Morphy Richards 1.6L Total Control Soup Maker, Smart Response Technology, Portion Control, 9 Settings, Keep Warm Function, Cool Touch, Touchscreen Display, Stainless Steel Pan, White, 501020

I don't know why I didn't buy a soup maker earlier, they're wonderful. I bought the Morphy Richards Total Control based on the good reviews from lots of different sites. I wasn't sure if I really wanted the saute function as I had a feeling I would continue to use a good old fashioned frying pan. I find the saute function is only useful if making smaller portions. I use the 4 portion setting and find that the quantity being sauteed is too much for the size of soup maker and requires more faffing about. Other than that the soup maker is fantastic and turns out beautifully flavoured soups in 20 minutes. The keep warm function is a bonus and the re-heat function is useful if you are doing several things at once and don't want to keep stirring and checking on the soup's progress. I'm so glad I bought this handy bit of kit and have no hesitation recommending it. I use it several times a week as it's handy for lunches, suppers, snacks and lunch box meals for work in a food flask.

Bought a second one of these after having the first for years. It has worked hard making gallons of soups each year from home grown veg. The original is still going strong and i gave it to a friend who loves it. I chose this one again as it has been reliable, the non stick is very good, it will saute and makes soups with little effort and no other pans. After a few years the original has one small spot on the bottom where the non stick has worn down a little in one small area, and a small amount burns on this spot. This happened as in saute it gets very hot and you should lift the lid and stir the contents every couple of minutes, i left it too long a few times. Stirring is not a problem as the saute function cooks quickly and when you put the lid back on it remembers where it is up to.There is no need to lift the lid to stir once it is on soup making function. The pot can be removed for very easy cleaning. During harvest season my soup maker has made 4 or 5 batches every day for 2 months and regular use through the year and has never had any other problem. With this new one i will just ensure i stir regularly during saute to maintain the non stick.

A good gadget to have for saving time in the kitchen. I have made soup for many years but had begun to find the process tedious. Chopping and preparing ingredients, bringing the soup to the boil then simmering; typically the whole process would take a couple of hours. In many ways a soup maker is just a blender with a heater and programming chip but it does save time. I chose the Morphy Richards partly on manufacturer's reputation and also because of the range of features, especially the keep warm function. This soup maker does make good soup. If I'm honest I think my traditional method produces better soup but the difference is not so large as to make me not use this and I think that over time I can adapt the recipes and devise new ones to work in the soup maker. The rating is four stars because it is noisy, awkward to clean and the instruction and recipe booklet could be improved (see below). The instruction book seems to have been printed for an earlier model but then modified because some things don't apply to this model. For example the sauté function can only be used with the lid on the machine. The instructions suggest otherwise. The recipes are also misleading and can be improved. First ignore the suggested preparation times - these are all too short. Unless you are a top class kitchen knife expert it's going to take you more than five minutes to peel and chop the vegetables that, for example, go into the tomato and basil soup. I'd estimate typical preparation time is around fifteen to twenty minutes for peeling, chopping and weighing ingredients. After following the recipe for my first batch of tomato soup (apart from using fresh tomato instead of tinned) I decided to cut down on the potato. I think potato is being used as a thickening agent because you can't make a roux (butter and flour) with the soup maker. If you use the suggested portion of potato the tomato soup tastes more of potato than tomato. My advice would be to adapt the recipes, then experiment with your own. Overall the soup maker has meant I can make tasty soups in under an hour start to finish. Do use the pre-clean function after making your soup while it doesn't totally clean the interior it does make the final clean much easier. One tip would be to have a study deep measuring jug next to the soup maker so you can lift off the lid and place it upright in the jug for support. This keeps the vicious chopping blade safe and stops soup dripping on surfaces.

Makes making soup easy. I’ve only used it once and can’t wait to make my next batch. I can see myself using it regularly, at least twice a week. I give it five stars.

I paid what I thought was a lot of money for a soup maker as I wanted a good one! Morphy Richard’s I have NEVER been so disappointed. Before I used it there was a sticker that I wanted to remove from its plastic outer jug and when I tried to peel it off it came off in tiny shreds hence I have a shredded plastic ad still stuck to the front of my soup maker. I had read not to use metal instruments due to the non stick surface, so I was meticulous in making sure I only used cloths to clean and dry. I have so far made four different soups. After the first soup the base went a dark grey colour which puzzled me but I carried on and have to say, the soups were delicious but after the fourth soup, (tomato), which was ready in 20 mins, to my amazement it had stuck to the base inside and it took ages to get the burnt soup from the base. The tomato was a smooth soup and I did find one or two chunks that had been missed in the blending. I certainly would never recommend this item to any friends and feel very let down.