Is An Instant Pot Worth The Hype?

For the last ten years people have been raving about one appliance, but does the Instant Pot hold up? If you haven’t already gotten one, or maybe you have but you haven’t opted to open it or use it much, we’ll walk you through them. What are they, what do they do, do they really work, and what can you make with them? We’ll go through all of these. 

A quick note first, it’s an Instant Pot, not an Instapot. We had it pointed out to us. 

Before we dig in, let’s clarify one thing, Instant Pot is a specific brand of ‘all in one appliances.’ Cusininart, Breville, Gourmia, TaoTronics, Mealthy and Ninja Foodi all have multi function pressure cookers that they sell, with similar functions. So why has this type of appliance become so popular? At first it was a novelty, and then it was realized that it was a very solid option. It saves both time and space within your kitchen, without sacrificing versatility.  We’re going to focus specifically on the Instant Pot brand for this article and see if after 10 years it still holds up to the hype. 

What is an Instant Pot and how does it work?  

While the different functions will vary based on which model you pick, there are some basic programs that will be available on most models. 

-Slow cooker

-Pressure cooker (most models let you choose  high or low pressure, or specific pressure settings like poultry or meat/stew)

-Rice cooker

-Steamer

-Saute/browning

-Yogurt maker

-Warmer

The community has also gotten inventive and found that you can do all sorts of things with different inserts such as cupcake molds, springform pans, or aluminum foil. 

Tip! Using aluminum foil lets you keep ingredients separate from each other which means you can cook your meats and veggies at the same time. 

Do they REALLY work? 

-How does the food taste? 

From experience, meats are amazing.  Fall off the bone tender, juicy and utterly fantastic. (90 minutes to get this. Just 90 minutes!) 

Vegetables are something we’re still experimenting with to figure out. Sometimes, they turn out amazing! Other times not so much. The one thing we’ve seen is that you don’t cook them with as much water as you think, or for as long. 

-Doesn’t that high heat destroy the nutrients? 

Nope! While it’s true that your food is going to go well above the boiling temperature when cooked in the Instant Pot, it’s not like cooking in a normal pot. Cooking at high pressure allows the heat to be distributed quickly and evenly throughout so you don’t have to immerse foods in water. In fact, you only need enough water to create the needed amount of steam and pressure within the Pot. Usually a cup is enough.  This means that the nutrients don’t leech into the water, nor do they get oxidized by exposure to air. 

-Doesn’t that mean I can over-cook the food? 

Nope. Instant Pot has both sensors and self-regulating features for both temperature and the amount of pressure.

Are there any rules to using them? 

-An important first note before saying ‘it doesn’t work.’ 

The Instant Pot (and all pressure cookers really) have to pressurize before the cooking countdown begins. You also have to wait at the end of the process to properly release the pressure. Depending on your model, you might have a ‘quick release’ feature. These times need to be counted into your recipe math. 

-Meals with less liquid will come up to pressure faster than those with a lot of liquid. For example meats vs soups. 

-If you need to thaw and then cook something, the best thing to do is just follow the normal cooking process in the recipe. The food will fully thaw as the Instant Pot comes  to pressure. 

-If you’re one to prep your foods ahead of time, make sure that they’re frozen in either bowls or boxes that will fit into the pot easily.  

-Layer your foods carefully. 

Because the Instant Pot works via bottom burners, it’s possible to burn your food. If the foods at the bottom don’t have enough moisture they can  burn. The good news is that the Pot has sensors that will shut off power if it looks like this is happening. 

-Wash carefully and often!

The Pot has a silicone ring for the locking lid. The ring is great but it’s silicone and that means it absorbs smells over time. If you notice that building up, take it out and wash it by hand, and here’s the link for how to clean it from over at The Kitchn.

-Check out “5 ways you’re using it wrong.” 

What things can you make with an Instant Pot? 

The list is frankly huge. There are entire sites and numerous books devoted to Instant Pot recipes. 

You can also check out the Good Housekeeping tried and tested recipes. No we’re not getting advertising money for this, though we wish! 

Or check out what The Kitchn has for recipes.

But if you want a list, try these random suggestions:

-Frozen foods

-Pasta with spinach, starch and veggies 

-Meats 

-Cheesecake

-Mac & cheese

-Giant Pancakes! 

- Veggies with rice and tikka masala 

- Soup

-Stock

-Chilis galore!

-Steel Cut Oats 

-Frozen chickens (Yes really, the heat and pressure means the bacteria is killed) 

- Baked potatoes -super creamy on the inside and if you want them to be crispy, toss them under the broiler for just a few minutes 

-There are people who have found ways to make crispy vegetables too! 

Should you get one? 

If you do choose to buy one, keep this in mind. 

A 3-quart pot is best for a small family of two or three people. 

The 5 and 6 quart sizes are best for families of 4-6. 

The 8-quart is large enough for families of six or more, or if you entertain better. 

-If you’re busy and on the go often, there are models like the Wi-Fi enabled version that allow you to monitor and control it via your smart phone. 

-Like we said up top, Instant Pot is the most well-known, but it’s not the only player in the game. If you want to buy one, it’s smart to check out all of the options. You might find one with additional features that fit your life better or a lower price tag. 

Although we will say that Instant Pot does go on sale quite often. 

So to us, yeah, we’d say that the Instant Pot has proven itself to be a useful appliance. It can replace several different appliances and people are still coming up with inventive ways to put it to use.  Whether you have a lot of time to prep and plan or you need to get food together fast, the Instant Pot is dead useful. 

Did that help? Do you feel like your questions about the Instant Pot have been answered? Let us know over at our Facebook! If we didn’t, and you tell us what we missed, we can always do a follow up post in the future. 

If you live in Dallas or the surrounding areas and your appliances aren’t working properly, we want to help! You can call us at (214) 599-0055 or click here to set up an appointment with one of our technicians. 

2000s Kitchen Decorating Trends That Overstayed Their Welcome

Have you ever flicked through old photos or magazines and wondered 'who in the world thought that trend was a good idea?' We know we have, which is why this week we're taking a look at the kitchen trends of now and then, focusing on the design choices of the early 2000s. (We know, it's weird to us to think it was 20 years ago too.) 

Mason Jar Decor

Lighting, candles, soaps, storage, mason jars have been everywhere and used for everything. 

They were affordable, easy to come by and you could buy them in bulk. Not to mention once you were done with the food inside them, you might have to wait a while before you could fill them again, so you needed to use them for something, right?  People got creative and found all sorts of ways to use these staple items. It was great! And then it became overwhelming. You couldn't pick up a magazine or open up Pinterest without seeing at least one 'innovative, new way to use mason jars!' 

Fortunately a shift towards handmade wares seems to be growing, meaning that mason jars might have to move out of the spotlight.

Granite everywhere! 

Backsplashes, counters, and anywhere else designers could put it. Granites are so busy when you have them all over your kitchen, and combined with the thick cuts, it led to kitchens feeling very dark and confining. 

Fortunately, today's trend is all about marbles or smooth expanses of a single color. Both of which can be obtained with some contact paper. 

Ferns 

Ferns were the plant in the 2000s and really, it’s not a terrible trend. They bring a lightness to a room if you take good care of them. Unfortunately, most people didn't. They're finicky plants and they do shed... a lot if you're not careful. So when succulents started to enter the spotlight in 2009 or so, ferns were ushered back into the offices and waiting rooms. 

Stainless Steel Everything

Sure, most appliances come in stainless, but there’s no need to have it floor to ceiling. Which is what the 2000s did, even going so far as to have all of the appliances in one long line so that you had a wall of stainless steel when you stepped into a kitchen. Mix things up and check out different options! You can use contact paper to get wild or purchase ones that come in different colors like these gorgeous ones from SMEG. 

Accent Walls

Can they be done right? Yes. Were they? Not really. 

Ok, that's not fair. There were tons of magazines and interior designers that pulled off this look flawlessly. For the majority of us though, we'd try and use a cool color in a  room full of warm furniture or vice versa and it just never worked the way it was supposed to! 

   This is still a trend surprisingly, but it's being done more cautiously. Instead of going with bold, eye catching colors people are choosing colors that already exist within their decor and using that for the accent. 

Stark Black and White 

This was a trend, and we’re not entirely sure why? It can be very disorienting to have everything in just two colors with no variation or places to rest the eyes. 

        It makes us think of high concept music videos or something, and really, we're glad this one has stayed in the past. Not to mention how difficult it is to keep stark blacks and whites clean!

‘Rustic’ Kitchens

Roosters and oil paintings, as far as the eye can see. It was a frightening time full of reds and yellows that didn’t really work well together.  Rustic is a great aesthetic, and it can be utterly beautiful, but really, you can only have so many roosters in one kitchen. This one has stuck around surprisingly, but it's expanded out to include reclaimed woods, shiplap, and a broader range of colors. 

Tuscan Kitchens

    Our last one .. is hard for us to admit. Who wouldn't love to wake up in a villa in Italy? (Especially now that they're welcoming tourists back.) The problem wasn't that the design was bad, it was that it was reduced down to components, individual pieces that people would try to smash together without caring how they worked or why. It was boiled down to faux paintings, travertine tiles, more granite, and terra cotta floors. This reduction process left our kitchens feeling dark, gaudy and entirely tasteless. 

Today's focus in the kitchen is on light, airy spaces. Windows dominate and everyone wants to have white EVERYTHING.Pendant lights and statement backsplashes add to the feeling, showing off your personality. Herringbone is taking over where subway tile previously reigned supreme, bringing in a twist to the world of tiling. How long will these trends last? We don't know, it's only the beginning of the decade after all. 

Let us know what you think about trends of now and then in the comments here or over on our Facebook page, we'd love to hear from you! 

If you're having trouble with some of your appliances you can reach out to us here or via phone ( (214) 599-0055) so we can help. 

Smart Appliances or Bamboozling Buzzwords?

Are we closer to having smart homes, or are we being bamboozled by useless technology upgrades? 

Smart homes, homes that can do everything for us, making our lives more comfortable and focused. We’ve been dreaming about homes like Eureka’s SARAH, The McFly House, and Tony Stark’s mansion for decades. And as technology continues to speed up, we are getting closer. While we aren’t quite at the point of having living room travelators a la the Jetsons, we do have robot vacuums. We’ve also got people who are already trying to figure out how to imitate JARVIS from the Iron Man movies, and he can tell you if a guest has shown up. 

So what is a smart home? 

According to the masses, a smart home is “a home automation system will control lighting, climate, entertainment systems, and appliances. It may also include home security, such as access control and alarm systems.”

A smart appliance then is one you connect to your phone or tablet for better control convenience and information. Then you can control it either by voice command or the push of a button. 

Smart Appliance Examples

 Refrigerators that let you know when you’re out of something. 

 Thermostats that remember what temperature you prefer at night

 Security systems that let you check in on your kids and see if you remembered to lock the door before you left. 

So a smart home is a collection of appliances, systems, lighting, and heating that can all be controlled from a central point. What’s the problem then? Why are we all holding off on diving into the future we’ve wanted.

Well, because we’re still in the infancy stage of smart homes. Not all smart appliances are useful, not all of them do what they claim to do, and really do we need a remote start for our washing machines? Why do we need 24-hour delays on crockpots? (No one wants salmonella, thanks for trying.) Last but not least, shouldn’t an appliance be good at the primary function before we add on extra ones? Sadly, as we’ve discussed before, that’s not always the case. 

Manufacturers are still figuring out what we need in appliances and what will actually get used. We’re also still figuring out the legality around devices that can share our information and whether they should or not.

Not all smart appliances are bad, though. Some of them are remarkable at both doing what they’re supposed to do AND using smart features. 

Let's take a look at the Nest Learning Thermostat and the Amazon Basics Microwave. Both do what they are meant to do while still giving us a glimpse into the future. 

The Nest Learning Thermostat has an Auto-Schedule feature that learns your daily heating and cooling temperatures and times during the first week of use and creates a schedule based on your preferences. You can make adjustments along the way or create your own schedule, but it's a nice option for those who don't want to be bothered to program their thermostat.  

The Amazon Basics Microwave, on the other hand, costs just as much as a standard microwave, doesn’t connect to an app, and doesn’t have any superfluous functions. Instead, it takes a typical microwave and connects it to Amazon’s Alexa. This means that if you’re across the house, you can tell Alexa to cook something for you, while you’re still working. Neither of these are ground shaking improvements, but they do what a smart appliance is supposed to, making your life that little bit easier. 

Now, others are also good at what they do while still being smart, these are just two that we wanted to highlight. 

How to Tell the Difference:

Which brings us into, if there are good smart appliances and bad ones, how do you tell the differences? 

According to HGTV, there are 4 key things you should look for when you’re designing a smart home, or buying a new smart appliance. 

• Are there good reviews? 

  • Unless you’re getting paid for it, do you really want to be the first person to find out if it works? No. Do research ahead of time and don’t get talked into buying something you didn’t intend to. 

• Is there a proven support department? 

  • If it has issues connecting to your wi-fi, if it gets hacked, or it gives you an error message you don’t understand, you want to be able to get help you can count on. 

• Does it connect to other devices you own?

  • Always double check (heck, triple check) that your new device will hook up to the OS on your command tool (be it phone, tablet, or computer). You don’t want to buy 3 different systems just to run everything in your house. Also, make sure that the appliance connects to the other devices you already own. If you’re looking to have two systems work together, you need to make sure they can connect in the first place.

• Does it have features you’ll actually use? 

  • So what if that coffee maker can froth milk in 20 seconds? If you drink your coffee black, it’s irrelevant. The same goes for smart appliances. Don’t be lured in by features you have no use for. 

Now, you can still have the best of both worlds. It is possible to make your home smarter without having to purchase all new appliances. 

Some Examples Are 

 Smart Bulbs

  By screwing a smart bulb in place, you can get control over almost any lamp. This means that not only can you get the benefits of it, but you can keep the mid-century lamp that your great-grandmother gave you as well. The catch here is that you need to double-check the wiring in the lamp to make sure that it is intact and insulated. Since the bulbs will have current running through them at all times, the wiring needs to be up to handling that. 

 Smart Switches 

  If you have lots of lights, skip the bulbs and go for the switch. Some smart switches even have dimmers. 

 Smart Plugs

  Have you ever left a space heater on when you left the house and had to go all the way home when you realized it? Or wanted to wake up to a fresh pot of coffee without having to get a complicated programmable pot? 

  This is where smart plugs come in. Think of the infuriating clock timers that people use for Christmas lights. A smart plug is like that, but actually reliable. They are even able to monitor power usage and let you know how many times something is turned on and off. If you’re interested in some of the ways people have used smart devices, check out this article over Forward Thinking Home. 

Now you can get that bit closer to Tony Stark’s mansion without breaking the bank. And while you save up the money to get new appliances, maybe the manufacturers will actually make them smarter, and still, work. 

Thanks for checking out our post this week, we hope that you enjoyed it. If you did, or if you have any questions or comments, please let us know over at our Facebook page. We’d love to hear from you. 

Don’t forget, even smart appliances still need regular maintenance! Schedule an appointment today with one of our technicians to make sure that your home of the future is running smoothly.