[arobwk]

I'm of mind to NOT replace my gradually failing gas/electric 'range' cooker with another conventional cooker unit (i.e. a single unit with integrated rings, grill & oven/s). 

I'm looking at a whole range of modular options instead (electric only).
For now I'm hoping for comments on electric versus hob options for a pressure cooker.

I'm really torn between a do-everything electric pr'/cooker (such as an "Instant Pot", which seems to be popular) and a simpler reliable hob pr'/cooker (which I would obviously need portable worktop rings for which I will almost certainly get anyway). 

A.  Any experiences/recommends re electric pressure cookers please?
B.  Any recommends re hob pressure cookers please?
Not too expensive either way!

[pgkevet]

That's an overall big question and depends on many factors - mostly what sort of cooking you tend to do and size of family, whether you do any commercial cooking or cooking for the freezer. And indeed whether you're remodelling the whole kitchen or not.

When you talk about a range cooker you have is this a rayburn type of thing or one of those huge american multi-oven/ring jobbies that actually used to heat up quite quickly.Cookers are usually refurbishable - thermostats and rings and igniters if necessary.
The rayburn we have is bog slow from start-up to use and the oven has horrid hotspots and needs close watching to use successfully - a hangover from the days when fuel was cheap enough to keep it running all the time. For those reasons we have a ceramic hob for general ring cooking + microwave/convection combo for most other small stuff and then suffer the vagaries of the rayburn for baking and roasting for those rare ocassions here.
Yes, a pressure cooker was good when we had the whole family but now with 2 of us cooking often seperately it's not missed and I'd find an all-in-one slow cooker more use.
We've debated losing the rayburn since it's really for c/h and hot water but remodelling the kitchen to install a new oil boiler etc would be a pain.
I'd quite like an eye-level fan assist oven to stop the stooping/bending and miss the one we had in London. What i really miss is an american electric range i once bought second hand that had every extra ya could dream of - rotisserie and built in timers and baking thermostats with cut-offs frm temperature in the middle of roasts/loaves. More ovens and rings then you could count. It was a bargain at the time 'cos we had a huge kitchen and few folk could fit the monster into their house. Sadly it and the kitchen died in one of V's dramatic chip-pan fires (she went through a  phase of those and killed everything that time despite the chip-pan being self heating and double safety cut-out 'cos she happened to use it placed on an electric ring she'd left on...and then went to watch telly.!!)
The ceramic hob really is easy to keep clean. I'd go induction but V destroys saucepans and frying pans too.

[arobwk]

pgk' - It's a gas/electric range cooker (5x gas rings & 2x elect' ovens).  Almost certainly not a candidate for cost-effective refurb' funded by me.  After 25 years use, I'm happy to pass on to others for them to decide whether to scrap or refurb' for resale.
Re alternative cooker types;  I have a slow cooker, but I'm not good at planning/prepping for the evening ahead and pressure cooker would offer greater flexibility.  Also, I prefer not to leave any electrical equip' on/working when I'm not at home.

I'm inclined towards a simple traditional hob pressure cooker, but hoping to learn whether any members have electric press' cookers and how happy they are.

[pgkevet]

I mentioned refurb 'cos a local farmer mate was chatting in't pub and his gas/electric range cooker had been acting up - also of some vintage and an expensve brand (can't remmeber). He told me he rang up to make enquiries re repair or new and got offered a choice of taking out a monthly insurance on it and that it would cover the repair. He went with that and engineer rocked up - new thermostat, rings all cleaned and new igniters etc. He was happy.
For me, here, cooking mostly just for myself ( 'cos V is vegan) I find I can boil spuds just as quick in ordinary saucepan by putting water on while cleaning them and often cooking my veg in same saucepan to save washing up as it would take to bring pressure cooker up to temp etc. And less cleaning up after. But it's horses for courses - big family etc makes a difference. Also less to go wrong if just a pressure cooker on ring rather than a separate.
If I did have a new oven and worked away from home then I'd likely think about casseroles and remote access systems to tell it to start while I was driving home. Not sure I'd trust a straight timer system that much.

[sheeponthebrain]

get a pressure king pro.  half an hour and pretty much any meat will fall off the bone.  although the dish in the middle can be a nightmare to scrub

[arobwk]

@sheeponthebrain - taking a look at the Pressure King Pro, I seem to think it has a coated inner pot, but  your comments suggest it might not be a non-stick coating -
(Actually, I'm not a fan of non-stick or aluminium cookware.  I prefer stainless steel or enameled.)

[sheeponthebrain]

ours has a copper pot in the middle.  i presume its a copper coating and havent been brave enough to try scrubbing it with anything abrasive

[Buttermilk]

Am I the only person to have taken the lid off a pressure cooker without releasing the pressure first?

[doganjo]

Am I the only person to have taken the lid off a pressure cooker without releasing the pressure first?

That's exctly why I never use mine now - got quite a fright and scalded a little

[arobwk]

Twice times "Oops!" then. That could have been serious.

Mind you:  simple food blenders can cause some folk problems also (i.e. me)!  Hot veg soup in blender & I must have over-filled resulting in hot veggie face-mask and textured wall-paper !!  And then, after the clean up, I managed to do it again despite lower volume & holding the lid down as tightly as I could.  Luckily the soups were not hot enough to actually scald.  (Can't remember this far on whether sick daughter - who'd asked for lump-free soup - was still awake by the time a bowl arrived at her bedside.)

Also; ta for update sheeponthebrain.

[arobwk]

Aldi was offering a Halogen cooker today (up to 17 ltr capacity) @ £30 with 3 year warranty ... so I bought one!  (I would have preferred a hinged heating lid, but heh.)

Test run was oven chips:  will need some tinkering, but already better result than normal oven attempts.

2nd test was onion bhajis: even-stephens I reckon in this case.

Bit of a learning curve ahead!

Am disappointed to find, having now read user guide, that the cooker's glass bowl is, apparently, not dishwasher proof: what?! in this day and age! 
Oh well, I'm not going to take it back just because, but any other TAS members loitering around Aldi's kitchen appliance offerings right now may wish to note this limitation on cleaning options for the halogen cooker.

[arobwk]

Ref the Aldi halogen cooker: very happy with prompt customer response (within an hour) from Eurosonic Group Ltd re enquiry from me regarding steam cooking.  (Not much advice on cooking options in the thin user manual.)

As regards washing the glass cooking bowl:  despite Manual's advice, I reckon I'm going to risk a quick 35 ^oC dishwasher cycle very soon !!  If it can withstand 250 ^oC direct heat, surely (?) it can withstand a low temp wash in the d/washer - so be it if the glass goes cloudy!

[arobwk]

Trials and tribulations:  the halogen-oven bulb expired yesterday (already! - I'll fit a replacement), BUT this is just a week after my combi-microwave oven, after double-figure years, also decided to stop cooking in all modes.  (Latter still manages to make a lot of noise when turned on though !  How is that ??)  Plus the old "range" cooker is now down to just the small-oven grill and gas hobs. 
Woe, woe and thrice woe.

I would have asked members for recommends on a replacement combi' microwave, but, suddenly, it all got a bit urgent and I've ordered a new Panasonic inverter combi-micro (NN-CT56JBBPQ) for collection on Monday from Argos. 
Hopefully I will be happy:  any experiences though ?

[Womble]

We recently bought an Instantpot, and it's great.

I mostly use it for porridge that I can set going the night before, teasmade style. I've settled on the "pot-in-pot" method for this, and it's simple and reliable. I then eat directly out of the cooking pot, so there's only one thing to wash.

The other thing I use it a lot for is homemade yoghurt. For me, it's really convenient to make a couple of pints at a time using the Instantpot.

The only thing I'd add is that you definitely need two sealing rings - one for strong flavours and one for delicate. I made some amazing pulled pork, but then found that pulled pork flavoured yoghurt was not a big hit for some reason.

Am I the only person to have taken the lid off a pressure cooker without releasing the pressure first?

I don't know if all electric pressure cookers have this feature, but the Instantpot has an interlock to stop you from doing that.

[SallyintNorth]

Am I the only person to have taken the lid off a pressure cooker without releasing the pressure first?

No.