Today we will test the Kitfort KT-219 slow cooker with two pans. This unit prepares dishes in a special way – languishing. The manufacturer reports that the cooking temperature is in the range of 60-120 ° C. Thanks to the ceramic pan, the food is evenly heated from all sides. The heater is located around the perimeter at the bottom of the tank for good heat distribution.

In a slow cooker, food almost never burns or runs away. And the temperature regime practically does not allow water to evaporate during cooking, and the products are slowly stewed in their own juice. They do not need to be constantly monitored during the cooking process.

This method is ideal for long-term cooking dishes: cereals, stews, roasts, jams, pilaf, pastries, baked and condensed milk, etc. We will try to cook some of them for our review, as well as make the necessary measurements and explore how convenient it is to use a slow cooker.

Characteristics

Manufacturer	kitfort
Model	KT-219
Type	slow cooker
Country of Origin	China
Warranty	1 year
Service life *	2 years
Power	140+140W
Pot capacity	2.5 l
Working capacity of pots	2 l
Pot material	ceramics
Housing material	plastic, stainless steel
Number of modes	3
Control	mechanical
Delay start	No
Equipment	body, 2 pots, 2 lids, 2 lid holders
The weight	6.2 kg
Dimensions (W×H×D)	510×280×230 mm
Network cable length	1.05 m
Retail offers

^* Contrary to common misconception, this is not the period after which the device will definitely break. However, after this period, the manufacturer ceases to bear any responsibility for its performance and has the right to refuse to repair it, even for a fee.

Equipment

The device came to us in a large branded rectangular Kitfort box in black, white and purple. On the front side, in addition to a schematic representation of a slow cooker, we see the name of the brand and this model, as well as its slogan – “I cook, you relax!”

On the sides and back are brief descriptions of the technical characteristics of the device, as well as recommendations for its operation.

Opening the box, inside we found:

• slow cooker
• two ceramic bowls
• two glass lids with handles
• two metal handle holders
• instructions, insert with illustrations and warranty card

All parts of the slow cooker are packed in separate plastic bags, and the bowls and lids are additionally wrapped with cardboard liners. In addition, the device is inserted into foam molds from above and below, thanks to which it sits tightly in the box.

At first sight

A metal body with black plastic inserts, a simple and concise design, metal coasters for lids that securely fasten to the base, glass lids themselves with a metal rim and smooth shiny ceramic bowls make the slow cooker very attractive in the eyes of the student. The first impression of the device is that it is of high quality, accurate and, it must be, easy to use.

The case has protective plastic screens on the top and sides, so that when the bowl and the metal case are heated, it is possible to rearrange or move the device without getting burned.

From the inside, the body of the slow cooker is unpainted and made of aluminum. There is an unfilled space between the outer and inner parts of the case, which contributes to additional thermal insulation.

A heater is located along the perimeter of the lower part of the heating container. The heating of each pan is regulated separately. The aluminum bottom contains warning information in three languages that in order to avoid damage to the device or electric shock, it is forbidden to allow food or liquids to appear inside this container and for cooking it is necessary to use the bowls that come with the kit.

The bowls are made of ceramic and are covered with black glossy glaze on the outside so as not to absorb water and odors, the sides of the bowls have comfortable handles. The thickness of their walls is about 1 cm, and the weight of each bowl is 1.5 kg.

At the bottom of the slow cooker, we see a large number of small technical and ventilation holes, 4 plastic legs and a nameplate with brief technical information in the center, and an inseparable power cord comes out of the back of the appliance.

The lids are made of transparent glass and have a metal rim around the perimeter. In the center of both covers there are pads with comfortable black plastic handles.

The lid stands are made of metal and are inserted into special holes in the back of the case with little effort, they can be easily removed and put away – they are not a necessity, rather an additional option.

Instruction

The instruction manual is a booklet of 23 pages with a detailed description of the device and its technical characteristics. Inside, we found 18 interesting recipes for different dishes specifically for this slow cooker model.

In order to begin to confidently use all the functions of the device, it will be enough to read the instructions. And after a couple of days of operation, all the recommendations are already remembered.

Control

To start heating any of the bowls (or both at once), just plug the device into a power outlet and turn the round switch located under the desired bowl into one of three active positions.

Slow cooker heaters consist of several sections, which are controlled just by heating mode switches. Each heating mode has its own power consumption:

• The “High” mode has a power of 140W (140+140 for two bowls) and is recommended for intensive cooking from 3 to 8 hours on average
• The “Low” mode has a power of 100 W (100 + 100 for two bowls) and is recommended for long-term languishing for 4-12 hours
• The “Heating” mode has a power of 40 W (40 + 40 for two bowls) and is suitable for keeping food already cooked warm

Exploitation

Before starting work, the manufacturer recommends washing the bowls and lids with warm soapy water, dry them, then fill the bowls with water and turn on the slow cooker in the “High” mode for 3-4 hours to eliminate “technical odors” (that is, burnt grease).

In operation, the device is extremely quiet, almost silent. Only slight clicks of heating on / off are heard regularly, reminding that the device is working. The case does not heat up much – at a temperature inside the bowl of more than 90 degrees, it was only 57 degrees outside, you can’t get burned on it.

The bowl, together with the contents, turns out to be quite heavy, so when removing it, it is worth preparing the surface for installation in advance and holding it firmly with tacks. But due to the fact that the bowl is made of ceramics, no foreign smells and tastes are transmitted to the products.

Thanks to smooth slow heating, meat, fish and seafood in the device are stewed and languished perfectly, the veins slowly soften at low temperatures, the dish not only retains its taste, gives juice and does not require adding water, but also “opens” brighter than with classical methods cooking and the same applies to spices, so they should be put a little less than usual.

During cooking, dishes do not require intervention, you just need to more or less correctly calculate the cooking time – well, or adjust the temperature and duration during the cooking process. The same applies to soups and stews, they will also turn out very well in a slow cooker.

The slow cooker also generates little steam during operation, so it will fit safely under kitchen cabinets. The main thing is to retreat a few centimeters from the walls and leave 30-50 centimeters of free space on top.

Care

Allow all parts to cool to room temperature before cleaning. Ceramic bowls and lids need to be cleaned after each use and thankfully are dishwasher safe. Under no circumstances should the housing be immersed in water; it may be wiped with a soft damp and then dry cloth.

Do not use abrasive cleaners on any part of the slow cooker.

The manufacturer also reports that if you have problems cleaning the bowls of food debris, then you are probably exceeding the required cooking time for your dishes. If any food is stuck to the sides of the bowls, soaking in soapy water for 5-10 minutes should facilitate easy cleansing.

Our measurements

When plugged in, the slow cooker consumes less than 0.1 watts in standby mode. In the heating mode, the maximum power consumption recorded by us when heating two bowls at once is 352 watts.

When cooking corn porridge in the “High” mode for 6 hours, 0.77 kWh was consumed, and the temperature of the dish at the end of cooking was 84.4 °C. Cooking condensed milk in the “High” mode for 25.5 hours consumed 3.309 kWh. Pork stew with vegetables was cooked in 3 hours in the “High” mode, the consumption was only 0.333 kWh. It took 5.5 hours to cook pea soup with feta cheese on the High setting, reaching a temperature of 98.7 °C and consuming 0.7 kWh of electricity. The jacket potatoes were cooked for 4.5 hours in the “High” mode, and the consumption was 0.52 kWh.

practice tests

The purpose of our tests was to find out how comfortable it would be to use a slow cooker at home and on a regular basis. Can the device, despite its slowness, turn out to be a good helper and save energy in the struggle for tasty and healthy food. We have taken recipes for various dishes from the instruction manual and are ready to share the results and our valuable opinion.

Corn porridge with milk

Our first test was corn porridge with milk. For her, we needed the following ingredients: 600 ml of cold water, 1300 ml of milk, 3 tablespoons of sugar, 100 ml of corn grits, 1 teaspoon of salt and 30 grams of butter.

We were surprised at such a large amount of liquid and such a small amount of cereal, but did not argue with the recipe.

Therefore, they poured corn grits into the pan, poured it with water and milk, added sugar and salt, and mixed all the ingredients until the sugar dissolved.

According to the instructions, the porridge had to be cooked on the “High” mode for 4 hours. However, by the end of this time, we saw that there was still plenty of liquid, and clearly not enough cereal.

Therefore, we added another 100 ml of cereal to the hot brew and set the porridge to cook for another 2 hours. And then everything worked out.

We dare to assume that somewhere in the recipe a mistake was made and when cooking it is worth adding a much smaller amount of milk or 2 times more cereal.

There was a lot of corn porridge, it was tender, without lumps and smelled great. We added a small amount of butter to the plates when serving and were very pleased with the result.

Result: excellent

Condensed milk

Spoiler: we liked the recipe and the result of this test so much that we cooked condensed milk twice. The first time according to the recipe and the second time they cooked a little longer to achieve the taste of boiled condensed milk.

To prepare condensed milk, we needed the following ingredients: 2 liters of milk with a fat content of 2.5% and 600 g of sugar.

We poured cool milk into a saucepan, added sugar to it, and for several minutes after turning on the slow cooker, stirred the contents so that the sugar dissolved, and did not stick to the bottom and stick together into lumps.

When preparing condensed milk, you do not need to cover the pan with a lid, as the milk will slowly but surely evaporate. After 24 hours, the volume of liquid in the pan becomes about 3 times less.

During this time, condensed milk reaches its ideal consistency and acquires everyone’s favorite taste.

And if you keep the slow cooker in operation for only 1.5-2 hours longer, then the milk will evaporate a little more, noticeably darken and acquire an even richer taste, popularly known as “boiled condensed milk”.

We warn you: after such a simple recipe and a very tasty result, you want to immediately purchase this device for yourself.

We did not boil condensed milk to a very thick state, but the taste obtained at this stage did not leave any of the eaters indifferent.

Result: amazing

Braised pork with mushrooms and vegetables

For this recipe, we needed the following ingredients: 600 g of pork, 200 g of wild mushrooms, an onion, a bunch of green onions, a large tomato, a jar of tomato paste, a handful of Svan salt and a pinch of ground black pepper.

We cut the pork and vegetables into small squares, and the mushrooms were slightly thawed and chopped into small pieces.

Then they put all the ingredients one by one into the pan.

Next, we thoroughly mixed the contents of the pan, covered it with a lid and cooked in the “High” mode for 3 hours.

After the time we chose, the dish was ready and spread an extremely appetizing aroma throughout the kitchen. All shades of smells are very well revealed due to languishing and lack of boiling.

The dish turned out juicy, tasty, and again we were not a bit tired during cooking, as we did not even follow the process. We give the device 10 out of 10 convenience stars.

Result: excellent

Pea soup with cheese

We also found an interesting recipe for pea soup in the instructions and decided to implement it in our test.

For him, we needed the following ingredients: 1 cup of split yellow peas, 0.5 cup of a mixture of red lentils and green split peas, 4 cups of water, 1 handful of dried vegetables, a package of cheese, a bunch of fresh cilantro, salt and black pepper.

We thoroughly washed the mixture of legumes and let the water drain.

Then they poured peas with lentils into a saucepan, added cold water and a handful of dry vegetables.

After that, the soup was sent to cook for 5.5 hours in the “High” mode.

We salted and peppered the finished soup.

Added fresh cilantro to it.

And shredded cheese.

After that, the soup was thoroughly mixed and left to brew for 5 minutes. The recipe said that you can wait until the cheese is completely dissolved, but we were already eager to try the fragrant dish, so we poured it into plates with softened pieces of cheese.

The puree soup turned out to be rich, with a pronounced taste of each ingredient. We really liked this recipe and we will definitely cook it again in the future, although, unfortunately, without a slow cooker, the tastes of different ingredients may not be revealed this way.

Result: excellent

jacket potatoes

For this test, we needed 6 medium potatoes in their skins and foil.

We thoroughly washed the tubers and let them dry.

Then wrapped each potato in a separate piece of foil, making 2 turns.

According to the recipe, the potatoes had to be cooked in the “High” mode for 2.5-3.5 hours (depending on the size of the potatoes). After 2.5 hours, the potatoes were still damp, so we put them on for another hour.

Unfortunately, even 3.5 hours was not enough for our tubers, and although the potatoes could already be eaten, they still looked damp in the cut and were not at all loose.

We extended the work of the slow cooker for another hour in the previous mode and, as a result, we got an excellent result.

In 4.5 hours, the potatoes became soft and fragrant, and the potato skin was peeled off without difficulty.

Result: excellent

findings

The Kitfort KT-219 slow cooker coped with all the tests with a bang, fed it tasty and healthy, we liked it externally and internally, and also consumed a relatively small amount of electricity. At the same time, the device performed its work quietly, almost silently, did not require looking after itself (no splashes or escapes outside the pots), and was also easily cleaned of any type of contamination (from condensed milk that boiled away and dried up during the day cooking to fatty meat sauce). It would seem, what could be more pleasant? And then we saw the price.

Are there any downsides to the device we tested? Perhaps only one: the lack of a built-in timer. It would be very convenient if you could not only forget about the dish for several hours, but also leave the house or fall asleep peacefully in the middle or at the end of cooking, knowing that the operation of the device will stop at some point.

Previously, when testing slow cookers with large bowls, we were inclined to believe that these devices have a rather narrow focus on the kitchen field and are not suitable for every amateur cook due to their slowness and size. Now, using the device with two medium-sized ceramic bowls, we fully felt the convenience, benefit and even pleasure. A long cooking time is no longer a problem if you plan it in advance – put porridge at night, and soup, for example, in the morning. At the same time, the taste of the dishes will always be rich, and the texture of the products will be tender and pleasant, so it will be simply impossible not to feel the benefits of using a slow cooker. Separately, I would like to note that the absence of the need to stir the dish, add liquid or monitor the boil greatly simplifies life.

Pros :

• excellent test results
• two containers
• comfortable and beautiful ceramic bowls
• adequate cost
• low power consumption

Cons :