Most helpful customer reviews

336 of 350 people found the following review helpful.
Some great design with some serious drawbacks
By Minkiemink
Being a fondue lover, when I first saw this new Cuisinart electric fondue maker, I had an "Aha!" moment, and purchased the pot looking forward to a future of only using those smelly little sterno cans for nicely subdued pink outdoor lighting, (yes...I am kidding), instead of heating my food. At first blush, this Item has some great features. Large pot, detachable cord, easy clean nonstick interior, full immersability and variable heating temperatures. Now for the bad news. The pot does not detach from the ever so immense and functional stand, making it a very large pot indeed. difficult to store, almost impossible to refrigerate in newer center split refrigerators that have smaller shelf space....like mine. Tres cumbersome. The cord is extremely short, almost always calling for an additional extension cord. Fabulous if you like that industrial look while dining or entertaining, unfortunate if you don't. The worst flaw? The tendency to heat unevenly dang it! Because the heat is concentrated around the widely spaced heating elements on the bottom of the pot, we have noticed that this is creating marks in the non stick surface and overcooked areas and even burns the cheese at the bottom of the pot. Quelle horreur! Now we see clearly why this pot is non-stick. It has to be if there is even a remote chance of getting the burnt bits off without using dynamite. We tried far lower temperature settings,or even varying the temperature, thinking this would remedy the problem, but then instead of the one true hot, gooey, melty fondue, we ended up with semi-chilled, semi melted cheese lumps. Not as appetizing as you might think. No doubt, a better product for oil than cheese or chocolate. Also, No lid sigh...Well, I guess you can't have everything, but this Cuisinart fondue pot is sleek and pretty and burnt bits or not, at least I'm only using the left over sterno for "candle-lit" baths until it runs out (...yes...I am kidding again). However, I am still looking for a better fondue pot.

161 of 168 people found the following review helpful.
Worth every penny... Never going back to sterno again!!!
By Eric Pruss
If you like fondue, but find Sterno fuel a pain to use, not to mentioned potentially dangerous... you will love this fondue pot... Just plug it in, turn the knob to the setting you desire and put in the make fondue! Couldn't be easier!

While the power cord is rather short, just get an extension and all is right with the world... And for those concerned that someone tripping over the cord could cause a big mess... forget it... The cord has a megnetic connector that holds it to the thermostat, which incidentally unplugs from the pot itself for cleaning, If someone were to trip over the cord, it just comes undone and all you have to do is set it back in place and the magnet reconnects it... Brilliant!

Oh, and the non-stick surface is great... Those old ceramic fondue pots were a chore to clean... Just wipe this one out with a soft sponge with soap and water and your done!

Yes, Fondue is back and this pot could keep it here to stay this time around!

86 of 88 people found the following review helpful.
Fantastic fondue!
By Calamity Jane
Update 3/19/11:

Since introducing my kids to the joys of fondue for dinner last summer, they've wanted to have fondue for every special occasion. After borrowing a friend's Rival fondue pot, which is similar to the Cuisinart one, we decided to buy a second pot since one wasn't quite enough for 5 hungry people trying to cook two items at once! Since my brother-in-law wanted to get us a Christmas gift, I told him to get the Rival one since it's cheaper (I didn't feel right asking him to spend more money on the Cuisinart since my friend's Rival pot was fine when we used it for chocolate fondue and my Cuisinart for the oil-based meat course). Well, the shrimp and steak stuck to the bottom of the Rival pot once it reached temperature, but it never did with my Cuisinart! It cleaned up just as easily, but it made me wish we'd asked for another Cuisinart. If you are choosing between the two, definitely go for Cuisinart! In the meantime I will be researching how to keep meats from sticking to the non-stick Rival.

Original Review (thanks for all the helpful votes!!):

I got this fondue set as a wedding gift and tried it out for the first time last night. It heats quickly and evenly, and the ability to dial the temperature in .5 stops from 1 to 10 is very helpful. It's a nice large size, so larger fondues for a big crowd are no problem (you could easily double small recipes). We made the chocolate hazelnut fondue recipe that came with the set and it was fabulous! Best of the four recipes we made last night. The removable top has 6 slotted "rests" for the fondue forks, although we didn't need it since we were just dipping. One thing to be aware of is that the cord is pretty short, but if you have a heavy-duty extension cord then that's no problem. I highly recommend this fondue set! It's great as a gift or a self-indulgence!