Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

UPDATE: I have been using the cooker routinely for over a year now. Sometimes twice a day. After hundreds of meals, it looks nearly new. Loads of perfect sushi rice. I prepare one of our favorite meals by pressure cooking 2 cups of long grain rice with 2 cups of chicken stock for 10 minutes. After fluffing the rice in the pot, I lay a cold seasoned fish fillet right on top and seal the lid. After 30 minutes or so at "keep warm," the fish is perfectly steamed and the rice is light and flavorful. ————————————————————————————————————————-- It works perfectly, feels rugged, and is so handsome my kitchen look better. Although I cook mostly just for myself, I bought the 8 qt model. This is the volume you get filled to the brim. It can only be filled to 5 1/2 qt for pressure cooking, and it has 50% more browning surface than the 6 qt model. I can get 2 rotisserie chickens in there for stock or a 12 pound batch of stew. The larger model is 14 inches high in the closed position. The main cylinder is about 12 inches in diameter. So it is an easy fit for a tiny kitchen -- comfortable under wall cabinets. It is best left on the counter. I can afford to devote a precious foot to its permanent presence since it does so many things. I also bought the stainless steel bowl because that is what I need for browning. It is weakly magnetic. Handy to have an extra bowl and a nonstick finish option for rice. They are beautifully made, but the pressed in graduations are hopelessly inaccurate and useless. I put the bowl on a scale to weigh in ingredients. The inside bottom radius is pretty tight, so I am careful to stir food out of the corner as it slow cooks. One slight irritation is the bowl spins freely inside the cooker. So stirring is a 2 handed task. The bowls are 7 inches high and 9 1/4 inches in diameter. It is quick and easy to scald a jug of milk with a water jacket for the "Yogurt By The Gallon" technique. The instruction manual is useful with cooking time tables for dozens of generic ingredients. The Fagor website offers a PDF with dozens of tested full recipes. So it is easy to get started with good results. Of course preparing foods well is most important, but speed and convenience are the key features. Opening and closing the lid is an easy single-handed twist and lift. It weights only 2 1/2 pounds. With warmup and cool down, beans take an hour instead of all day. Mirepoix is tender in a blink. I can get a dozen servings of luxurious soup or meals with no fuss. Clean up with a bottle brush is ridiculously easy. It uses very little power (1 or 2 cents per meal) and the outside surfaces never seems to get too hot to handle. This means my kitchen stays comfortably cool. It also gives me confidence to leave the cooker unattended. There is no drama; just perfectly cooked food in a hurry with no bother.