Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Do you want the good news or the bad news first? Let's get the bad news out of the way. Like many others have posted about this and the similar MSC-400, despite how much tender loving care you give to the nonstick pot insert, it looks like it WILL bubble and flake over time. We babied ours, never using anything but soft silicon tools with it, and hand washing it with nonabrasive sponges, and cooked with it probably no more than 15 times since we purchased it 7 months ago. Yet the dreaded bubbling has shown up in at least three places, and one chunk of nonstick surface has flaked off. Really unacceptable quality control at Cuisinart (or whatever Chinese OEM makes their pots). In case anyone at the company is reading this: If you want to solve this issue once and for all, and build nothing but good will among your customers, strongly consider licensing the nonstick material Scanpan uses on their products -- the stuff seems to be both effective and indestructible -- put it on your cooker pots, and replace any that have died horribly premature deaths from the weak, fragile coating you're using today (in fact, sue the hell out of whomever manufactures the junk for you if it is not up to spec). Three stars off for such poor quality. The good news is that -- other than the above -- this slow cooker is the finest out of several we've had, but in terms of design as well as practicality. That it can brown is an outstanding feature, and essential for many recipes. Better yet, it does it well, allowing different browning-range temperatures. While it takes a little while to warm up to its maximum of 400F, it's very effective at browning (not searing) meats and vegetables prior to braising. It also seems to have an ideal Low setting, and its programmable and stay-warm functions work excellently. We've used it only for soups, stews, and the like, and not for steaming, but its range of temperatures and well-enough fitting lid look like it would perform well for that. This would have been a five-star review but for the poor quality of an essential component of this product. While a replacement pot is available (at some cost), we're debating whether to spend about $60 for another 6 months of use, or just call the entire thing a failure and send it to the landfill. Really sad that Cuisinart released something that would have been superlative, but for a serious quality issue. I think there's a way to correct the problem, if they're willing to do so.