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Strengths: Great design and unique, top quality construction
Weaknesses: Absolutely none!
Summary: After reviewing virtually every slow cooker out there and visiting various stores to see things in person, I kept coming back to the Breville Slow Cooker because it looked interesting and different. Breville is an Australian/Canadian company, and their products aren't widely distributed yet in American stores. However, after seeing a Breville rice cooker (but not the slow cooker) in Macy's recently (only Breville product they had), and seeing how much nicer it looked than all the other brands I'd seen, I decided to order the 5.3 quart oval Breville slow cooker sight unseen from cooking.com. It arrived in about a week and was the most beautifully made slow cooker I've seen. Brushed chrome on the outside, a nice deep brownish-black oval crock with easy-clean finish, and a tempered glass lid with a big easy-hold knob which does NOT fall into the pot like some others apparently do. The crock part is designed in a way that tiny bits of steam can be released without really noticing it, so there is no need for the steam vent on top like other crocks have. The lip on the crock is large enough that the lid fits well and won't topple into the pot. Even the metal inner walls of the pot itself are a smooth finish dark brown color (easy to wipe any spills off it) and not the bare, ugly aluminum like the other cookers. The outside does get hot--this is a "given" with crock pots and wrap-around heating elements, unfortunately, but the heat doesn't seem excessive and the side handles are designed with a protective shape so that if you do pick the whole thing up, you won't accidentally burn your fingers. Everything cools down quickly when you turn it all off. This cooker has an "on" light and the solidly functioning knob has 4 settings: off-warm-low-high. The cooker is designed with wrap around heating elements for completely even heat. No heating coils on the bottom so no bottom burning! I thought at first the 5.3 quart size might be too large, but after making a lot of recipes in it, even several small recipes designed for a 3 quart pot, I've decided it's a pretty useful size and appropriate for most recipes. There are no hot spots and everything cooks beautifully. There's a nice difference between the low and high setting, and the high is not too extreme. The cord has a special "easy remove" plug....first I've seen of this type and it's great...should be on every product. This is just a lovely, well made, superbly functioning product and when they release their 3.5 quart smaller size later this year I think I'll get that one too, just for really small recipes I like to make. I really do believe this slow cooker is heads above every other cooker out there, not only based on the high quality and uniquely different construction, but also in the perfect way it cooks the food. I am using this several times each week now, and it's fabulous. I hope Breville becomes more well known and more widely available in this country. I paid $39 for this cooker, by the way. The other brands look kind of cheap and cheesy by comparison to this lovely product. I'm in slow cooker heaven! The only thing I cannot comment on at this time is how well it holds up over time. Since my previous crockpot is a 1975 Rival non-removable type (all coils in the bottom, not good in so many ways!!) which is still working fine, I expect these things last a long time if you don't drop and break anything!
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