I don't own one but there've been long-time topics on Chowhound for IP users (the majority) vs. other brands or stove top models.

https://www.chowhound.com/post/instant-pot-basic-orientation-1046691 https://www.chowhound.com/post/fall-love-instant-pot-1067107

Cooking with threads, but do include any brand.

https://www.chowhound.com/post/cooking-electric-pressure-cooker-cookbooks-1011140

https://www.chowhound.com/post/cooking-electric-pressure-cooker-cookbooks-part-2-1044596

https://www.chowhound.com/post/cooking-electric-pressure-cooker-cookbooks-part-3-1067525

I have the 8 qt. I went back and forth between 6 and 8 and ultimately got the bigger one because it went on sale when I was finally ready to buy because we were remodeling and I only had a single burner induction plate.

We do often cook for a crowd (21 family members within 15 miles) so it works for us. We are a family of 4, though, and it’s still fine. We like leftovers. It must take longer than the 6 to pressuriz, but I don’t have anything to compare it to.

I haven’t made the most of it yet. Mostly I use it for stuff that would take 3 hours on the stove or in the oven, like roasts and stews and beans. So it comes out most often in cold weather.

Our favorite use for it, though, is peely eggs (known to the average person as hard boiled eggs.) So I guess we use it a lot in warm weather, too, for eggs for potato salad.

I’m with nidnay on the chicken. It’s marginally better than crock pot chicken, but I don’t really like either.

I strictly use the stainless steel pot.

I do have dreams of making yogurt at some Point but haven’t gotten there yet.

It has mostly replaced my enamel Dutch oven.

We dont do freezer meals

Hate the smell of the silicon rings. First thing I cooked was a corned beef brisket. Big mistake. Then I ordered extra rings. Have one just for eggs.

Im awful at getting dinner started on time, so I love being able to put a roast on at 4 and still have it done by dinner.

1.) What size do you have? Is it big enough/too big? I have both a 6 and an 8 quart. Both sizes work for me as I use the 8 qt for planned leftovers/freezer meals. Plus the 8 qt. makes a slightly larger cheesecake and can handle a larger beef/pork roast.

2.) How many people are you cooking for? 2

3.) Do you cook in the stainless steel liner or do you use the ceramic bowl/liner? Stainless.

4.) If you do freezer meals, do they reheat quickly? I am not sure what you mean by quickly. They re-heat the same as other meals I have frozen. Are you asking about re-heating in the IP? If so, I either use the stove or the microwave for re-heating.

5.) What (if any) appliances/pans/methods has this replaced for you? It has replaced both oven and stovetop. Also, my slow cooker is feeling lonely.

6.) If applicable, what do you love/hate most about this appliance? The ease of use, the faster cooking times (navy bean soup in 20 minutes with un-soaked beans, beef roasts to a perfect rare in 45 minutes.) Easy cleanup. Lower energy cost.

If you get one (I have an 8 and 3 qt), follow This Old Gal on Facebook. She has a lot of great tips and recipes.

kim k....Thanks for the tip. I am actually a dark meat fan and like legs and thighs (on the bone) and no matter what I’ve tried, it either comes out with a strange rubbery texture, or like mush. I gave up on the chicken :). So I either bake it in the oven, or if it’s an ingredient in a casserole of some kind, will use my much loved Le Crueset pots that are collecting a lot of dust :( Anyway, there are soooo many other things that cook beautifully in the IP, so not too disappointing. I love the fact that there is no babysitting when cooking soups or stews. No worry about liquid evaporation or having to make sure to shut the stove off. Just add all the ingredients, turn it on, and when finished, the pressure will release naturally and it goes to keep warm all on its own....love my IP :)

I have the Breville fast/slow multi cooker, which I think is similar. I have the 6 qt and there is a non stick metal bowl. Cooking for usually 2-4 if I'm using it, it's a great size for me unless I want to make something in large quantity, for example when I make a particular sauce, I make a LOT at a time as it's very time consuming. When doing that, I do a batch in the breville and the other in the oven. I can't say that it normally replaces anything for me, but rather has caused me to more frequently make some things that I rarely made due to cooking time. It took me some time to really get the hang of it, but now that I have it's great!

Thanks to all for responding as I'm trying to decide if I want/need one of these and, if so, which size.

Alex9179:Thanks for all of the links; should be lots of info.

Fsal: Good to know about cooking rice so fast and the app sounds like it is a big help. I hear you about not taking it out of the box for a year; I've done that with other items when I didn't want to take the time to read the instructions.

Mrs. Pete: I wouldn't have thought of using it for cooking roasting ears! I have a manual pressure cooker, so am familiar with the time to get to pressure and the cool down, but do love how it makes things so tender and does so quickly.

Nidnay: I am also cooking for two, but love to cook in quantity and food save freezer meals. Getting a second liner would probably be a real time saver for me when I get on a cooking spree for freezer meals. I. too, have noticed the flavors of the herbs/spices really permeating the meats and gravies in my manual pressure cooker. Also love that it shuts itself off and goes to warm!

townlakecakes: I've got to read more about the silicone rings; am guessing they must take on the smell of what your cooking? Putting a roast on at 4 and having ready for dinner is a real selling point!

pkkramer60: I was thinking you reheated in the Instant Pot when I asked that question, but makes sense you would just reheat in microwave or stove. Navy bean soup with un-soaked beans-really?? And roasts in 45 minutes is too good to be true! The larger cheesecake, larger roastand freezer meals/planned leftovers makes the 8 qt seem like a good choice for me.

vpierce: I didn't even know they made a 3 qt. and thanks for the "This Old Gal" recommendation.

Janet: I'm in the throes of planning a kitchen remodel-maybe I should give it up and just get several Instant Pots!! Why do you put the ring in the freezer? and what do you shred with a mixer? Good to know about the yogurt setting.

Kim K: Dinner from frozen meat in an hour would be enough to sell me one. And thanks for tips on cooking chicken.

Sue Mcgrath: Your post makes me more inclined to think the 8 qt is the size I need.

For some reason, putting it in the freezer gets rid of the strong cooking smells that the silicone ring absorbs. Shredded chicken or pork, with salsa or bbq, for instance.

I would get the 8 qt if you only get one. You can cook 7 qts in that but not in a 6 or 3 qt. It is not the be-all, end-all for everything. Why make baked potatoes for 20 minutes in the IP when the microwave takes 8 to 10 minutes? Whole "roast" chicken is nasty, but the chicken in soups, stews, etc is great. Steaks, chops can be made in the IP, but I prefer a grill, broiler or cast iron pan for those. But you can do some sides in there. Also, note that cooking times can be misleading. Always add in the pressurization time. The more liquid and the colder it is, the longer it can take.

Google some of your favorite recipes cooking in the IP to get a feel for how it works. That helped me a great deal.

We use an 8-quart. This size is useful for ribs, pork shoulder, beef stew with potatoes and carrots separately wrapped in foil and all other size meals.

Re : cooking times

YES. Many quoted times don't take into account the time it takes to come up to pressure, and natural release if that's being used. The larger the pot, the smaller the amount of food, the longer it takes.

I like to use it for recipes that would normally take a few hours. Pork shoulder (carnitas!), beans, pot roast, and cheesecake are my go-tos. I always make hard-boiled eggs in my PC. Steaming potatoes for mash is revelatory. They were light as clouds once done. You don't need a PC to do that but it can be hard to find an open burner while making a holiday feast.

Hip Pressure Cooking is a very comprehensive site for information. She was doubtful that electric PCs were worth it but has been converted ;)

I do love my 6 quart 7-in-1 IP! I cook for two to four people.

I've made a 3 lb boneless beef chuck roast in 55 minutes (note that it took less than 8 to 10 minutes to get up to pressure, and *then* it took 55 minutes to cook). Moist, fork-tender, delicious, and the leftovers were really good 2 days later too, when we finished them off.

Also made: pork spareribs that were fall-off-the-bone tender (2 racks, 30 minutes cook time once it got up to pressure), meatloaf (35 minutes for 3 lbs of meatloaf after it got up to pressure), whole chicken (a bit less than a 5 lb chicken with 6 C of water, & once it got up to pressure, it cooked for 25 minutes) and I made chicken broth with the water used for this, too, cheesecake (6 inch diameter round pan, took 26 minutes), and my IP performed excellently with frozen chicken breasts (once up to pressure, it took 12 minutes--but don't let the chicken breasts overlap)!

I usually do the "natural release."

My next recipe might be Kenji's pressure cooker tomato sauce.

I have the 6qt and the 3qt. We are a family of 3 and I use the smaller one the most often for my family. Vegetarian cooking.. Steam eggs, egg custards, veggie curries, lots of lentils and beans. The large and the small both get used for parties as they function well as an appliance/ dish to keep things warm. Works great for warm desserts, soups. If I were to get one, I would go for the smaller one.. Most bang for the buck and the counter real estate.. I tried the Cosori brand and returned it for the instant pot brand.

We have the 8 qt IP and we are a family of 4 (with 2 teenagers). My husband uses it most as I'm kind of afraid of it!

You definitely need to take the cooking times with a grain of salt. That was the hardest thing for us to learn. We thought we would have dinner in say 20 minutes when it was more like 40.

We have had some problems with things burning in it, particularly foods with tomato sauce. I'm not sure why, but it's happened several times now. It seems to be with thicker recipes like meat sauce.

We only use the metal bowl that it came with. It's more my husband's toy so I admit I haven't researched much.

It's pretty much replaced our crock pot. There's a couple of things I prefer with the crock pot because I don't think you get the same flavor with the IP, but since our schedules are so busy the IP works better for us.

1.) What size do you have? Is it big enough/too big? 6 quart perfect size

2.) How many people are you cooking for? 5 adults and a toddler

3.) Do you cook in the stainless steel liner or do you use the ceramic bowl/liner?

Stainless steel

4.) If you do freezer meals, do they reheat quickly?

It depends on the food and the mode used to reheat. Usually I will pull ingredients out of the freezer, sauté in the Instant Pot then slow cook for the day or pressure cook until done. I have used the pressure cook feature to thaw and reheat broth based soups which works well.

5.) What (if any) appliances/pans/methods has this replaced for you?

Replaced my pressure cooker, slow cooker and sear pan. I also stopped using a cast iron Dutch oven for pot roast though I used the Dutch Oven for other things.

6.) If applicable, what do you love/hate most about this appliance?

Love everything about it. I bought the glass cover for when I use it as a slow cooker.

I make a lot of bone broths/stocks. The pressure cook feature has cut cooking time dramatically. Also I used to roast the bones and vegetables in the oven for stock now I just sauté them in the Instant Pot before pressure cooking.

I made a pot roast yesterday in it. Browned it on all sides using the sauté function, then set it on medium slow cook for the day. It came out beautifully.

Janet: good to know about the rings.

Pkramer60: I think I probably will go with the 8qt. and googling my current favorites cooked in the IP is a good idea.

Anne Duke: If I ever have time to experiment I might try that. Right now I do the easy way:microwave in the potato bag.

Dan1888: Sounds like things I cook, but don't understand how you cook potatoes and carrots wrapped in foil in beef stew-am I mis-reading that?

Alex9179: I have a manual PC, so am familiar with the extra time you have to allow for coming to pressure and cool down. I still love the way it tenderizes certain foods and the speed. Thank you for the link; I will explore.

Sooz: The chuck roast sounds delicious! I would have never thought of meat loaf in a pressure cooker and chicken broth, too.

Lalithar: The time saved cooking beans and lentils makes a PC earn its shelf space. I didn't realize they act as warmers. And glad to hear you like the IP brand better.

Chocolatebunny123: Glad to hear from another pleased user, even if it is hubby who uses it. I remember as a young married, being afraid to use a PC, but my mother bought me one an insisted it was safe. I didn't read the instructions well and eventually tried to cook something in it that I wasn't supposed to and blew the vent out. IIRC it was chicken and dumplings and they were all over my ceiling. By then I knew how valuable the PC was for saving time and started paying more attention to how and what to cook in it.

Btaylor10: I've never made yogurt, but we do eat lots of it, so that would be a neat feature.

Moosemac: I like the idea of using it for broth and I like that so many have replaced appliances with the IP.

Thanks for all your responses. It always helps to make a decision about cooking appliances and tools after reading the opinions and experiences of the people on this forum

I think I will have to be careful about weight gain if I use it for as many cheesecakes as people on here are enjoying!

I just got my instant pot. Its the 6 qt. I only usually just cook for one but my plan is to use those stacking pots inside so to cook a whole meal at once. Just bought the stacking pots tonight so haven't tried it out. So far i have burnt chili. I has a learning curve...someone has already advised me to use more water in my chili and to finish it off with the saute setting to reduce the liquid but it was fabulous using it to soak the beans with out soaking...i will have to conquer the chili, i don't ever want to see the 'burn' error code again.