Crock-Pot 3.5 Quart & 7-Quart Oval Manual Slow Cooker Set - Stainless Steel (SCV700-S-BR) | Perfect for Soups, Stews & Family Dinners | Charcoal Design

This was a spur of the moment purchase - I didn't really need a crockpot - what I needed was a new 9X pan. This is perfect! Even though it doesn't have a lot of bells and whistles, it is ideal if you bake and take a lot. I have used it several times now and I'm happy to say, it lives up to everything that was written about it. I made a pork loin - took a little while longer than I thought it would, but it was so nice to be able to then take the pan out of the base and put it in the oven to finish browning (it had bacon and I like my bacon crispy!). One big downside is that the lid can't go in the oven - when I put it in the range, it made a big mess all over the white liner - I thought for sure I would be scrubbing forever, but surprisingly, I filled it with hot, soapy water and let it sit for a while and it wiped out very easily! Same with the casserole I made on my second trial run. Sadly, my crispy topping did not stay crispy, but I pulled the pan out of the oven, dropped it into the base, snapped on the lid, and I was on my way! Turned it onto warm two hours later, and then 3 hours after that, it was nice and warm and ready to eat!I made a smaller loin roast in it last night and it did not take long at all - on low, it took about 3 hours - would have been 2 hours in the oven, so I'm good with that!Pros - it's cute - it is available in a variety of colors. It washes easily - I let a crusty cheesy casserole sit for almost two days and it took just five minutes (after soaking for 20) to wash it. Transferring from oven to portable heater is simple and convenient, and the locking lid is just an extra bonus. It is NOT a complete seal, however - there is a vent in the lid, but there's a rubber seal around the lid. As long as you're not doing too many extreme angles, it will not spill, but that's not a guarantee. LOVE the fact that the cord has a little holder to wrap it around!Cons - the ceramic dish is kind of heavy. I prefer lighter weight pans because, once it's filled, it's even heavier. (the base doesn't weight anything, though, so there's that) That lovely cord is kind of short. Make sure you have an outlet close by! I wish the lid could go in the oven. Bare bones - nothing more than low, high, and warm for controls. I was a little concerned about the fact that the shipper just slapped a label on the outside of the box and sent it to me, but everything was okay.This is definitely worth the money, especially if you do a lot of potlucks or holiday meals away from your own home. Even if you already own a crockpot (and I do), this may be a great addition to your kitchen, since you have the benefit of having an oven safe 9x13 casserole dish that you can then drop into a warmer! Note: if you're planning on buying this as a gift, choose a good place to ship it to - see my last line on Cons - it was just the package itself, no outer box. Good thing it wasn't a gift for someone!I just received this yesterday...which is why I am giving it 4 stars rather than 5...because I'm not sure how well it actually cooks yet. I'll figure that out in a couple of hours when dinner is done. ;) I should preface this by saying I RARELY write reviews but this product totally deserves it! When I first took it out of the box, I thought "hmm...this is kinda' small". Mind you, I'm feeding 2 adults and 6 kids (including 3 teenagers), so, my dinners are quite large. I pulled out my 7-qt. oval crock and the bottom of it looked quite a bit smaller than the rectangle! So, I thought heck with it and gave it a whirl...worst case, I'd have to use two if it didn't all fit.To my surprise, everything fit PERFECTLY! In order for readers to understand why I was so surprised, I guess I should include WHAT I fit in this sucker...2 cups of dry rice, two 12-ounce bags of frozen veggies, 2 cans of cream soup, about a cup and a half of water, six HUGE (these 6 breasts will feed my family of 8 twice, easily) chicken breasts (if you've never heard of Zaycon, check it out...AMAZING food at extremely reasonable prices... zayconfresh.com/refer/zf411185 ) and a good ol' stick of butter.A few other things I'd like to point out...the rubber seal on the lid is great, the little cord keeper on the bag is genius (I hate the cord just hanging on my other crocks), the locking lid is amazing, the handles and even the locks seem to be quite decent quality, there is something rubbery on the bottom that keeps it from sliding at all (I already had it filled and hot before I noticed so I didn't flip it upside down to see exactly what it is). The outside DOES get warm but, that's not an issue for me because I've never had a crock pot that didn't get warm on the outside. Also, for the first 15 minutes or so, it smelled like melting plastic (and yes, I stuck my nose to it...it was just the colored part...kind of like when you turn the furnace on for the first time of the season)...but, not a big deal to me.Since I packed it so full, I do anticipate it taking a bit longer to cook but, that's o.k. with me. If I hate the way it cooks, I'll update. But so far, I'm super impressed! I'm literally amazed at how much I was able to fit in this sucker! If you've been on the fence at all, GO FOR IT!This crock pot has been fantastic for bringing casseroles to parties. You can throw the insert into the oven, cook your dish, then just put it in the crock pot to keep it warm. It works great. On top of that, the lid locks on which makes it easy to take in the car. It's not a water tight seal, but it certainly will keep your dish from spilling everywhere when taking a sharp turn!I do have one criticism. I don't know about you, but often times when my wife makes a dish for a party, the pace the crock pot goes in the car is right on my lap (nice and warm in the winter!). Well on the bottom of this crock pot are two screws that stick out. They don't stick out enough that they'd scratch your countertop, however they do stick out enough that they hurt my legs when sitting with the crock put on my lap. All it would have really taken was a 10 cent rubber cover on these screws to solve the problem, but instead, sharp metal. Certainly this isn't a show stopper; it's a fantastic product, it's just one of those things that I wished would have been caught by their design team.So far really like it. Haven't used it enough yet - but so far great!Love it!I love this new classy crock pot!It's fantastic and looks great too!!