Crock-Pot SCVP600-SS 6-Quart Smart-Pot Programmable Slow Cooker, Stainless Steel
by Crockpot
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Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of Crock-Pot SCVP600-SS 6-Quart Smart-Pot Programmable Slow Cooker, Stainless Steel
Customer Review: Nancee Swatyz
Summary: 3 Stars
Nancee Swartz. For a slow cooking device, I have found it to be well-made and durable. We have used it for several occasions. It holds 6 quarts which is a medium sized entree and large enough for most produce. It is also made of stainless steel and is easy to clean in the dishwasher. Nancee SwartzCustomer Review: Help! Need the Beef Stew recipe from the booklet!
Summary: 3 Stars
I also own this crock-pot and so far it has served me well! I am in a bind though...I lost my booklet that comes with it and there was a beef stew recipe I used in there a couple times. My husband is really craving it! If anyone could please post the recipe that would be great! Thank you!Customer Review: looks great but works a little TOO well
Summary: 3 Stars
With my busy schedule and trying to ensure my family has a hot meal to come home to even if I am not home I have found this smart pot seems to ALWAYS overcook even on the lowest settings. I am now looking for another brand that will do a better job.Customer Review: Cooks to hot
Summary: 3 Stars
I like the looks and the size of this pot . It did cook a good roast. But..... luckily I was home, because if I wasnt this could be a fire hazard. It boils on LOW, it boils on WARM! Warm means warm .. not BOIL. I took it back!Customer Review: Works well within its issues, needs some truth-in-advertising and a more responsive manufacturer.
Summary: 2 Stars
My wife and I received this as a wedding present a few years ago and we use it fairly regularly. There are good and bad aspects of this product; the good is great, and the bad I've addressed on my own.
First, the good. The heat is surprisingly consistent throughout the pot, and yes I tested it with a thermometer. I found no more than 2-3 degrees inconsistency between any two points throughout the pot. The black ceramic insert is dishwahser-safe and very durable, if not a little heavy. There are four time/temperature settings (4 and 6 hours on high, 8 and 10 hours on low). The glass top, though not unique to this product, makes it easy to see what's going on in the cooker.
The bad depends largely on your perspective. As others have mentioned here the cooker does run hotter than other cookers. What I have done is modified my recipies and cooking habits to adjust for the higher temperatures. Without a doubt there are things I would be unable to cook in this product, which is something of a disappointment. Many slow cooker recipies I've found need to be modified for this cooker, adding more water and/or reducing cooking time to get the desired end result.
One thing this cooker excels at without needing to modify the recipe is soups and stews, though it's certainly not limited to that. I've had great success with several of my own soup recipes which I formerly prepared on a stovetop pot. I've also had wonderful results with brisket, pot roast, pork loin and stews. Chilis are exceptional, though cooking for more than 4-6 hours on low power tends to make the chili lose its sweetness so it's definitely not a set-and-forget deal.
The other two bad things are really objective, so they're bad no matter what you do to the recipe.
The handle on the top is made of plastic with a metal nut set inside of it, with a metal screw going up through the underside of the lid to secure the handle down. On paper this is fine but consider: metal is a good conductor of heat. Plastic is not. The heated screw inevitably weakens the plastic to a point where it breaks. I contacted Rival about it and got the standard "we take your concerns very seriously" boilerplate response. I asked for a replacement handle and was told that they aren't available - in essence, buy a new cooker or deal with it yourself. I opted for the latter approach: I found a black ceramic drawer pull at Lowes, cut its mounting screw down to size, and attached it to the lid. It works perfectly and is in no danger of being affected by heat.
My second big issue is the use of the term "programmable". I have a bread machine which is accurately described as programmable. It allows me to define what type of bread I'm making, when the preparation cycle should start, how dark the crust should be, etc. The actual bread-making cycle takes between 3.5-4 hours depending on my preferences. I could, for example, put my bread ingredients in on Friday evening and have it deliver a perfectly fresh loaf of bread for Saturday morning breakfast. This cooker is NOT programmable according to that definition. You cannot program it, for example, to start a four hour cooking cycle at 2pm so that your meal is complete at 6pm. The cooking cycle starts the moment you press the time/temperature button, so if you leave the house at 8am and return at 6pm, your only options are to cook for 10 hours on low or cook for a shorter time and hope the end product isn't too overcooked by the time you get to it.
So overall here's a cooker that runs hotter than others on the market, with at least one significant design defect, 'falsely' presented as a "programmable" cooker, and backed by a company that can't/won't provide a reasonable replacement part to address that design defect. On the other hand it DOES cook well if you work within its limitations, home repair (improvement, actually) for the handle is easily and cheaply accomplished, and it is (IMO) an attractive and easily-cleanable cooker.