Nice Pot, but not Good for Smooth Top Stoves
Written: Sep 19 '06 (Updated Sep 26 '06)
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Pros: made of stainless steel, strainer lid included, food doesn't stick, could last a lifetime
Cons: doesn't work well on smooth top stoves, takes too long to heat
The Bottom Line: If you have a smooth top stove, don't buy this product. If you don't have a smooth top, you shouldn't have problems and it will probably last you a lifetime.
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| shecker's Full Review: Farberware Classic Stainless Stock Pot With Strain... |
I had a Circulon pot which was getting long in the tooth. I had the pot for well over 5 years. I decided to replace it because the pot started rusting. I didn't want rust in my food, so I gave the old pot to someone who could use it and clean it up. Then, I went out shopping for a new pot.
I went to Kohls and saw the Farberware pot on sale. Normally, the pot is $79.99 but it was on sale for $47. I thought that was a good deal so I bought it. What I liked the most about it was that it has a straining lid included. The Circulon pot also had one, so I obviously wanted something similar to it. The Circulon pot has a heat distribution disk made of aluminum. The Farberware has one too, but it is sandwitched in layers of stainless steel. The fact that it was made of 18/10 (don't ask me what that number means) stainless steel was a bonus.
I took the pot home and gave it a light cleaning. A couple days later, I made one of my favorite meals which includes Macaroni and cheese. I pulled out the pot, put about 6 cups of water in it, and set the 8 inch burner it was on to maximum. That's when the problems showed themselves.
The first thing I noticed is that it took a long time to get the water to a boil. I'm used to the water being at a boil in no more than 3 minutes or so, and this took close to 8 minutes to do the job. I also noticed that the burner was cutting on and off. You may not think this is unusual, but let me explain.
The smooth top stove is nice , primarily because it is easy to clean. What you may or may not know, though is that it is very picky about what kind of cookware is used on it. If the cookware can't properly conduct the heat, or can't conduct it fast enough, you run into problems. What is a smooth top made of? If you said glass, you are correct. Glass can only get so hot before it cracks and/or melts. And based on what I've seen, that temperature is less than the melting point of metal coils, which will work with just about anything. The cookware also has to be perfectly flat on the bottom, with very few exceptions.
Now, let me explain why the burner was cutting on and off. Remember what I said about overheating? Apparently, the manufacturers of these things took this into account and put a thermal switch under the glass. When it gets too hot, the switch trips until it cools. That's what was happening when I used this pot. So I tried a different approach. The next time I used the pot, I tried putting the stove on high, not maximum. When it's on high, the burner is supposed to cut on and off. It did this all right, but again, the top came to the overheating point and I could hear the thermal switch under the glass cutting off and on, not to mention it took even longer to get the water to a boil. It makes me wonder if that heat distribution disk was doing its job efficiently.
There are a couple other things you should know about this pot. The handles that you carry it with are not that impressive. They feel like they are made of plastic and appear to be secured by screws, not rivits. The pot is relatively easy to carry right side up. It gets interesting when you want to drain it. If you do use the straining lid, you better have a steady grip. The pot is bottom heavy.
After my experiences, I decided it was time to take the pot back to Kohls. I will give credit to Kohls for their customer service because they took it back without a receit and gave me a full refund. I went out to Foleys (now Macys) and bought a couple Circulon pots with strainer lids. They haven't gone back, you be the judge. That's for a later review.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 47
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Epinions.com ID:
shecker
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Member: Shane Hecker
Location: Corpus Christi, Texas, usa
Reviews written: 7
Trusted by: 1 member
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