[KCF0104] Successful use, smell transfer not great
Successfully cooked both a thick curry and thick custard; was particularly worried about the custard burning on the bottom, which requires constant and thorough stirring if cooking by hand, but the StirAssist was able to keep the ingredients well mixed and unburnt throughout. Machine felt solid/stable and easy to use after the inital get-to-know period.
Functions/Accessories used: MultiBlade, StirAssist, Spatula, Auto and Manual cooking and stirring modes.
Pros: Interface/ease-of-use was quite good and straight-forward, after referencing the instruction booklet a few times.
MultiBlade was relatively effective with chopping onions/carrots into small pieces using the Pulse function, without leaving large unchopped pieces.
As described above, StirAssist seemed to do a good job of intermixing ingredients whilst preventing burning during cooking of thick custard.
Heating seemed quick (or at least not slow), and the various sound indicators (one beep to indicate pre-heating complete (not sure if this was specifically written in the booklet, figured it out eventually), three beeps for cooking finishing, alarm for unclosed lid, etc) were loud enough to be noticed, but not offensive (beeps likened to aeroplane cabin sounds, so maybe a bit distracting, but again, not bad to be noticeable).
Was useful/essential being able to remove the central measuring cup part of the lid, to allow water to evaporate during the cooking process (and to see inside since the lid would be too foggy, and probably add stuff while cooking, although didn't use for that), so that sauces/etc can thicken and to stir-fry instead of stew. A couple of times when the stir speed was accidentally and momentarily set too high, it was positive (lucky?) that only a minimal amount of the contents (if any) was spat out of the opening.
StirAssist speeds effectively mixed the ingredients (liquid/solid), with good speed control through the different speed-settings (although the speed-setting lever and indicator seems a bit dull/slow response and not a clean "click", so make sure not to hold down the lever when changing speeds).
Relatively easy to clean, without infinite small parts and nooks and crannies - but at the same time, what's described in the instruction booklet might not give you the best clean (see Cons comment below).
Cons: Curry smell (e.g. onion, spices) transferred quite strongly onto the rubber/silicon (?) elements, such as the lid lining and StirAssist, just after the first use.
When using the MultiBlade and scraping down the walls of the bowl with the Spatula, the Spatula will very easily get caught on the blade, leaving small dents in the Spatula.
Cleaning instructions seem like they could be improved, as there was curry sauce caught beneath the central spindle, which would be best-washed by removing the spindle and taking apart the spindle elements - not described in the instructions booklet. A cleaning brush (an included tool with some other brands) could also be useful to ensure food matter is removed from narrow holes/openings in the accessories (e.g. StirAssist).
When opening the lid in-between cooking stages, would often (almost always) have condensation/liquid drip onto the machine or bench, as well as a few times where a small amount of food liquid spat from the lid's seals.
There's a high-pitched sound which is emitted by the machine (not sure if it's just when using the stirring functions), which isn't great, although bearable, if you can try and phase it out as background noise.
