Cuisinart Slow Cooker Review

Works just fine. Maybe others bought from a terrible production run?
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
My fiance and I have had in mind for awhile to buy a slow cooker. We received a $100 gift certificate for a retailer – known more for their smarminess than their affordable pricing — and thought this would be the perfect thing to spend it on. This retailer in particular only had two models of slow cookers to choose from, this one and a 5 quart DeLonghi. I like the DeLonghi brand well enough — but we thought the cooker was kind of hideous looking. So is the Cuisinart, truth be told.

There were only a handful of features that helped guide our choice. First was the extra quart-and-a-half capacity. The programmable heating settings also seemed like they could be useful. This slow cooker also comes with a cooking rack for when you’re doing a roast. Ultimately what convinced us to go with this model was the fact that it’s huge enough TO do a roast — you have room enough to do a whole chicken.

When we got home we immediately checked amazon to see how terribly we’d been ripped off. Oddly enough — it was the same price. But — the reviews shocked us. How can a slow cooker get such horrible reviews when all it has to do is get hot and stay hot? We freaked out a bit and nearly ran back to return it.

Like most people who bother to read reviews on amazon — you’re probably aware that typically some of the terrible reviews are people just mouthing off, or rating the product based some other terrible experience they’ve had, or they haven’t read the user manual for their device and are in the process of breaking it themselves. There might be a terrible review or two like this here, for the Cuisinart. But otherwise — people are saying some frightening things — namely, that the Cuisinart doesn’t cook the food.

As for this slow cooker being terribly engineered or made cheaply — I’m not sure where that comes from. Look at it this way; this cooker holds a huge, thick, 6.5 quart ceramic bowl. The bowl itself can not be confused for cheap. The brushed stainless steel unit that it fits into likewise has to be huge. So, you have this huge steel unit and it’s only function is to get hot. Do heating coils take up a lot of room? No, they don’t. Are they heavy? No, they’re not. If if the opinion of cheap is coming from the fact that the base is huge and feels hollow — then in my opinion they are not being very honest.

The only complaint I can make is that the programmable buttons are keypad type buttons. I would have preferred actual push-in surface buttons, but when you reckon about it — the keypad style is much simpler to clean up AND prevents moisture from any spilled liquids from getting inside.

Regarding the “permanent” fingerprints — I’m not sure how that phenomenon can really take place. I just wiped the unit down and it looks completely new again. Just because it’s brushed stainless steel doesn’t mean it won’t get fingerprints.

Anyway, we chose to keep the cooker and we’re glad we did. I threw together some chicken soup last night and we each had a tasty bowl of it this morning. Everything was cooked perfectly — the carrots were soft and flavorful and the chicken melted away from the bone. I have no complaints or regrets. I would have given it five stars if it were just a tad prettier..

The Food Never Cooked
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
Tried twice to cook a meal in the Cuisinart. The food never cooked! The first time I made a cabbage dish and the cabbage never cooked, even after 8 hours on high. The second time I made beef stew and left it on 8 hours at high and overnight on warm- the vegetables never got soft.

I was lucky because the store I bought it from took it back even though it was more than thirty days. I had never used a crock pot before so I thought it was my error. By the second time, I realized something was incorrect and called Cuisinart. They said nobody had ever complained that the food was not fully cooked.

So I will consider buying another crockpot but certainly not the Cuisinart.

Over priced and Poorly Engineered!
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
I read many reviews before deciding to buy the “Cuisinart PSC-650 6.5 Quart Programmable Slow Cooker”, in brushed stainless steel. I noticed right after buy in 2008, that the cheaply made “stainless” steel exterior stained from finger oils when you touch it. These staines were permanent. The steel bowl underneath the crock pot was not of excellent quality. After the first use, the ceramic crock was washed, dried and returned to the base. I removed the crock before the next use, and saw that the bowl underneath had rusted. To make matters worse, the unit would not power up after 6 uses. I took it apart to find a cheap piece of rolled tin supporting the crock, and two small pieces of insulation. The electronic components were not sufficiently protected against the heat emitted from the unit while in use. Using this crock pot burns out its electrical components! In my opinion, this crock pot should not have been priced at more than $30.

My friend also bought this unit, at the same time. She said if the power goes out, and comes back on, the unit does not turn back on. Since we were both infrequent crock pot users, the warranty had expired when both units quit working. These are now in the land fill.

On the otherhand, if you only want to use the crock pot a few times, it has some fantastic features.

SIMPLY DOES NOT WORK!!!
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
The lid does not fit, most often the steam goes out which kills the whole purpose of a slow cooker. Only the first two times, the meat was really tender and cooked slowly. After that, it started cooking up the whole thing in an hour, very hard and dry. Same meat, same sauce, and the lowest setting, still doesn’t work. Such a huge waste of money and counter space.

DON’T BUY THIS ITEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
This was bought as a wedding gift for us. We attempted to use it for just the third time today. When we came home from work, the show had E1 on it. What does E1 mean? Don’t know. It isn’t in the manual. Call customer service and they have no thought either. Want a supervisor? Grab a snack, take a seat, and use your speakerphone – it’s gonna be awhile. Why would you need to speak to a supervisor? Customer service will tell you the item needs to be sent back for a replacement – on top of the $10 fee for sending a replacement, you also have to pay to ship the item back. This isn’t a featherweight item – shipping is gonna cost you. (I tried to give this zero stars but Amazon wouldn’t let me.)

You’ve got to be kidding me!
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
I chose to spend more money to buy a Cuisinart slow cooker because it is a name brand known for its’ quality. I was very dissapointed when I went to make a meal and the slow cooker did not work. It would not even come on. I will reckon twice before buying a Cuisinart product in the future.