I just bought a black, 4qt "Crock Pot(tm)" slow-cooker. Turns out it
is actually made by Rival. However, I looked up some reviews on it
online (yes i should have done this first, i know). Turns out a lot
of people have listed a lot of complaints about it (some of them
pretty severe). I'm starting to see the same things with mine (lid
doesn't seal well, food burns, etc).

Are there any good quality oval slow cookers in the 4qt size? I'm not
looking for any major features, just the standard knob on the front
with "Off, High, Low, Warm". I'm reading online reviews about other
brands and styles in the 4qt size, but almost all of them have at
least one or two posts about them getting too hot. The Rival brand
name seems to be the worst about this starting about 2-3 years ago. A
friend of mine's mother says that 4qt-sized crocks are actually too
small to do any real 'slow cooking' in.

I'll gladly pay $40 for the unit that does its job over the $20 one
that won't. Are Kitchenaid products as good as they are priced?



Thanks for any help and advice.

-J