Rival 4 Quart Crockpot: There Are Better Crock-Pots Out There

When I decided a few years ago to delve into the world of cooking with slow-cookers (or crock-pots as they are also known), I didn't think much of it and just picked up one from our local discount store. 

What I purchased at the time was the Rival 4-Quart Crock-Pot. It looks great on the counter while food is cooking, with a floral pattern on a cream-colored background and a deep green center pot. The lid is clear plastic and lets you view food while it is cooking. The cord is rather short, so taking the crock-pot anywhere except directly in front of an electrical outlet requires an extension cord. 

And it worked great for cooking! I have made a wide variety of dishes and they all cooked well. There are three settings for the crock-pot: OFF, LOW, and HIGH. To cook anything, you simply put your ingredients in the crock-pot and turn it on to either LOW or HIGH. HIGH will generally cook food items in about half the time ofLOW, but be prepared to check cooking food more frequently as well as stirring it more often. 

I fell in love with cooking with my Rival 4-Quart Crock-Pot and used it frequently for a wide variety of dishes. Soups, stews, applesauce, ribs, chicken... There are crock-pot recipes out there for just about anything you can think of! 

However, as I began to try new recipes and use my crock-pot more frequently, I began to see drawbacks in this particular model. 

The main drawback of the Rival 4-Quart Crock-Pot is that the inner, ceramic center is not removable. What this means is that any time you are cleaning it, the entire crock-pot, including the heating element, must go into the sink. You cannot soak it in a dishpan, but must soak the inner part and then scrub out any stains as best you can without scratching the ceramic or the outside. I noticed in recent months that parts of the outside of the element (floral-patterned area) were beginning to show signs of rust. 

The other problem was that there were a few recipes that were made for larger crock-pots and I didn't realize this until I already had most of the ingredients already in the Rival 4-Quart Crock-Pot. There is one particular recipe I love for Sweet & Sour Ribs that just about fits in this crock-pot, but causes splattering when cooking since the sauce bubbles up around the rim. This also contributes to the cleaning problems mentioned above. 

So while I think this crock-pot is fine as far as cooking goes, I think that there are better options available. If you manage to pick one up for $5 or $10 in a garage sale, you should be satisfied, but I'd choose something else if I were buying new. 

Fortunately, this accidentally fell off of my table a week ago and the ceramic broke on our floor. That made the decision to purchase a new model easy for us.