Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

INITIAL REVIEW (NOV 06) I bought this about 6 weeks ago and have used it several times. It is huge & well laid out. The oblong design makes it easier to work with large cuts of meats -- they can be laid on their side instead of on end with many other slow cookers. What I especially like -- what makes it worth the $$-- is that it can be set to a warming mode after the cooking cycle is done. It is also beautiful -- very modern looking, not like some kind of 70's throwback. UPDATE (FEB 08): I have owned this slow cooker for over a year. I have loved it. The last time I used it, I had a big burned glob of sauce on one side and when I took out the ceramic pot, there was burned sauced oozed all over the cooker. It was a mess. My pot has a hairline crack running all along one side. I assumed that someone had cracked it while washing & went to the Kitchen Aid site to buy a replacement. There I read on a customer forum (and now see here in all the 1 star reviews), that there is clearly a manufacturing defect in the ceramic pots. I called Kitchen Aid and politely asked for a replacement, letting them know that I had read about all the other problems. They are replacing it at no charge for "customer satisfaction". No manufacturer would do that for out of warranty product unless they knew they had a problem. Based on others comments, it sounds likely that the replacement pot could crack again. UPDATE (OCT 08): The crock cracked again under normal use. I called KitchenAid customer service and they sent me a new crock at no charge. They said the cooker was out of warranty but the crock was in warranty so I was entitled to a no charge replacement. CONCLUSION: That said, there are features of this pot that I like very, very much -- I love the automatic setting (2 hours on high to get to temperature, then switching to low), the "keep warm" feature, and the "buffet" mode. I also love the design and the size of the pot. I would not recommend this slow cooker though to someone buying it for the first time -- I would suggest waiting to see if Kitchen Aid can resolve their quality issues. They clearly know that they have a problem with this device. As long as KA will keep sending me free crocks, I will continue to use this cooker but I won't pay for any replacement parts. If they don't redesign the unit, I will buy another model of slow cooker when that time comes.