Hamilton Beach 33134 3-in-1 Slow Cooker with 2-, 4-, and 6-Quart Crocks
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Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of Hamilton Beach 33134 3-in-1 Slow Cooker with 2-, 4-, and 6-Quart Crocks
Customer Review: Great for stews, soups, and most casseroles
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the first slow cooker I've purchased, and I'm delighted with it. The 3 in 1 feature is very handy, though if you're cooking from recipes in a book that suggest the ideal size to use with the recipe (2 qt., 4 qt, 5 qt, 6 qt), realize that those recommendations are made with a flat bottomed slow cooker in mind, unless they say otherwise. There have been a few recipes I've made that started out in the 6 qt bowl and ended up in the 4 qt bowl as a perfect fit.
Almost everything I've made in this slow cooker has been delicious. I made the rookie mistake of buying ingredients for a recipe that called for chicken breasts to be placed whole and flat over beans and corn, and when I realized that with these bowls such a preparation is impossible, turned it into a stew. Blech. It was awful! But that was my fault, and I share that so you'll be careful in your recipe selections.
Any recipe (that I can think of) that calls for cubed meats, or chopped or diced vegetables as a main ingredient cook extremely well in this slow cooker. The manual says not to take the lid off while cooking, but you'll find that doing so isn't prudent, especially if you're cooking with rice. In those instances, you'll want to stir it a couple of times. I haven't found that removing the lid to stir has impacted the quality of the dish.
Having the different sized bowls is truly handy. If you find that you liked something that you made in the 2 qt or the 4 qt bowl, and want to stretch your budget and save time, you can make a double batch simply by moving up to the next sized bowl. Prudent packaging and freezing will keep your food available for a long time.
I haven't tried to cook a pot roast, and doubt that I will, but it seems logical to my simple culinary sensibilities that roasts, large turkey breasts One Bone-in Turkey Breast or hams, that a flat-bottomed slow cooker is preferable.
The stoneware bowls are very sturdy, and even when using the 6 qt bowl, which has at least 1/3 of it "submerged" in the slow cooker and the rest exposed to open air, heat is evenly distributed throughout the dish for uniform cooking.
Highly recommended!
Customer Review: Hamilton Beach does it again
Summary: 5 Stars
For me, Hamilton beach will always be the best, I do not know why I ever think of a any other name in the kitchen
Years ago I received their Crock Watcher as a wedding gift, it still works beautifully and I really do not know why I seldom use it, maybe because it is to large and it is old. I purchased a small 1 ½ quart Hamilton Beach crock last year and it is wonderful, it is so small it is just adorable it has a removable crock to make it easier to clean. It cooks up about 2-3 meals and is perfect for me, a single person or for a couple also, making one meal.
Now this is a review for the Hamilton Beach 33134 3-in-1 Slow Cooker with 2-, 4-, and 6-Quart Crocks yes it is and I am getting to this one right now. I am sorry some of you are having problems with it. I tested the temperatures of all three levels to be fair, of course some units may vary I am not saying these folks are wrong. For me and my unit I found that the large, medium and small crocks' temps were pretty consistent within my unit. On the low setting they were all below 200F degrees. They teatered around 180-190, the odd thing was that when I turned the units to high the temps did not go any higher, but I did not check that temp on all units just the smaller one.
They never boiled, since the boiling point is 212 degrees F, and the 180-190 degrees is below that.
I am happey with that since food that is cooked in high temps tend to lose their mineral content.
What I really like about this unit is the three different size bowls, 2 quart is a little shallow that might be nice for a chili or sauce, and the 3 quart is about right for most needs like sauces and soups, the 6 quart can be used to cook for all your neighbors, just kidding, but it is large, this might be good for a dish like New England boiled dinner or a large pot of good old soup. I love soups and I make a large pot and keep it for a week.
I do recommend this product but beware, if you buy Hamilton Beach you may have their products for the rest of your life, I know I can't seem to get rid of mine.
Customer Review: 5 Star Versatility
Summary: 5 Stars
This slow cooker is 5 star versatile due to the interchangeable crocks that allow you to cook in 2 quart, 4 quart or 6 quart capacity. That really comes in hand for me because while I'm cooking for just the two of us, I also like to cook larger recipes that allow me to divide and freeze. I use the Cooking Light for Slow Cookers cookbook, which I highly recommend - and the recipes call for slow cookers of various sizes. This slow cooker allows me to faithfully follow the recipes without having 3 slow cookers of different capacity.
It is a little different in appearance from the slow cookers you've probably had in the past. There is a base with the controls and then there are three separate crocks, each a different color and size. The crocks all sit inside a shorter base, which means a portion of the crock is higher than the base (and, as you would imagine, the larger the crock size, the higher above the base the crock is), which is a design I haven't seen before. I was a little skeptical about this, but it's worked fine when I've used all three crock sizes. The control selections are low, high and warm. When not in use, the crocks nest inside of one another for storage. The stored slow cooker with all three nested crocks is good size and height, but a whole lot smaller than three separate 2, 4 and 6 quart slow cooker.
I've been using mine for several months and am completely satisfied. The crocks clean easily and the slow cooker itself has worked without any problems at all. I'm very pleased with this slow cooker and would purchase it again.
Customer Review: The Best!
Summary: 5 Stars
I have had this cooker for a couple of months now and I cant stop singing its praises. I use a slow cooker very often and have owned several; from old thrift store types to the new teflon multiuse units. I have spent and wasted much money on units that look high tech that were poorly made and stopped working when the motors burned out.
Once I used this I discarded all of those. I love the three settings of heat for the different bowls (I also select the heat setting depending on how fast I want to cook) and the bowls are pottery so no leaking anything into my food and it cooks more evenly.
I initially thought the larger bowls would not heat properly since they stand high above the base, but with the three settings this has not proven to be the case at all. The larger bowls heat and cook as well as the small one.
I must admit the bowls convinced me to purchase. They nest easy for storage and clean up so easy and give me more options as to food size and portions. Plus they are very durable and attractive! I saw this cooker in a dept store with three white bowls for a cheaper price but I like the colored ones to display in my kitchen.
I'm so glad I found this. My hunt for the perfect slow cooker is over. I also gave one of these for a house warming gift. Its something you can depend on for years to come.
Customer Review: Great, but prone to dying.
Summary: 3 Stars
Pros: Flexibility, great temp control
Cons: Died after a year of use
We used this slow cooker nearly every week for a year, and it worked really well for us. We used the 2-quart insert, mostly, but we did use the 4-quart insert a couple of times and it's great that we have the option on size. Easy to use, the temperature settings are superb (especially the "low" setting), and the inserts are easy to clean and durable.
However, after using it for almost a year, the pot slowly died. First, you couldn't make your pot size selection (one of the necessary steps to having it start heating) without holding the button down for an hour or so. We used a magnet to hold down the button (tape didn't work). Then, it started to require you to hold down the button the entire time you needed it to cook. Then it stopped responding entirely.
I completely took apart the machine to see what went wrong. I didn't see any residue from any liquid, so no sauce got in there, and the button WAS pressing correctly. In the end, we had to get a replacement from Hamilton Beach. This requires only sending in the end of the cord, but you also need to pay S&H for the replacement ($12.50).
I'm really hoping it was a fluke and that the next one will last longer. "Renting" it for $12.50 every year doesn't seem like a good deal to me.