Rachael Ray 7-Quart Round Cast-Iron Dutch Oven, Orange

Review by Thomas Hybiske for Rachael Ray 7-Quart Round Cast-Iron Dutch Oven, Orange
Rating:
Nicely made. Enamel coating was thick, uniform, and smooth. The lid however, does not sit tight on the rim of the pot. It’s warped ever so slightly, so it rocks when pressed down on. I looked at Le Creuset and none of their products exhibited this flaw. But at twice the price of the Rachel Ray pot, I decided to go with the less expensive brand for my first attempt at dutch oven cooking.

Review by Kalera Stratton for Rachael Ray 7-Quart Round Cast-Iron Dutch Oven, Orange
Rating:
While this charming pot is clearly a pale imitation of Le Creuset, it is also a third the price… and for the money, it’s looking like a good purchase. The enamel seems sturdy, the cast iron seems heavy and even, and it definitely serves as well in cooking as is to be expected of a big heavy enameled cast-iron pot. The lid does not fit as snugly and keenly as its more expensive counterpart, the inside of the handles is a little rough, and the edges are more prone to rust than I would prefer… again, though, my basis for comparison is Le Creuset, which is an unfair standard to hold it up to given the price-point.

The lid handle is silicone, which seems as if it will hold up well over time – and only time will tell. Likewise with the quality of the enameling. I may have to come back and revise my review if it chips or crazes prematurely, but as of a week into owning it and using it regularly, I am very satisfied.

Review by Vincent Marco for Rachael Ray 7-Quart Round Cast-Iron Dutch Oven, Orange
Rating:
I just received the Rachel Ray 7-quart Dutch oven for a gift, and was

anxious to use it. This evening I got to use it for the first time. The recipe I made was homemade spaghetti sauce and meatballs. While eating, my wife and I found what seemed like large pieces of eggshell in our food. It ended up being pieces of enamel from the Dutch oven that was throughout our food. The entire meal was ruined.

I emptied the Dutch oven and found that the enamel had come off of the bottom of the pot (about the size of a 50-cent piece), and the enamel in the surrounding area was cracked and loose. This after only one use.

The odd part is that the heat setting I used never got above medium-high. Once the sauce started to bubble I turned it down to low and let it simmer.

I am very disappointed with this product. I hope I get some satisfaction from customer service.

Review by Georgine V. Johns for Rachael Ray 7-Quart Round Cast-Iron Dutch Oven, Orange
Rating:
EDITED TO UPDATE: I contacted Meyer Cookware directly by email through their website at http://www.potsandpans.com about my issue with the handle coming off and received a personal phone call from a Mr. Gary Green. He offered for me to exchange it for any other pot that Meyer makes (about 10 different brands) and they are also sending me a prepaid shipping label to send my pot back to them for QA analysis. They are very concerned about safety and quality as well as customer satisfaction, so I am pleased with the resolution of this issue. I hope they can re-work the handle design to make it safer (for example, make it into a silicone coated metal knob, so it can’t slip from it’s fitting), as this was a really nice pot.

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Original Review:

I have had this pot for less than 3 months and probably used it 10 times. For the first time last night, I made a recipe that started on the stove top and ended in the oven. My oven was at 350 degrees. I had to stir my recipe every half hour for an hour and a half.

The second time I pulled this out of the oven to stir it, when I went to lift the handle, it lifted right off the lid!

I was shocked, then I was thankful that it didn’t separate after I had already lifted the lid off and was holding it. I have a glass top stove and if it would have fallen, it could have broken my stove top, landed on me, burning me, caused my food to spill onto me, burning me, landed on the floor, breaking my tiles, or landed on my foot, breaking and burning my foot, or landed on my 7 month old daughter, who is usually in the kitchen in her walker close by.

I was completely freaked out and horrified.

To add to my evening, I received TWO steam burns from trying to lift the lid with pot holders rather than the handle.

This lid’s handle is NOT secure. The screw goes into a pressure fitting which is pressed into the silicone handle. This is what separated. I assume that the oven heat caused the silicone to soften enough that the pressed in fitting was able to easily slide out.

In my opinion, this is very dangerous, and I will never be able to trust the lid again.

I am going to try and get some satisfaction with customer service, but I received this dutch oven from Amazon.com through a rewards program with one of my credit cards and am not sure how this will go.

Also, one of the other reviewers mentioned their enamelled coating came off in chunks. Mine hasn’t come off in chunks, but the finish on the inside of my dutch oven is definitely pitted and I can see spots of cast iron through it.

I am disappointed that this product wasn’t better quality as I debated for months whether to get this brand or another. The silicone handle is actually what sold me on the Rachael Ray brand, because I thought it would be nice to get a good grip on something so heavy and dangerous when it was so hot.

Review by TJN for Rachael Ray 7-Quart Round Cast-Iron Dutch Oven, Orange
Rating:
I received the Rachael Ray Cast Iron 7-qt. Round Casserole this morning, and it arrived with a chip about the size of a quarter near the upper rim of the pot. The underlying cast iron was exposed. There was no damage to the shipping box or to the original packaging, so the flaw was not due to inadequate shipping/packaging. When I inspected the chip, I was able to lift the edge of the chipped enamel up and separate it even further from the cast iron base. The enamel coating should solidly adhere to the cast iron even if there is a chip, so the problem is due to inadequate adherence of the enamel coating to the cast iron beneath. Cooking with this pot would result in further chipping and rusting where the cast iron is exposed, therefore making the dutch oven completely unusable.

I submitted an exchange request from Amazon and was instructed to dispose of the pot for a full refund rather than return the pot for exchange. After reading several other Amazon reviews of this item, I believe that this product is inherently flawed due to poor enameling, and I would advise Amazon to remove it.