Crock-Pot 8-Quart Manual Slow Cooker, XL Family Size Serves 10+ People, Removable Stoneware with Warming Setting, Dishwasher Safe for Easy Cleanup, Stainless Steel

I wanted a BIG slow cooker since *for some reason* my family of six insists on eating three meals a day Every. Single. Day. Ugh! Luckily my MIL recognized my struggle and bought me the fanciest device I’d ever seen for Christmas: A Calphalon 7 Qt Digital Slow Cooker. I was in love with it… at first. Then I noticed liquid seeping into the base after each use. Long story short, after three complimentary replacement parts I still had a broken appliance and Calphalon wrote me an E-mail using the exact words: “...Calphalon has made the decision to stop producing electronics...” then issued me a refund. I turned around and bought a MaxiMatic 8 qt Slow Cooker (go big or go home, right?). It cooked waaaaay too hot (it boiled liquid on the lowest setting in under 5 minutes!) then stopped working entirely after a few months. I received my refund, bought this Crock-pot… and the rest, as they say, is history! How does this one compare to the others? It’s HUGE. …but not as big as the MaxiMatic. Both slow cookers claim to be eight quart size but in reality eight quarts of liquid fills the Crock-pot all the way to the lip of the lid, which isn’t realistic for actually cooking that much liquid. Still, it’s pretty HUGE, especially compared to Calphalon’s biggest size (7 quart). The MaxiMatic gives you a little extra room above the eight quart point BUT… Crock-pot has better temperature control. In the Crock-pot “Low” could cook a 4 lb pot roast all day (6+ hours). On “High” it cooks in about 4 hours. “Warm” keeps it warm. The MaxiMatic, on the other hand, cooks it in less than 2 hours ON LOW (and it leaves the meat tough as rubber) and the MaxiMatic “high” setting approaches temperatures comparable to the depths of Hell. Calphalon had accurate temps but it didn’t make up for the constant leaking, smaller crock and lack of customer support. The outside is very hot. This is one of those “duh” moments. Anything that cooks WILL get hot. Don’t touch hot things. Don’t put them near the edge of the counter where kids can touch them. Again: Duh! The Calphalon is the only model on the market that claims to be “cool to the touch” and guess what? It’ll still burn the crud out of you! It’s not as hot as other brands, but it’ll still do damage if you touch it, especially on the exposed areas of the crock liner. So as much as everyone complains about this aspect, I have to wonder if their moms never used the old 70’s Crock-pots with the wheat patterned orange shells that made delicious soup and seared the flesh off your bones if you touched them (so you just didn’t touch them). Shoot, my mom STILL uses hers. The moral of the story? Grow up! And stop shopping for cooking appliances that don’t feel hot. There is no timer. This is NOT a digital slow cooker. “Digital” slow cookers have specific temperature controls, fancy timers and auto shutoff options. They also break down faster, have things go wrong more often and (if they are Calphalon brand) their manufacturer discontinues selling them completely. There’s a reason those 70’s Crock-pots that I mentioned previously still walk the earth serving fondue at your grandma’s Bridge Club potlucks: simplicity. There are no buttons on this Crockpot. There is no digital screen. There is only a single knob with four options: Off, Warm, Low, High... Just like Grandma’s Crock-pot! What you give up in convenience you’ll make up for in durability, longevity and simplicity though. And you’ll just have to be *slightly* less lazy than slow cooker “dump it, leave it, eat it” style cooking permits by, you know, setting a timer. ::Ding:: The crock liner is dishwasher safe. MaxiMatic and Crock-pot both allow their stoneware crock liners to be washed in the dishwasher. Calphalon does not. But even with dedicated handwashing, the Calphalon liner developed hairline cracks. Twice. The MaxiMatic did too, after a few months of regular use. This Crock-pot has been used and run through the dishwasher every other day (literally) since I bought it and has absolutely no issues whatsoever. I also notice the glaze on the stoneware is much more even on the Crock-pot. It had thin spots, pits and irregularities in both the MaxiMatic and the Calphalon. I have to assume there is better quality control on the manufacturing end at Crock-pot. That pretty much sums it up though. If anything changes, breaks, acts up, smells funny or does anything else unusual I’ll be sure to update this review. As it stands though, no news is good news. Buy this Crock-pot. You can thank me later. UPDATE: I bought this 8 quart Crock-pot through Amazon in December 2016. As of today, January 15th 2018, it is still running strong. I continue to use it several times a week and always run the crock liner and lid through the dishwasher. It is still as temperature-reliable as the day I first unboxed it and continues to be my favorite appliance... and that's big, considering I also own a Kitchenaid mixer AND an Instant Pot (but the Instant Pot hisses at me and the mixer gives everyone dirty looks). If you haven't bought one yet, you definitely need more pot roast in your life. And beans. Which BTW, this puppy can easily fit 2 lbs of dry pinto beans (hint: Use ham hocks! And shred the meat into the beans before serving. All other beans will be ruined for you after that). I'll continue abusing my Crock-pot and updating my review if anything changes though, because SCIENCE!

I'm writing a review for this that we bought two years ago. We use it very often and it had worked great. Not the biggest crock pot ever, but works for what we need and we have a large family. Easy to clean and we put it in the dishwasher as well.

This has given me back so much time when it comes to meal prepping and the amount of money it has saved me by me not having to get takeout has paid for itself. I cook 5 pounds of chicken breasts for the next three days cut up into smaller squares in this thing and they come out excellent with a very easy cleanup afterwards. This has saved me countless hours and money, and made eating healthier and more budget friendly a piece of cake WITHOUT involving that much more time. You can also do other things while you cook, so multi tasking becomes a breeze!

I got this appliance for holiday cooking because I have a large family to make dinner for and like to keep things ultra simple on Christmas Eve. Not only is this unit massive enough to cook a ham, it also is very easy to clean and cooks very well. The Keep Warm feature is also great if you have a little more complicated slow cooker recipe which requires you to remove meat from the juices in order to make a sauce. Making chicken piccata on Christmas Eve, I kept the meat warm with this and made the sauce in a separate slow cooker. This unit is worth the money.

These things get SUPER HOT! it is NOT a slow cooker, it is a FAST cooker [Unless you put it on WARM. Low/High is not much differnce on mine]. It works well as a fast cooker and not as well as a slow cooker. ALSO Watch the OUTSIDE metal of the pot. This can BURN you badly because the isolation is poor. Overall I do like it, it is just not the SLOW cooker i though i was buys

I read all the reviews saying this pot ran hot. Bought it anyway as have/and had plenty of crock pots. the pot actually boiled on low! As reviewed by others the outside ran very hot. I was again surprised at how hot. The glass lid is think and I doubt it will hold up with time. This was a total waste of money for me and I would not recommend giving it a try. As much as I wanted an 8 qt or larger crockpot and hoped that the reviews were a bit wrong, they were all right and not exaggerated in any way. Surely some manufacturer could make a better slow cooker than this. I will go back to my small 6 qt Hamilton Beach Stay and Go. Have used for years and so far no real issues except too small for some items. If anyone has a better manufacturer, let me know. UPDATED REVIEW... in fairness I first panned this crockpot HOWEVER since I kept it, I used it several times since. It is heavy, does get very hot, lid is a bit thin and yes, with larger capacity it should. The price is reasonable and having the extra capacity is a definite advantage since my favorite 6 qt Hamilton Beach just can't hold what I need to prepare. For capacity alone it is worth the downsides.

Great

I waited until I used this a couple times to write a review. The first time I used it I placed it on my countertop which is Corian. The Crock-Pot got so hot that it cracked my countertop!! If you know anything about Corian you know that’s almost impossible to do. The second time I used it I placed it on my stove top figuring since I wasn’t using my stove that day it would be safe up there. Again, it got so hot that the handle on the crockpot melted! This is not normal and now since I’m past the return date I will be calling the manufacturer. My very first Crock-Pot is over 30 years old, I use it all the time and it runs perfectly. I purchased this one because every so often I need the larger capacity. My suggestion is to never, ever buy things types if items through Amazon. Go to a store so if anything goes wrong they can rectify the issue. The few dollars you save isn’t worth the hassle. UPDATE: Contacted the manufacturer several times. ZERO resolution! They kept blaming me for the malfunction. “Did you do this? Did you do that?” NO! I plugged it in and it cracked my countertop then melted its own knobs!! This was all because under no circumstances did they want to return my money. They wanted to send me another one. Oh, okay... maybe this time my house will burn down. Once I said ‘no’ to that option, never heard from them again - even after several more attempts to contact them. It’s simple... JUST DON’T.

This is a great CrockPot and is a great value for the money. It is a large pot that feeds 10 people or produces a lot of meals for the freezer. It's also easy to use with the 3 settings...you don't need a college degree to run it...it's simple and reliable.

a great product and works awsome when i am away

Love it. I purchased this as it was to replace my old one that was 30+ years old. It’s perfect for making soups, stews, spaghetti sauce, roast, large chicken etc. Easy to clean and easy to use. Let’s see if this one lasts for 30+ years! Lol!!

Works great

Gifted this to my mom cause I accidentally broke her old one hahah, love the 8quart cause it gives us a little more room to cook in! It’s super easy to clean and cook with! The crockpot came fast too so I didn’t have to wait too long! Super great price too!