal use. I called KitchenAid customer service and they sent me a new crock at no charge. They said the cooker was out of warranty but the crock was in warranty so I was entitled to a no charge replacement.

CONCLUSION:
That said, there are features of this pot that I like very, very much -- I love the automatic setting (2 hours on high to get to temperature, then switching to low), the "keep warm" feature, and the "buffet" mode. I also love the design and the size of the pot. I would not recommend this slow cooker though to someone buying it for the first time -- I would suggest waiting to see if Kitchen Aid can resolve their quality issues. They clearly know that they have a problem with this device.

As long as KA will keep sending me free crocks, I will continue to use this cooker but I won't pay for any replacement parts. If they don't redesign the unit, I will buy another model of slow cooker when that time comes.