Hamilton Beach 33141 4-Quart Oval Slow Cooker (Discontinued)

I had been shopping for a slow cooker for months and finally purchased the Hamilton 4 Qt. because I liked the size, oval, and the easy knob temperatures it had (warm, low, high). The knobs I think are more flexible when it comes to cooking times because the crocks with the button control have a preset time. So if you have to cook something for 4 to 6 hrs. and you only have the button of 8 hrs. then it defeats the purpose. I haven't had any problems with the knob falling off but I figured buttons can also malfunction. This is a perfect size for me and my boyfriend and still have plenty of leftovers. The oval shape worked better for me because it gives me more room to fit things than the round one. Seems like the round one you would have to stack more. It is so easy to clean and works perfectly. I love the idea of being able to slow cook my meals while I am at work and ready to eat by the time I get home. I also slow cook meals overnight and ready by morning to take for my lunch. Like I said before, this size is perfect for couples because it is not too big or too small. You can find so many slow cooker recipes online so it's hard to run out of stuff to make. I have been experimenting with so many recipes and I haven't been disappointed yet.

Size: This is the perfect size for 2-3 people with some left overs; 4 people might be pushing it. It is also very easy to store and use as it doesn't take up a lot of space; I have a very small kitchen so this was important. Cleaning: The frame is easy to clean when something is spilled; just a quick wipe-down and you're done. The inside is removable and is also easy to clean. I don't have a dishwasher, but cleaning this by hand is so easy I don't mind doing it. Also with my small kitchen, roommates, and my school schedule there have been days I've had to leave the food sitting in this overnight. The food which would normally be stuck wipes off with ease. Seriously this is the easiest thing I have to clean in my entire kitchen. Cooking: I have had one other slow cooker so I'm not an expert on how well they cook but my recipes taste amazing! This cooks everything pretty evenly. The only problem I had was once I had an emergency arise and I placed the inside (with food) in the fridge for 4 hours then cooked it. The food didn't cook all the way through but honestly I think it was fully my fault. Anything Else: I have one small chip (and I mean small) on the top where I dropped something on it... I drop things a lot and this has withstood my clumsiness. I wouldn't try dropping it on the floor but for me, it seems durable. I use this about 3-4 times a week and has lasted this long, I bought this 8 months ago. I would highly recommend this to family and friends. Just keep in mind the size, and it is not programmable. But if you don't need anything fancy, this is a wonderful slow cooker.

First of all this crock pot cooks way too fast for my intended purpose. I could never put food in it then come back 8 hrs later (which is why I bought it in the first place). Even on the low setting my beef stew would come out leathery after 8 hrs. Actually, mine cooked things so quickly I could have probably just used the stove top on low - or better yet the oven. The knob broke on mine too (within 6 months of purchase) so that it was a real pain to use until I received the replacement - then the replacement knob broke too. The top handle kept on coming unscrewed and I had to tighten it every time I used it. The outside of this product felt like it was very cheaply made and I started to notice cracks in it after I owned it a year. I really enjoy my new Cuisinart slow cooker that I purchased at this site. It was well worth the extra money. Also, if you're like me and want to be able to leave the house for 8 - 9 hrs the Cuisinart has Warm setting so that when your food it finished cooking it will AUTOMATICALLY switch to warm and stop cooking your food. This product has a Warm setting, but you have to manually turn the knob - didn't help me because I wasn't home to turn it.

There are 2 kinds of slow cookers, depending on where the heat source is. This Hamilton Beach unit has heat coils around the sides which stay hot, as opposed to slow cookers with heat sources in the base, which turn on and off intermittently. I have found that with this type of constant heat slow cooker (with the coils around the sides) I don't need to add as much liquid. In fact I cut the liquid (water or stock) by half of what the recipes call for when I use this cooker. The 4 quart size is good for roasts up to 3 or so pounds. If you slow cook chicken or game hens in it, cut the bird up into pieces and remove the skins. Don't slow cook a whole uncut bird (in any kind of slow cooker). This is a nice little slow cooker for a single, a couple, or a small family. I have had no problems with the knob* (as yet). *The knob problem probably arises from the close proximity of the heating element to the knob, as opposed to slow cookers that heat from the bottom, away from the knob... NOVEMBER 2007 UPDATE: We still love this little slow cooker. It is perfect for making Irish beef stews all winter long. The knob on ours has not broken yet but we try to be gentle with it, due to the warnings we read. DECEMBER 2008 UPDATE: We're still using this 4 quart slow cooker. We have used it for a lot of baked beans and slow cooked barbecue beef dishes on the weekends. The knob has not broken yet, but we are not rough with it either. We really like this little slow cooker. FEBRUARY 2009 UPDATE: The cooker still works fine. We have used it once a week or more this winter, for everything from navy beans to chuck roasts. The knob has not broken yet (we are gentle with the knob if it's hot). JANUARY 2010 UPDATE: The cooker still works well and the knob is still intact. Took it to work last Tuesday, cooked stuffed chicken cutlets & veggies in the kitchenette/break room, everybody loved them, there were no leftovers. JANUARY 2012 UPDATE: We're still using this cooker; the knob has not broken. Making franks & slow baked Boston beans for New Years Day football. (Go Pats) MAY 2013 UPDATE: After 6 years, our Hamilton Beach slow cooker is still going strong, including the knob. We're making a short ribs and BBQ chicken slow cooker recipe for supper; it smells great. This cooker was a great buy. We still love it.

I bought this cooker seven months ago, and really liked it. It's quite handsome, and I have no complaints about how it works. I've made many fine meals in it. Sadly, the knob broke a few weeks or a month ago. I glued it back together, but today it broke apart again. I don't think it will take a second gluing any better than the first, so now if I want to use it I have to use pliers or something, and I have to count clicks--which are not as distinct as I'd like--to know quite which setting it's on. Such a shame this otherwise great cooker is now incredibly difficult to use because of such a "small" detail! This was my first full size slow cooker (I have a 1.5 qt one too) and I've learned a couple of things I'll share for people looking for their first. The 4 quart size has been really good. I first bought it when I was living alone, so I'd have lots of leftovers, which I love. Now I live with my boyfriend, and the size is still good--we usually have enough left over for one or both of us to have lunch of it the next day. The oval shape has worked out well also; it's possible to fit larger things in it than I'd be able to in a round cooker of the same volume. My next one, though, will be programmable. I'd thought the feature was silly, because you can only go from high to warm or low to warm, not high to low, or high to low to warm. Now that I have some experience using it, I see that the ability to switch to warm automatically at a certain time would be immensely useful, for those times when a recipe calls for 6 hours on low, but you'll be away from home for 8 hours. Good luck choosing one!

It doesn't matter what type of tool, I want not the most expensive, but the one that does the best job. Reading lots of reviews, this was pointed out as being a great slow cooker. Really usable size, removable heavy crock, multiple heat settings -all that are needed. There is no *On* light, which might be the only improvement. Any light may have been a weak point, so I'm just as happy not having one if it were the only thing that could fail. Works very effectively, have cooked many meals at different settings - extremely happy with all methods. Removable crock makes clean up easy - the most important feature in my book. Don't hesitate - a real winner, and a pleasure to discover slow cooking without pain. I love slow cooking as a solution - I make more meals now because it is easy to assemble a meal, come back six hours later to a finished, spectacular dinner. Discover the joys of slow cooking, or get this cooker to replace your failing slow cooker. Have slow cooked a good sized Chateaubriand, and also meals with beans and legumes - everything comes out perfect! This Slow Cooker is a winner! Would purchase again anytime.

Someone at work convinced me that what my life was missing was a good crock-pot. I looked for the right features - but ignored some obvious trends in the reviews! You get what you deserve if you order this one! I used mine 3 times. Unlike others, I never did get a good meal out of it, but am willing to pass that off as poor cooking skills (despite endless research of slow cooker recipes, advice and some very expensive shopping). All the same, like many others, it was the quality of this that let me down in the pursuit of a good slow-cooker meal. My knob cracked and broke on my second use, it didn't clean well and it does get so hot overall - you have to be careful how you touch it and where you place it. I still remember my parents old orange one - that didn't look so good, or have so many features then - but surely had greater functionality! I highly recommend you look elsewhere for a more durable model than this one! It's just not up to expectations for the brand!

I read a lot of reviews before settling on this slow cooker. I had been using a Crock Pot (while living with someone else) that was really annoying because "Low" was really "High," and if you wanted to cook something slowly, you'd have to use the "Keep Warm" setting and hope it would work. Awful. What if you really wanted to just keep something warm? It would be boiling on that setting. Then the handle on the lid came off and couldn't easily be fixed due to the design. In the past, I have also used slow cookers whose handles broke off in the first few months, probably because the heat made the plastic brittle. So for that reason and also because of not wanting to get burned or melt something nearby, I wanted a unit that didn't get too hot on the outside. I see all the above complaints in many reviews of slow cookers. This unit solves all those problems! The handle design makes it easy to pick up and move, the heat settings seem accurate, it doesn't get too hot on the outside, and the size is great for a single person, couple, or small family. The black ceramic got a light-colored film on it after the first couple of times I used it, and at first I thought it was somehow damaged (it looked like the black surface was worn off), but after some careful scrubbing, it turned out to be a light residue that had been sort of baked on. After several uses, it's still looking great and I expect to get years of good use.

Excelente producto. De mis mejores compras. Deja la carne muy suave. Sin lugar a dudas una gran herramienta para cocinar.

Funciona súper bien , llego en excelentes condiciones

Buenísima

Excelente Producto!

Sería bueno poner recetas