I put a whole chicken in my crockpot, following a rotisserie chicken recipe, came home from work about 4 and it was cold!

tested the plug etc. and the crock appears to be dead, so

questions:
is there any reason to save the stonewear insert< ie, can I* use it in the oven such as a dutch oven? It's a rival, and I can't find it on web searches difinatively.

also:

what are your favorite features in a crock? I ran to a store and bought a replaceme3nt one, but have second thoughts about the hindge lid, as I again searchted the web and read some reviews and they were listed as a low rating.

want the high and low, and would love the warmer function. love the oval shape, and at least 5 qt. too many options if you ask me!

You can't put it in the oven - my mother in law did with one of hers and it cracked - there was stew all over the oven!! A huge mess!!!!

okay, I thought it might be like that, one comment I ran into was to only use it in a low heat oven, gads, if ANYTHING needs such special handling, it gets tossed OUT!

poor chicken that sat raw all day, but it'll all go in a garbage bag for pickup tomorrow.

I've still got a 3 quart and so I think I'll just try to limp along for it a bit. I do love the oval size for the larger roasts, but will curtail any need for big pots or such until I find one that is just so.

my searching has been a frustrating on, too many to choose from, too many fancy features!

one that is advertized to cook and go, has latches for the lid, but it hurt my figures just trying to get it on and off at the store.

We bought the one with the latches after my DH & DS were in a car accident and we had potato soup all over the inside of the car. (The car was totaled, so I never did have to try and clean it up.) We take the crockpot to just enough functions that I'm glad for the latches. And you really never use the latches at home. You can get your kids to latch it when you go out!

I have an oval one that has the 4 different number of hours and then switches to warm when the time is up. I love it. I had the 6 quart but left it at the house for my husband and just bought exactly the same thing in 5 quart since it's just the 2 of us.

Mine is white in color.

Did you ruin your meat? That's too bad!
I love my crockpot, and use it at least twice a week in the winter!

My favorite things about mine are:
*the porcelain insert that comes out for dishwashing, and for storing in the refrig: it is porcelain: so it does cool properly in the refrig, if I let the heat off before I stick it in the refrig.

*lid comes off easily and independently. If I have a cut of meat that stick a tad out of the top: I cover the insert/pot with aluminum foil: add the lid, then weigh the lid down with a heavy pot of water, as the meat cooks it shrinks, and the lid goes down onto the porcelain insert, and I remove the heavy pot of water.

* I have the one that is approximately 6 quarts: I love being able to add all sorts of veggies in with the meat. Even if the meat is a small amount (2 of us), I add all sorts of vegetables: and eat on the veggies for days!

Mine does not have a timer, I find the Hi, Lo, and "warm" enough..although I do see the benefits of the one that switches from hi to warm!

I have white and I do not like it, as there are always spills that cook on the heater/lower portion, some clean off, some don't. I would go with black next time, personally.

The pot insert can be used in the oven, but most of the lids have plastic type handles: so do not use the lid: unless you remove the plastic, I would just use aluminum foil instead.

Hope that helps!

Gabby, so sorry to hear that dinner was ruined and the crock pot was toast.

I have one that has the latches which for me is great as we carry lots of soups and such to the church for potlucks and so forth. It has the high, low and warmer settings which work nicely for me. The crock comes out for ease of washing, and the lid is separate which for me is a plus, as I think it's easier to wash if you have separate parts.

I use the latches even at home while cooking. Prevents me from "checking" which causes valuable heat to be lost. I tended to do that a lot with my old crock pot. The latches do get easier to undo as they get used more.

Hope this helps!

I can't edit my post above (too much time elapsed?) So....

Sorry, Gabby, I did later read about your ruined dinner....

Also, my typo: I use it twice a WEEK in the winter! (not a year!)

Abundance, it let me edit so I changed the year to week....

abundance,
yes, the uncooked chicken just sat there all day, so we tossed the entire thing.

bonnie,
okay the clamp thing makes sense, and it would be tempting to clamp and leave.

went to a nearby store yesterday with DH, and found one, hamilton beach 6 qt. it's quite plain jane, just low high and warm, no timer, no switching. then the lid clamps on.

what I like about it, the lid has a gasket type ring around it, so it doesn't clank, hope it stands up to heat/washing.

what I don't like about it, it's white!

my biggest pet peeve right now, is with those side clamps. they take up space, an extra 2" or so on the sides! however, the handles, are up and above, and it looks easy enough to move without it being so slippery as the one before,

price was lower, so that was a plus...our reserves are draining and it wasn't a good time to replace an appliance, but needed to be done.

going to try a roast tomorrow.