I use the crock pot as a warmer to keep things like mashed potatoes warm while I finish the rest of the dinner for big family dinners.They don't get scorched like they would on the stove. I also use it to keep baked beans warm that I cooked on the stove. They are great for keeping rolls and corn muffins warm when you making a lot for a big family dinner.If they get too moist then place a paper towel or napkin over the top. I rarely use it for cooking. We don't care for way the meat and vegetables turn out for stews.It does a good job on spaghetti sauce because you don't have to worry about it burning with a long cooking time. I like my dutch oven for stews.It does a great job on tough meat.After slow cooking it for hours, it will be tinder. I like to make chicken stews as well. A small dutch oven is great as a deep fryer.You don't need so much oil and it holds it's temperature well.You can deep fry donuts or tempera with great results.You don't need a deep fryer that you might only use once a month.

Your pic looks like a nice pot. Do you have any trouble fitting it into the oven with that handle? Also, I find my 5.5 qt. LC usually not big enough. There are times even my 7-1/4 qt. LC isn't big enough (meatballs and sauce in particular; the meatballs are always just barely fitting, and coming up to the brim of the pot). The 4 qt. pot you pictured would be good for risotto as it's named, or heating sauces, or re-heating leftover stews, soups, etc. If you are making a classic soup using bones, meat and vegetables, the 4 qt. is just too small. For my cooking tasks that I use a Dutch Oven, the 4-qt would be too small for all of them. If you want to save money on LC, try finding an LC outlet close to you (see list below) where you can get 20-30% off. Or buy either the Lodge or the Tramontina 6 qt. enameled cast iron dutch oven at Walmart. Many enthusiastic fans of those pots, and reports are that they're as good as LC. Le Creuset Outlets Lodge 6-qt. Dutch Oven

rhome410 - Wow! I didn't even know Le Creuset made a 13.25 qt pot. Here's the thing - it's going to be so heavy when filled that even I would shy away from using it. And then there's the expense. For that kind of money, you would be better off with the All-Clad Stainless 12-Quart Stock Pot ($326.88 on Amazon). It gets top marks from Cooks Illustrated in part because "The aluminum core runs up the side of the pot". Since I personally won't be spending over $300 on a stock pot any time soon, I have a couple of other recommendations: 1. I'm not aware of another stock pot like All-Clad that go all the way up the sides, but Cooks Illustrated next highest rated is the Cuisinart Chef's Classic Stainless 12-Quart Stock Pot which gets very high marks, is ever so much more manageable than the Le Creuset and only costs around $60. Because it has a wide base, it will help a little with the bottom sides not burning, but you're still going to have to watch them carefully. 2. For heavier braising and thick soups/stews, for myself, I bought the the Mario Batali Braiser Oval 9 Qt enamel on cast iron pot. Cooks Illustrated rates these Mario Batali pots nearly as highly as Le Creuset and they're about half the price. They don't make a round one that size, but the shallower part of the oval is still 11" and provides for reasonably even burner coverage on my range (although if I remember correctly you actually have a more high powered range at home than I do). Hope this helps. plllog - great advice (along with everyone else) on "fish stick/chicken strip" making. The rounded sides on your your Le Creuset soup pot work better for at least 2 reasons: 1. A pan with 90 degree sides allows heat to enter from both the bottom and the side so, in effect, the food in the corner is getting up to twice as much heat - even more for a perfectly square or rectangular baking pan taking heat on 3 sides (ever noticed how the corners of brownies are quick to burn). 2. Rounded sides allow for more complete and efficient stirring therefore also reducing burning. These two reasons are probably why most pots are actually round/rounded in the first place. You'll note that practically all good casserole dishes (made for long cooking without stirring) are round/rounded on all edges. Interestingly, this can be even more important for microwave cooking.

@Sherry8aNorthAL, I found that Tramontina is all around a great brand. I don't think you can make a mistake buying any of their products. You miss out on some of the attention to detail that I see in my Staub pots. And yes, I do like these little improvements. But whether the improvements are worth 2.5 times the price is a very valid question. On the other hand, as others have said, these are pots that you'll use for decades to come. So, if you do decide to splurge, the cost does amortize over time. The heavy weight is an issue with any cast iron product. That's why, unlike for Dutch ovens, I prefer carbon steel skillets over cast iron. They handle very comparably, but they are noticeably lighter. Lodge makes a great and inexpensive model, and according to ATK, Matfer Bourgeat makes the nicest one, but I haven't tried that myself. Both cast iron and rolled steel, despite all their advantages, suffer from poor heat conductivity. So they work better on stoves that distribute heat evenly. We love to cook with them on our Bluestar range. The star-shaped burners are perfect for this application. We liked them a lot less, when we had to temporarily use the Viking in our in-law unit during our remodel. Hot spots were very obvious and annoying. Capped circular gas burners are a much poorer fit for this type of cookware. Of course, once transferred to a hot oven, all of that is moot.