Equipment Review: Best Stovetop Pressure Cookers & Our Testing Winner and Best Buy


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Our winning stovetop pressure cooker: https://amzn.to/2Ng2Kai Our best buy stovetop pressure cooker: https://amzn.to/2KrHDUD Our cookbook, Pressure …

34 replies
  1. Nora Charles
    Nora Charles says:

    From an email I received today from America’s Test Kitchen:

    Our former Best Buy stovetop pressure cooker, the Fagor Duo, was discontinued when the Spanish manufacturer went out of business. However, the U.S. branch became a separate company called Zavor and is producing the same cooker. We purchased it and put it through its paces, using all the same tests. The new pot has minor improvements: The settings, handle lock, maximum fill line, and the spot where you align lid and pot to seal the cooker are all more clearly marked. Its cooking surface is slightly narrower and it didn’t reach as high a temperature as the previous model, but we had no difficulty with cooking and browning food. The rebranded model by Zavor is our new Best Buy. We recommend following the manual’s instruction to put vegetable oil on the gasket, which makes it easier to get a tight seal under pressure and to help the lid slide smoothly.

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  2. Chad Coffey
    Chad Coffey says:

    Why on a pressure cooker is a disk bottom desirable, but not quite good enough when it comes to other pots and pans? I’m not being a smart ass. I have upgraded many of my decent disk bottom pots and pans to all clad and really notice a difference. I just mean is scorching on the sides of the pressure cooker just not an issue or are fully clad pressure cookers just not a thing?

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  3. Holden Trout
    Holden Trout says:

    The vitaquick manufactured for the US market have a max operating pressure much lower than those offered to the European market. I recently purchased one and it states the the cooking pressure at the 'second line' is 60kpa (8.7psi) with a boiling point of 237f. I'm very disappointed. The product tested in this video is definitely one made for the European market.

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  4. Nora Charles
    Nora Charles says:

    Be Aware – Fagor has gone out of business and finding parts is difficult, if not impossible. I bought a Fagor Duo based on this review. The lower plastic handle broke. I can’t find the part anywhere. So now my pressure cooker is useless. If you own one get extra gaskets while you can…Don’t buy Fagor no matter how cheap the price on EBay!

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  5. krama017
    krama017 says:

    I decided to go even bigger and get a 10.4 qt from fissler since I always cook in larger quantities. Excited to use it!

    I found the best deal to order it was through bed bath & beyond if you use the 20% off coupon that occasionally comes in the mail. I was able to save almost $50. And they had the 10.4 qt for $250.

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  6. Wakky Wabbit
    Wakky Wabbit says:

    ATK, for most things, is very knowledgeable about the content they present and the products they recommend.

    However, I am retired and spend a lot of time with a friend that has a small appliance repair shop. We also take dead appliance drop-offs and appliances we find at yard sells, flea markets, etc.

    Where ATK fails, in some cases, is the quality and durability of appliances. Sure, the appliance did well during their testing phase but how does that appliance perform after months of work?

    A great example is Kitchenaid stand mixers. One was their top choice. One model even broke during their testing. Kitchenaid gears are terrible quality, even their all metal gears. Their worm drives will not last if put used under frequent or high stress. We have so many dead Kitchenaid stand mixers in the shop that we cannot take any more (fire code prevents storage stacking).

    When we see someone get out of their car with a Kitchenaid stand mixer, we just laugh and say to each other, "another worm drive." We even recommend they toss the mixer in the garage because if we replace it, it will fail again.

    Again, ATK has a lot of good pointers and tips on buying such things but they fail miserably on quality mechanics and the durability of working parts.

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