Hamilton Beach 33473 Programmable Slow Cooker, 7-Quart, Silver Review

I really like this crockpot. My old one was only 4.5 quarts and was not digital. I have 5 kids and really wanted something large. I read a lot of the reviews that mentioned 6 quart crock pots only hold 5 quarts unless you fill to the tippy top. So I did do a liquid test and it held 6 quarts without going over the little rim the lid sits on and if you fill it with 7 quarts it gets almost all the way to the edge. In the past with my little 4.5q I would use the crock pot bags and then pull them straight up with the lid on. That way when it started to boil the liquid wouldn’t get on the counter. I’m sure something like that would help here as well.

So far it’s worked very well. Cooked nicely. It does have a max time of 14 hours. So if you set it to high or low for 10 hours then it will only be on warm for 4 hours before turning off. It looks very nice and seems to be of a good quality. Hopefully this will last us for a long time.

We really use our crock pot. We are largely vegetarian, and regularly make vegetarian chili during the week. Since we work long hours, there is nothing easier than setting up the meal the night before, putting it in the refrigerator, and then simply putting it in the base of the crock pot, turning it on, and having a delicious meal when we get home. I had to replace the last slow cooker after my wife overfilled it one time too many, causing it to spill into the heating element and ruining it (never fill it more than 3/4 full). This slow cooker is almost idiot proof. You simply plug it in, select the temperature (high, low, warm) and the time (2,4,6,8 or 10 hours). The downside to this slow cooker is that you cannot adjust other than 2,4,6, 8 or 10 hours (so, you can do 90 minutes or some other time other than the preset hours) and there is no display that tells you hour much time is left. The upside is that it automatically shuts off after 14 hours (so you can’t accidentally leave it on forever) and it is truly idiot proof. We are very pleased with the purchase (for both the price and quality). Last night we had vegetarian stew that consisted of baked beans, cannelloni beans, black beans, tomatoes, onion, garlic, green beans and corn, with two tablespoons of chili powder, one tablespoon of cumin, one tablespoon of turmeric, one tablespoon of oregano, a pinch of cayenne pepper, black pepper to taste – cooked it on low for 10 hours (after taking it out of the fridge) and – fantastic. Nice comfort food when we got home from work. This slow cooker is a winner.