la koala, if I'm understanding your question, I keep a small one above the refrigerator, my large one in my 15" deep "pantry", and the cast iron ones in a drawer next to the range.

I put mine in a drawer under the ovens that I specifically designed for small appliances. It also has the waffle maker, and some others. I'm thinking of moving the slow cooker to the garage or something because with my new good oven I really don't need it and haven't used it once in the new kitchen.

I assume you don't have a pantry? That's where I keep mine. Too high, so that I have to get a step stool to get it down, so not much better than above the oven. I don't use mine much... But am hoping to change that. I think that in our previous home I might've kept it in the base corner cabinet.

In the Lazy Susan.

Anne

I keep mine under the sink. I don't have big lower cabinets/drawers.

Hi cluelessincolorado, yes, you understood my question perfectly! :-)

Thanks everyone for weighing in!

In my old kitchen, I didn't use the large slow cooker much, and kept in in the back of a large, blind corner cabinet.

After using it once a week ("Slow Cooker Sunday") during the last 5 months of the reno, I am tempted to use it once a week and try out more recipes.

Yeah, I don't really have a pantry per se. I've got a 14 inch wide narrow cabinet, but this large slow cooker is too wide to fit into the opening.

Anne, I am intrigued with the idea about keeping it in the Lazy Susan. How long have you kept it there? Has it bent the shelf at all?

Thanks!
Lee

I have mine in my lazy susan too. It works well there.

Sounds like you could put it under the sink. I have a tall coffee maker under there because it doesn't fit in a drawer!

I have a second pantry in the basement for bulk stuffs, freezer, etc., and since I use the big slow cooker so seldom it's stored down there. I recommend this setup for those it might suit.

I put storage on the back side of my island for seldom-used appliances like the slow cooker, blender, and the KA stand mixer.

I know you won't be able to use this idea but Ithought I'd show it anyway. I have angled cabinets on each side of my corner ovens. I was surprised how many items I could fit in them. Here are a couple of pictures taken before the counter tops were installed.
{{!gwi}} {{!gwi}}

We designed cabinet storage with doors in one section of the island to store large items, such as slow cooker, extra large stock pots, large entertaining items etc. Alternate would be a pantry shelf, many do that when they are short of space.

in my corner lazy susan. my kitchen is tiny and still got it all to fit - you can do it! :)

Thanks!

I have three lazy susans, :-), so I'd be happy if one will support the weight of the slow cooker.

What I'm worried about with using the lazy susan is if its bottom shelf will support the weight of the slow cooker over time. Or will the shelf start to deflect? Or come away from the center rod.

Those of you who use your corner lazy susans, do you know what cabinet line you have?

Thanks!
Lee

I also have mine in my corner susan. It's a super susan with nice heavy wood trays. There's no middle pole, so I keep the slow cooker in the center and the more-often-used items on the sides. Been there 4 months so far and no problems. Our cabinets are Conestoga (RTA).

At my Mom's house.

Currently in a cabinet that we have yet to convert to ROTS. Then will be on ROTS or perhaps large lazy susan.

I don't know.

I should go look for it.

Maybe it's because my slow cooker is so old, but mine is pretty light. I'd have no hesitation about putting it in a drawer, pullout or lazy susan. My cast iron pans and dutch oven, though, are a different story. Those will probably go on fixed shelves.

At my Mom's house.

LOL! :-) That's too funny.

What's ironic is that I was never really into doing the slow cooker thing until my five months in the temporary kitchen while the reno was going on. I bought this one years ago when relatives were coming for a two-week visit, so that we could go sightseeing and have dinner at the house ready for us when we returned.

badgergal, I think that one of your posts showed up as one of my search results, because it mentioned those angle cabinets!

krabbypatty, thanks for posting about keeping your slow cooker in your Conestoga super susan. I think if I do the same as you, and keep mine towards the center, it'll work out. I stuck my head to look underneath and that's where most of the support seems to be for the bottom shelf.

And thanks to everyone who posted! It's good to hear that many people keep the slow cooker in another place/room. If I find that I'm not using it as much as I think I might, I could put it in the basement with the freezer like rosie.

--Lee

I am in the middle of demo and used my slow cooker for the first time in years - guess I will have to find a spot for it to live - either under the oven or in the lazy susan - or the pantry....
PS - The NE pot roast was perfect!!

a2gemini, congrats on your perfect NE pot roast!

While I'm here, I'll put in a plug for the Reynolds slow cooker bags. Are you using those? I found them to be heaven sent. They worked perfectly for me, and made clean up so simple. Which made me very happy, as during our reno, we had to do washing up of cooking things on our knees using a dish pan in the bathtub. :-)

--Lee

We have 3 slow cookers, small, med, and a very large heavy one. We use them often and have kept them on the Lazy Susan in both houses for the last 16 years without problem. The last house had Merrilat (sp?) cabs with a very basic plastic shelved, center pole LS that had no problem supporting them for 15 years. Our new cabs are Kraftmaid with a heavy duty wood LS. We keep all our small appliances in there.

Mine is in the pantry in the new house. In the old house, it was in a base cabinet on the little 1/2 shelf.

We kept ours in our Super Susan. Those shelves were super sturdy. So no worries about it giving way over time. And no center pole to deal with either.

In our upcoming kitchen I'm planning to either keep it there or in an island deep drawer. I deliberately didn't put lower cabinets in so I wouldn't have to reach into black holes to find anything.

Super susan too -- I think it's worth the extra money to have that contraption be pole-less (i.e., "super susan" as opposed to "lazy susan" as I understand the lingo) for just this reason. With wide open round shelves you can fit in an awful lot of small appliances.

Whadda buncha cards here....

My smaller one is in a lower cabinet with the pressure cookers and food processor. The bigger one is in our 18 inch "pantry" cabinet that holds everything from the mysteriously multiplying plastic grocery bags (I don't get it, I use cloth bags) to my cordless drill. Thanks for the reminder. I will have to make sure I still have space for the slow cookers and the air popper and the ice cream machine after I replace my semi-accessible lower cabinets with drawers. We use the slow cookers pretty often, the popcorn machine too.

My large slow cooker is stored on a shelf above my washer and dryer. My laundry appliances are behind a bifold door adjacent to my kitchen. Unfortunately there is no room in my kitchen for the slow cooker (or the electric wok).

For all you folks whose slow cooker is gathering dust: even if you don't cook with them, they are great for keeping food warm for entertaining (especially cool weather): baked beans, chili, soup, meatballs... Football parties, day-long open houses, anyone, anyone?

I'm a bit of a small appliance junky. I love things with cords.

Most are stored in one of two appliance garages in the kitchen.

This one is at the end of the cooktop run.

And right across from it is the baking center where I keep a few more small appliances.

And those items I don't use as often I keep in the walk in closet off the library. This was a hobby rooom for DH, but he "outgrew" it and took over a bedroom upstairs so I got a nice big closet. Our old house is limited in storage so I love having it.

A lot of this is "processing" equipment and a few other items I don't use very often, like the blender and the veggi steamer.

But you asked about my large slow cooker. Normally it would go in front of the smaller pressure cooker, but since I used it recently it's sitting on the floor in the closet.

I'm building a window seat now, and that will give me a bit more storage in the kitchen. The big crockpot may end up there if it fits.

I keep mine in a lower cabinet on the far side of the kitchen (not in the main area) on pullout shelves. I had them put in pull out shelves specifically for the crock pot, the forman grill, the food saver sealer, and for several silverware chests. It's much easier for me to reach for these items from a pull out shelf than from a deep drawer. Just my personal preference. I keep other appliances like the roasters, and other things I use infrequently, in our back closet/store room on a high shelf.

I just bought a new one, and it is considerably larger than the old one, oblong with protruding handles, so I had to find a new home for it. I have a place for it in the office closet, which is just off the kitchen. The electric griddle/grill and the food storage sealer live there as well, so it makes sense.

I was keeping it in the basement, but if it is close to the kitchen, I would probably use it more often. That is the theory I am going with for the moment. ;)

I should have said Super Susan in my previous post. As others have indicated, it is worth the extra money to have the sturdy shelf support under the upper rotating shelf, and not having a pole in the way. I have all sorts of heavy things on mine.

Anne

Lee (koala)
Thanks for the suggestion - I haven't used them in years, but might buy some while I still have oven access. Good idea!!!

Hey, thanks everyone!

Those of you who posted pics of where you all keep your slow cookers, thank you for making the effort to do that! macybaby, your hobby closet photos are amazing! It made me a bit homesick for my parents' house--with the videotapes alongside the appliances. :-)

I was always confused about the difference between the "Super Susan" (no pole) and the Lazy Susan (with pole). I mean, I didn't understand how the Super Susan could rotate without a pole! Based on this thread, I dug up one of the cabinet companies brochures I still have in the house and found a photo--and now I think I understand. Alas, I think what happened is I opted for the Lazy Susan type because of the door style. I liked the look of the inset type of door the Lazy Susan has (where the door goes in as it rotates), instead of the other door. (Form won out over function that time!)

abfabamy, thanks so much for your voice of experience about keeping the heavy slow cookers in a pole-type Lazy Susan for 16 years without problems! That's a great track record, and makes me feel more confident about doing it myself. Tonight, I tried putting the big slow cooker into one of my Lazy Susans and it fits through the opening (whew, I had been wondering if it would). So I think that's the way I'm going to go. (And if it turns out that I'm not slow cooking as much as I thought, it can always go down into the basement.)

Thanks again everyone!
Lee

I bought a new one for DH for Christmas--a big one with clips to hold the lid while carrying. It's in the pantry now. I have two more, an original Crock Pot from the 70s and one with a removal inside crock from the 80s or later. I can't bear to toss either of the older ones. Until DH diagnosed self with gluten problems, I had them in one of my baking gear drawers, but now that's full of funky flours. Very packed pantry is now a reality. We use them all, at times.