Bravetti Slow Cooker – A Good Buy?

Slow cookers have always been a popular kitchen appliance, as they give you a simple and straightforward way to cook a nutritious meal. In this day and age there are a huge range of different makes and models to pick from. Bravetti are one such manufacturer that fall on the more affordable side of the market, and we are going to look at one of their best selling models in this article.

Is this particular Bravetti slow cooker worth looking at, or is your money better spent on a different machine? Keep reading to find out!

Is Bravetti A Reputable Brand?

Bravetti isn’t exactly one of the more well known brands out there compared to other big names in the slow cooker field such as Crock-Pot, Hamilton Beach & Cuisinart. So are they are reputable brand? There isn’t a whole lot of info about Bravetti as a company unfortunately, and that is because they are a brand that is produced by another company called Euro Pro. Now Euro Pro is a more well know brand, which is in fact over a hundred years old. They sell a variety of different products and brands under this company, so they do have somewhat of a good reputation in the kitchen appliances department.

In fact many of their products have been heavily promoted on the Home Shopping Network, which has accounted for a large part of their success in recent years. Like most budget appliance companies, it should come as no surprise that their products are now made in China. However, most cheaper to mid ranged price goods are from China these days, and you will certainly struggle to find anything affordable that is not made there. From the many reviews we have read about their brand, it seems the quality is quite respectable. But getting back to the original question, the answer is yes – they do seem to have a good reputation.

Bravetti Pro Slow Cooker KC275H

One of their best selling models is the Bravetti Platinum Pro KC275H, so how does it compare to some of the competition. Let’s start off by looking at the design.

The Design

The bulk of the unit features a nice stainless steel finish, and the main controls are on the front of the unit. The control panel area panel extends out a little on the front, and the black plastic trim contrasts quite nicely against the stainless steel finish. The buttons are all easily identifiable, and small lcd panel sits in the center. Above the control panel is the Bravetti logo, which is big enough to be seen, but not too distracting.

On the sides are the handles, which are a nice size. We assume these are the “cool to the touch” variety, although there is no mention of it on the packaging. The black ceramic cooking pot is a fair size, although it is quite easy to remove from the cooker. The glass lid allows you to keep an eye on your food, and makes stirring your food a quick and easy task. Overall it is a nice modern looking design, and there is nothing obvious we can complain about.

Features

Now let’s talk about some of the features the Bravetti Pro Slow cooker has. This is a middle of the road capacity model, and you can cook up to 7 quarts of food in it. It has a respectable 340 watts of power, which is more or less standard these days. It has four temperature settings including High, Medium, Low & Keep Warm. These temperature modes can be used along with the built in timer, which can be programmed in thirty minute increments. Once the cooking cycle has finished the Bravetti slow cooker will go into standby mode for 5 minutes, before switching over to the Keep Warm setting.

The Keep Warm setting stays active for 6 hours, giving you a wide window of time to enjoy the food at the optimal temperature. Like most ceramic cooking pots, you should not immediately wash the pot after cooking. It should be left to cool down first, as the sudden decrease in temperature can lead to it cracking. There is no mention of whether or not the cooking pot is dishwasher safe, so probably best to play it safe and stick to hand washing it.

Performance

So the big question is how well does it perform? Quite well as far as we can tell. The cooker heats up fairly quickly, and is ready to start cooking in a matter of minutes.The Low and Medium temperatures perform decently, simmering food at a slow and constant heat. The High setting is a touch too high for our liking, as it tends to heat up the food a little too fast. This can lead to overcooked and dried out meat if left for too long. However, it is good if you are looking to make your meal in a hurry.

The Keep Warm functionality works as advertised, and allows you to enjoy the food over a few hours. Cleaning up the cooking pot is a little tricky afterwards, as it can be a bit of a job getting all the food off. However this is a common issue, not limited to the Bravetti KC275H slow cooker. Our advice is to wipe off the excess food with a paper towel, then leaving it to soak for a while. This seems to be the easiest way to get it clean.

Owners Manual

The owners manual is a little on the short side, but it does give you a rundown of how to operate the machine, and provides a few popular recipes. You can grab a copy of the KC275H manual here if you want to have a look at it.

Summary

The Bravetti Slow Cooker is a affordable cooker that performs fairly well. It is not packed full of features, but it does have a range of different operating temperatures and a timer built in, which should be enough to satisfy most folks. At the price it is hard not to recommend it, and it can certainly keep up with the other budget models. If you are looking for a new slow cooker, then this one is certainly worth considering.