Review of MIU France Stainless Steel Pasta Cooker and Steamer with Glass Lid

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $219.99
Sale Price: $99.99
Today's Bonus: 55% Off

I bought this pot specifically for making chicken stock, and it did the job perfectly. The contents heated up quickly and evenly on my glass top stove. I was able to bring a full pot to a boil within a few minutes. With my old 4 quart RevereWare pot, it would take 15-20 minutes to bring water to a boil. This MIU pot obviously has good heat retention and distribution. The bottom is thick and heavy and the entire pot has a good solid feel to it. The lid fits properly, and there were no problems with sputtering or dripping from the lid. The glass is a nice bonus. You can check on your food without having to the lift the lid and lose heat. I have not used the steamer basket or pasta insert. Both fit well, though. The pasta cooker, when inserted, sits about 1 inch from the bottom of the pot, but I cannot comment on its performance. The steamer basket has a handle for lifting that's hard to see in the photo. It's unlikely that I'll use the pasta cooker or steamer basket any time soon, but if I do, I'll update this review.

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Recently re-did and updated the kitchen and decided to update and organize the cookware. The two stock pots I had bought at a department store while servicable were really not much more than big tin cans with lids.

Saw this unit advertised as the weekly special at a higher end cutlery supply outfit and liked idea of combining a stock pot with a pasta cooker/strainer as my old strainer was out of a counter fryer and also getting a steamer. There was a couple of similair items I looked at some lower in price and some higher but this was a really good price and I did not see this store selling sub par products.

Arrived today and they do not sell sub par. I don't know where the other reviewer's pot came from but there is no comparsion in what he/she described and I got. The steamer is a heavy one piece stamped stainless steel piece with very well rolled edges like they should be with no gaps and the handles are the same size and are fitted well. Also must add the metal has a good ring to it when rapped.

The stock pot is very heavy with highly polished mirrlored (yes you can see yourself) sides and the encapsulated bottom is centered and attached well. It almost looks like one piece. Sides are not enscapulated but are thick enough to conduct heat while resisting dings. You can tell this would heat well and quickly and hold enough heat to not need a lot of bottom temp to cook which should cut down on potential burning. The inside is not shiny polished but is attractive and finished in a matt polish.

The pasta cooker is made the same way and fits well into the stock pot as does the steamer and the lid fits all three pieces like it should. Oh by the way all three pieces outside is a mirrorpolished finish.

The handles did I mention the handless. Well made comfortable and attached firmly. The have a smooth polished texture and are big enough to get a good grip.

Found out a little more about MIU France and they make quite a bit of metal culinary items including a clad stainless steel set that is said to be comparable to All Clad.

Now I have not fired them up but you can tell the manafacturing quality or lack of and this quality is above average. Yep they are made in China which a lot of things sadly are but it is what it is and I can remember when Made in Japan carried the same stigma.

If you need a good heavy stock pot heavy in like the pasta cooker insert probably weighs more than my old two pots with some nice extras this is a item worth considering. The store I got mine from usual price is $149 if you would like to compare. I luckily got for $69 a real steal especially considering good collnaders/strainers can run in the thirty buck range.

Man I gotta make some chili this weekend.

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Just so you know, MIU France is made in CHINA and the quality of the product is what could be expected from the low quality control standards of China. The Pasta Strainer insert has a seam in the metal which is very obvious and will attract bad stuff which can't be cleaned, unless you use a dental tool or something to scrape out the groove/seam. Also, the Steamer insert handles are of different lengths, one rests against the upper rim of the insert (which is the correct location) while the other one drops down into the steamer, all the way to the bottom (into the food you're steaming). These are just the first two things that jumped out at me when I opened the product, I'm sure I could find many more quality issues if I had the time. Not at all the quality I expected for the price and the deceptive name of the manufacturer "MIU France". Don't waste your money on this low quality product.

I'll admit, I'm not the easiest customer to please but that is why I paid the high price of this product and also was fooled by the manufacturers name...it should be "MIU China" which explains the poor quality of this product.

UPDATE:

I just returned the item and realized that since I opened it (which is when I discovered the poor quality and defects) I had to pay to ship it back. Using the cheapest available service though USPS it cost me almost $22 bucks! Save yourself time and money and purchase from a well-known manufacturer that has high quality control standards.