Advantages: can be left on all day, economical to run, easy to clean
Disadvantages: need to remember to put the food in hours before you eat

...For all you busy people out there or people who wish to save on your gas/electric bill and save on your food bill too, then this kitchen gadget is defintely for you. A slow cooker is an extremely low wattage appliance that can be safely left on all day (or night). How it works is you place your ingredients in the pot, add a bit of fluid such as water or broth, put on the lid, and switch on to your chosen setting. It gently cooks your food with steam. More about that later. The Hinari Lifestyle slow cooker retails for about £39. It is stainless steel on the outside, with a vented smoked glass lid. The removable inner pot is earthenware (hence why in the USA they are called crockpots)and comes in black. The crock liner is extremely easy to clean as the steam cooking action keeps the food moist so it all just wipes off. Occasionally you... Read review

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Advantages: Fast Paced read.
Disadvantages: None.

...The Stainless Steel Rat joins the Circus. Author - Harry Harrison. The Hero or Anti Hero of the series of stainless steel rat books is Jim DiGriz. He was born or rather created in 1961 and has appeared on book shelves ever since. The richest man in the galaxy, Imperitrix Von Kaiser Czarski, Hires Jim and his wife Angelina to investigate and if possible to catch the criminals behind several bank robberies. Jim, his wife and their son, James, find a common link to each robbery in that every time a bank has been robbed a Circus has been very near by. Jim hires a retired magician, 'The Great Grissini' to teach him some tricks and then joins the circus pretending to be a magician! As is the ilk with the 'rat' stories, there then follows some odd, fast paced and improbable adventures where Jim faces death, is conned, double... Read review

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Advantages: Cheaper than electricity, faster, good range of cookers
Disadvantages: None

...appliances. They often have very poor parts availability. Check it has a Gas Council number (for UK customers). This is a safety standard. Very often foreign imports don't have Gas Council registration and are not as reliable. They can still be sold in the UK, though. The choice between an eye-level grill and a waist-level is entirely a matter of personal taste. Remember the cooker will hopefully last you a long time, though, and as you get older it is more difficult to bend. Eye-level grills leave space below the oven for a storage drawer, which is usually spacious and will hold a lot of pans. Waist-levels are preferred by people with fitted kitchens, who want all the work-surfaces to be the same height. We have a waist-level cooker, because my wife prefers them, but I wouldn't have one out of choice. I have found them to be problematical... Read review

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Advantages: Great looking fast boiler & reasonable cost
Disadvantages: Noisy!

...Every 24 to 30 months I have to replace my kettle, why I know not but they only seem to last a month longer than the warranty! With this in mind one of my priorities is that I dont over spend knowing it will be replaced within 2 years or so. Had to be brushed stainless steel to fit my decor & it makes it easier to keep looking new as opposed to shiny S/Steel! Efficient in boiling & easy to refill & clean as I have teenagers who are reluctant to do any of these! Also a safety feature to prevent boiling dry a common mis-use by said teens. Those were MY specs.......................my parents had just bought one of these & are usually good in their research & value for money , they did tell me it is noisy............I went ahead & bought one & am very pleased with its performance but as always parents are right & it is noisy! but I... Read review

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Advantages: Nice product if you dont use it
Disadvantages: Scratches badly

...After spending a considerable amount of money on a new kitchen (£15K) we purchased this sink thinking it would be a good investment, £400, and within a week the stainless steel scratched terribly. We consider the quality of this sink to be poor, and dont believe it should scratch so quickly. We wrote to Franke, who wrote back saying they couldnt even consider any complaint unless we filled in a complaint form, which would not necessarily get us any further. We couldnt believe the attitude of these so called customer service people at Franke.... Read review

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Advantages: An easy way to cook,
Disadvantages: NONE

...stainless steel pot, at the back near the bottom. *********************EASE OF USE********************* This slow cooker is incredibly easy to use. I have already mentioned that I hate cooking. I also hate things that have to many settings. This slow cooker has three settings and I nearly always use it on Auto. This means if I was to make a stew or caserole, all I have to do is put the meat in first, because it takes longer to cook. Then place the vegetables that I want on top of the meet. Not cutting them too thinly. Pour over hot gravy. Put the lid on, close the steam hole, and turn the dial to auto. Leave it, and return at tea time to serve. If you do not want to cook something all day, you can use the high setting, to reduce the time. If you want to cook something all night long and into the next day, you use the low setting... Read review

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Advantages: Very durable | Cheap | Does what it's supposed to |
Disadvantages: No fancy functions

...After leaving home I'd had a series of second-hand cookers and although they'd done the job pretty well, I couldn't help but dream of that day when I could afford to buy my very own sparkling brand new cooker. So I scrimped and I saved and eventually I had enough money to go and buy the cooker of my dreams, which ended up being the Creda Capri, a gas fuelled cooker in a beautiful shade of racing green. ---Why the Capri?--- I was on a limited budget (under £250) when I bought this, but was still looking for something that would fit in with my then green themed kitchen. I also wanted gas fuelled rather than electric, because I've always felt electric cookers smell funny (especially the hob). After much deliberation and searching around the shops and home shopping catalogues (I didn't have the internet then), I happened upon the Creda... Read review

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Advantages: Easy to clean and very smart looking.
Disadvantages: Oven racks quite difficult to pull out. No oven light.

...I purchased this cooker in white. I paid £269.95 but most suppliers seem to be selling it for £500+ so I think perhaps mine was priced wrongly as it certainly seems more like a £500 cooker than a cheaper model. It is a very smart looking cooker and easy to keep clean. It has double glass panels to both ovens which are extremely easy to wipe clean as is the smoked glass lid. The burners are very neat looking and the pan supports keep even the smallest of pans stable. Being 60cm the oven is a generous size and the hotplate easily accommodates four full size pans at once. I find the grill very fast and when only cooking on one shelf the top oven is more than adequate. The self cleaning oven really does self clean. The shelves in the main oven are a bit difficult to remove but I think this may just be due to it being new. The oven does... Read review

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Advantages: Two Ovens
Disadvantages: I can't think of any!

...I was 'forced' to buy a new cooker a couple of years ago following the total collapse of mine. This total collapse also involving the almost non-cooking of the previous Christmas dinner. I was very fussy - my previous one (although now very old) had been 'top of the range' - and mainly chosen because it was black and stainless steel! I DIDN'T want a white one - or a brown one, or a green or blue one. It wasn't easy to find black as it had gone out of fashion. However, the Cannon Chester was black and silver and had the glass lid I craved! It was also almost half the price my earlier one had been - but that was to it's advantage as well. It has all the main assets expected from a gas cooker. That is: four rings - (2 fast, 2 slow), two ovens, the main at the bottom with an interior light - big enough to cook a turkey... Read review

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