I own a Rival Crock pot, a Chef's pot (virtually the same thing only a little larger and is a multipurpose crock pot, deep fryer, etc) and a 4 & 6 qt size Nesco roaster. Hands down winner is the Nesco roaster. They work in a similar fashion. You just have much more control with the roaster. I'm going to talk about Nesco since that's what I have and I know its features. The other roasters do not necessarily have the same features. Cost of a crock pot or roaster are about the same. I just bought two of the 6 qt Nescos at Target for $24.99 each (they were on clearance and I couldn't turn them down for gifts). The crock pots have Off/Low/High for settings. I never found them to really be right. Low wasn't hot enough and High boiled everything so it was a constant switching back and forth. Granted, others do not have this problem. The Chef's pot has a variable temp controller, and a crock. I just hate cleaning the crocks. They're NOT easy cleaning. The Nesco with the enamel pot is fine for a while, but gets harder to clean. But with the non stick which comes in them now, it's easy cleaning. Plus you have temperature control from off to 450° or so. I've baked bread (frozen white bread and banana bread in the Nescos. I can put a 7# turkey breast in the 6 qt version. Beef roast is great. I'll cook up a package of boneless chicken breast and have for other things. I'll use it for baking potatoes. Basically if you can put it in the oven and cook it and can fit it into the Nesco, it works fine. The best lasagna I've ever made was in the Nesco and not cooking the noodles. In summary, yes, you'll do everything with a Nesco that you can do with a crock pot and more. I don't use my crock pots anymore. No need to and it's less hassle to clean and don't fight the heavy crock. Lift out cookwell fits in the frig better too. I'm also hearing people who have similar units say they're not as good as the Nesco brand. No, I don't work for them, just very satisfied with it. The people I know and have either bought them or received them as gifts *all* love them and won't go back to crock pots. Crock pots served their purpose but are now obsolete. I equate it to a can opener and an old can to a pop top lid. The Nesco is more modern way of doing the old way. Yes you can still use a can opener and crock pot, but why when you can use pop top lids and a Nesco? OK, not the greatest analogy, but you get the idea. Ken

Flwrs, Sorry, I almost missed your reply. I have two AEG Ovens. A half and a full. These are two separate ovens, not a combo. AEG is the european... friend? of electrolux. I am located in Oregon and had them shipped in from overseas via a company in Canada. I can give you references to that if you wanted to go to those lengths but I have to say, as much as I love my 1.5 I don't know if I would push the expense and stress of doing it that way onto somone else. Steam ovens ARE pricier. Just flat out. No holds barred. Lol. But they are the only ovens where people seeming to be aiming for smaller in size rather than larger. If you think you might be interested you should put in a new post asking about steam ovens in the name. You'll get a ton of responses. And, for that matter, tons of cool pictures!

Browning is a little different in an electric roaster than a conventional oven. You need to understand the cooking process to understand what happens. In a conventional oven it's more open and moisture evaporates. Cooking in an electric roaster is more like cooking in a covered roasting pan in the oven. As mentioned about the oven heating up the kitchen, that's because ovens leak more air than people realize so it vents more moisture out. You will definitely have trouble browning in a roaster oven, covered roasting pan, slow cooker, dutch oven, etc unless you take different steps. What you're doing is more of a braise than a roast. To really "roast" you'll need more dry air and the bird (or whatever) will need to be a bit more dry. This is why you brown your pot roast, ribs etc before braising. Remember the tip for conventional ovens to get a good browning - pat that bird dry. So, there's essentially 3 or 4 ways to go about it, maybe more. 1) The easiest way (if you have a Nesco, don't know if other brands have the option) is to get the "Roast Air" kit. Essentially it's a lid with a fan on it and converts the unit to a convection oven. I have it for my 6 quart. You'll brown like any oven with that baby blowing that hot air around! I usually don't run it the whole time though. I hook it up toward the end. I also pull the juices out of there, especially if I want them for gravy or something. 2) Second option as mentioned is to use your oven or broiler to crisp/brown it up. 3) Virginia Olson from Nesco used to be on QVC often and she suggested using Kitchen Bouquet to baste it if color was what you were looking for. Again, I suspect she would pull liquids from the roaster because her turkey sure looked fairly crisp too. 4) Another thing I occasionally do is pull the juices, paper towel the bird dry and then cock the lid and crank up the heat on the roaster. That will brown it up too.

I have one and love it too, mine was a gift from my sister for Christmas one year. She had one and I commented to her how useful it was and the next year she gave me one! They make a beautiful turkey and you can make huge batches of stuff in them, I have made soup, gumbo, dirty rice, jambalaya, etc. Plus it works great as a warmer to keep things warm at an event or party. I too have the warmer trays that go on the top to serve from, that was a gift from my other sister. Mine is a GE I know they got it all at Walmart, I have seen them there in the past. My friend saw mine at one of our summer cookouts and loved it she went to walmart and got one just like it. They sure come in handy when you need to use the regular ovens for other dishes. Only problem is they are large and take up a lot of storage space, I keep mine in the original box and store it on our shelves in the garage.