Presto 06006 Kitchen Kettle Multi-Cooker/Steamer, Black

Great deep fryer. I bought this one because it can be used as a deep fryer, a steamer for vegetables & rice and as a slow cooker for roasts and stews. It is a good size for the amount of food I’m cooking. It is easy to clean, heats up really good. It was easy to assemble. Very good quality of metal and plastic. The price was perfect. Very please with this.

Rarely, do I think that there is a perfect product but, this is one! I have owned 3 deep fryers in the past 6 years or so and for one reason or another, I just decided to leave them alone and fry in my cast iron dutch oven. First, let me tell you what I fry and what I expect of a deep fryer and why the allure in the first place. If you imagine a male version of the comic strip Cathy, I am ALWAYS on a diet. I do well but my weight ebbs and flows. Occasionally, on my cheat day… or cheat week… or cheat month, I love fried chicken wings or drums. You know, seasoned well, shaken in flour and fried, like grandma. The only problem is, unlike my grandmother, I CAN NEVER gauge the heat on the stove just right all the time so, sometimes, the chicken comes out perfect and other times it looks like I mistook the poor chicken for a marshmallow. I like the idea of a deep fryer but my previous ones have a few issues that have made me hurl them into the dumpster; the heating unit goes out, the sides are so disgusting from grease that has spilled over time that I cannot REALLY clean for fear of ruining it or, the heathing unit CANNOT keep the oil hot enough for crunchy chicken… at least frying 5 wings at a time. I like my cast iron Dutch Oven but, gauging the heat is a skill I don’t practice enough to get right every time. I saw this Presto Deep fryer and knew I’d love it. First of all, it is spacious. You can pour an entire bottle of oil in it and theres still a TON of room inside for the grease to rise without splashing everywhere. The heating unit is accurate and does not fry too hot and can easily recover when you add fresh chicken. YOU CAN CLEAN THE ENTIRE THING without worrying about damaging it… it can even go in the dishwasher which is something I will never do. I used it for the first time yesterday. I fried 5 whole wings of large size from Trader Joes ( how on earth they call them natural wings given their size is beyond me as they’re twice the size of Amish wings*shrugs*). Nothing splashed out of the fryer. The wings were submerged and fried well done the way I like without burning them. The cleanup inside AND OUTSIDE of the fryer was easy. There was basically no grease on the stove ( I removed the metal grate and fried on top of the stove). This was fantastic. I love it! I am tempted to buy another one in case like with everything else, they stop making them or modify it in a cheaper way because of the cost of production. This is a great fryer and I would definitely buy one

Good for small batches. Works great for one or two people. Temperature up to 383F Cooked frozen onion rings and french fries in 1 minute 40 seconds.

The product itself is very good. But there are some technical issues for those of us who only want to cook for one person - say, 3 cups in volume. I would be very concerned about putting less than 3 cups in it. I want to address the negative reviews (that may be warranted), but still put it in context of what can reasonably be expected from this type of appliance. Look, thermostats are not magic analog electric resistance technology. They only know two settings - ON or OFF. Your home heating/cooling thermostat works the same way. It is either ON or OFF, and when the thermostat triggers to close the electrical contact, that is all that can happen - the device gets power and the device has to turn ON. Then it goes at full power until the thermostat detects that the heat condition is satisfied. So the thermostat then breaks the electrical connection and the power is OFF. Obviously (or not), there is also an issue of sensitivity control - how often (or, at what temperature differential) should this device click ON and OFF. This particular item, which is basically an aluminum, or zinc, or both, pot... it employs a heating element whose thermostat protrudes from the side of the unit, where the dial is. Initially, the thermostat is not going to be the same temperature as the mass that is being heated above the heating element. If there is a low mass of unheated material in the pot, well, before the entire unit comes to thermal equilibrium, the thermostat will be cooler than the mass of food in the pot, and the thermostat will continue to drive power to the unit (by keeping the contacts closed). So what happens is - the unit boils over! This is unavoidable initially - you have to watch the pot until it heats up to equilibrium. Open the lid, stir, and give it some time to heat the thermostat to equilibrium with the entire pot. I mentioned sensitivity. The thermostat is capable of cycling very nicely between simmer (ON) and OFF. Mine will simmer, then OFF, simmer, then OFF about every 10 seconds. (I didn't really time it.) The sensitivy is great, considering what you are asking it to do, which is control the temperature over just a degree or so before the food boils over. I recently did try putting a little more food, and denser food (a can of beans) into the cooker, and I am vindicated when I say that when you use it in a situation near it's intended design intent of food capacity, it works even more beautifully. So look, it actually *is* very difficult to find the exact sensitive setting to get the food to simmer on and off if it is just heating a few cups of food. So don't be surprised if it boils over while you are figuring out the setting. I have mine adjusted such that the third leg of the letter 'm' in the word 'Warm' on the thermostat matches_up/aligns with the power indicator light. If you set it higher, it will likely boil over forever. Some disappointments: 1. You have to assemble this. You need a screwdriver. Preferably with a long extension. I actually thought it was cool to get an unassembled unit, like 'Hey, I even get to put something together.' I got the legs and handles on without looking at the instructions, etc. 2. The cord is short. Well, if this is a counter-top unit, you probably wouldn't want a 6 ft cord. (just sayin') Actually, I found a cool appliance cord while I was rummaging for a place in my man-cave to plug this in. So I'm good to go. 3. A magnetically detachable power cord. I think this is causing some people problems. I'm sure the lawyers won this battle for product liability's sake. There is a magnetic plug that attaches to the thermostat. If this magnet is not strong enough, it won't connect. If the magnet is dirty, or the connection point area is dirty, you will have a problem with the unit being able to stay connected. The magnet is not strong enough to keep the cord connected unless it is clean. The problem is exacerbated by the weight of the cord. Disconnect the chord from the power outlet and Clean The Magnetic Contact Area(s). I got a much better mechanical connection after doing this. Do you know how hard it is to cook split peas and lentils? (the split peas, particularly) Well, I put them on an hour ago when I started this review. Awesome Power - they are done! Addendum: As I said, it *was* difficult to get the temperature setting just right. I put a piece of tape on the thermostat knob to keep it in place - in case of accidental bumping. ---- I have ordered one of the 6" square skillets to see if it does not work better for my purpose of cooking a lower volume of food. This pot was definitely a great improvement over my 3-1/2 cup rice cooker that only turned on and off, but had no thermostat. Happy eating. ---- Updated COMMENT on the 6" square skillet - I tried it to make French Toast. When I warmed up the 6" square skillet and put in the bread, it cooked fine, but then lost heat quickly and would not come back up to temperature soon enough to heat the French toast quickly and sear it both sides. For that application an electric stovetop was much better, and I think a propane burner would work nicely also.

After having great success with the 8-quart unit, we picked up this 6-quart unit for our motor home. It’s compact size makes it perfect for storage.

I received this today in a package that looked like it had been thrown around like a basketball and I was really leery of what the contents were going to look like. It was packed very well, no inside damage and the cooker is in perfect shape. It goes together very easily. All you have to do is secure the handles and feet. I cleaned it up with soapy water, rinsed and dried well. Then I decided to deep fry some shrimp, okra and french fries. Everything came out perfectly. I had a very expensive older deep fryer that finally saw better days, so when I bought this one I was a little leery because of the price. It is just as good as my older, expensive fryer. I read some other comments that weren't too happy with the results, so I am just going to give some common sense tips for good results, aside from the fact that some others might have a defective cooker. My cooking tips are mostly for deep frying as I haven't tried other methods yet. 1. Read and follow the directions, they are always important regardless of the appliance. 2 Don't overcrowd the food. It needs space to cook properly. For example: I deep fried 6 shrimp at a time and about 2 average servings each of okra and fries (average meaning something like you would get at a fast food restaurant). I would guess that the fryer would hold about 3 average sized peices of chicken, fish, etc. Use your jugement as long as the food is not crowded. 3. The fill line is a ridge inside the pot and takes about 1 1/2 quarts of oil. The directions for deep frying say to heat the oil about 20 minutes, but I could not find how to tell when the oil is heated to the temp of 400 degrees. So I watched it and it actually heated up in about 15 minutes and the red pilot light will go off when it is heated. Your pot may vary. Just watch the pilot light. 4. After the cooking process is done, set the basket on the side of the pot with the lip provided for a few seconds until no more oil is dripping and place the food on paper towels. It was a very good meal and we were both very pleased with the results. I am anxious to try other cooking methods according to the directions. This is a perfect sized cooker for 2 to 3 people. It surely will accomodate more, it will just take a little longer. The only critical thing for me is not having a removable container to store the oil in my refrigerator, but I cannot complain for the price and will just have to put it in another storage container. I recommend this to anyone wanting to spend little money for a quality product.

There's nothing I like less than pulling the cover on the glass cooktop, rooting around under the cabinet for a pot to do anything from heating soup to simmering season something to reheating a stew, cooking pasta for a few people, boiling eggs and anything else you can boil including gravy. And then cleaning the cook surface, the pot... Not with this. I have been collecting "Screw the stove" products over the last year and this countertop kettle is the crown. The hot pot and all the others serve their purpose, but this has controllable heat and keeps the pots and pans in a pile under the counter and the glass cooktop cleaner under the sink. This guy, a multipurpose air fryer/toaster oven and you'll never cook and clean the old fashioned way again. Unless you have a large family and then forget it.🤣 Built well, in spite of the claims against it. There is always one fiddly screw on an appliance and this had one, easily solved with a drill driver and pressure. The knock out power cord is a curiosity but it works. It heats fast and cleans easy.

Good little pot for candle wax. Be mindful of the temp if doing small batches. It can raise the temperature fast, and you'll end up having to dump it from the temp getting too high. Conversely, when stirring in fragrance, don't remove heat entirely, because it'll cool off too much, too quickly. Find the proper heat setting instead. Probably going to end up modifying it with a valve, as I lose too much to the cooler metal when pouring. Overall, so much better and simpler than using the boiler method. Well worth it if you like to make your own candles or experiment with them (I'm very much a beginner).