Secura Electric Food Steamer, Vegetable Double Tiered Stackable Baskets with Timer 1200W Fast Heating Stainless Steel Digital Steamer 8.5 Quart

Update: We have now had this over two years. I can say it has held up well, we still love it and use it frequently!__I looked everywhere for a stainless steel food steamer to try to avoid having food touching plastic, hard to believe most of the steamers are plastic. I found this one and have been using it a few months now, it has performed well.I like the multiple levels to allow for cooking more food at one time. I usually only steam vegetables, so I cannot comment how this does with things like fish. I can say that vegetables turn out well in this and the trays are easy to clean. I had read concerns about the knob detaching from the lid, so I am always careful when I remove the lid. So far, so good (knocking on wood). I also like the auto "stay warm" feature in the event you need this to sit a minute while the rest of your meal finishes cooking.The only thing I'm not crazy about is having to wash the base, as this is also where the electrical plug goes in so you have to be really careful. And you do have to wash it, as food particles from the trays fall down below as things are cooking. I am just careful to avoid getting water in the little plug area. Other than that, I really like this steamer and am thankful to have one that is stainless steel.

After using it for a few days, I feel it is very useful and has enough firepower. It is the steamer I want.

My wife and I used the Secura electric food steamer, it was easy to setup and use. What I like about the Secura electric food steamer:1. Easy to use.2. Easy to setup.3. Timer control is easy to use.4. Lid is made of glass and not plastic, the plastic will not leach into the food.5. The trays are made of steel, so the steel will not degrade with time and heat and will not get brittle and break.6. The heating coils are not exposed to the water, so you can use tap water or hard water, so you don't have to worry about calcium buildup on the heating coils.7. Easy cleanup.8. Not too large or small, if it is too large you have to put in a lot of water and wait longer to heat up. If too small you cannot accommodate the amount of food you need to heat up. This size is good for 2 people and you can use it for 4 people cause it has a 2nd tray, assuming you want to steam up one food type item.9. Packaging was real good.10. Not too heavy, it is actually light.11. Plastic is used but is on the outside of the unit, handles and base is made of plastic so these should last a long time since they are not exposed to extreme temperatures.12. Top and bottom trays are interchangeable.13. The plastic lid knob and the plastic tray handles are screwed on so if they should break you can order handle replacements separately without replacing the whole unit or you can have custom handles made up.14. The bottom unit with the heating element has handles, this may not sound like a big deal but it helps lifting the whole unit when you need to.Note, does take around 6 to 8 minutes to heat up the water, you need to add this time to steam food time if you are using the timer.

Right out of the box this was an impressive appliance, shiny retro-chic with seamless, smoothly molded stainless steel surfaces, clear controls, a brilliant display … everything that my last four plastic steamers were not! “Five Stars,” I felt sure.Then when I started using it, I began to notice issues - a strangely wobbly knob on the otherwise well made glass lid, an unsettling amount of steam sometimes escaping around the edges of the metal food trays, the absence of a water level indicator or a condensation tray, the lack of any way to add water during steaming - so my enthusiasm deflated a bit. When the lid knob actually fell off during my third use, I was less surprised than I wanted to be … though fortunately the old first-aid still works, stuffing the guide hole with lengths of wooden match or toothpick and driving the self-tapping screw (essentially wood screw) back in.Controls and displays turn out to be this steamer’s strongest attribute. They are intuitive, positive, and very easy to select. The timer display is bright and clear from almost any angle. The “delay timer” is surprisingly useful, and the “keep warm” feature works by default and performs well. The various labeled buttons bring up suggested steaming times for several food types (in the style of Instant Pot pressure cookers), and these are very easy to change with large +/- buttons.Cleanup is another strength: all surfaces wash easily, probably because steaming uses lower temperatures than most other cooking methods. The smooth design of the steaming trays eliminates sharp angles and crevices that could be troublesome to clean. The absence of a drip tray may turn out to be an advantage: I always find those hard to empty without spilling. With the Secura, all water that isn’t vented to the air returns to the fresh water tank, from which is safely and easily emptied (the tank is easily washed, though it develops heat stains). This design seems actually to use less water than others, so in practice no water level indicator may be needed.An excellent design feature is that all parts of the unit (base, trays, lid) have handles. These are well designed, large, stay-cool, easy to grasp. I don’t know why this should be a rarity, but it is. As to operating speed, heating begins immediately, steam is visible in the trays in about 1.5 minutes, and steam is venting at the lid (using both trays) within 5 minutes. It’s safe to assume four minutes for heat-up and the remaining time for full-on cooking (for instance, 22-24 minutes for sweet potato chunks that would boil in 18-20 minutes … once the water is actually boiling!).Overall this is a very nice unit because of its strengths and despite its weaknesses. I enjoy the taste and texture of steamed food, and I prefer electric steamers for their automatic timing. I’ve worn out four steamers across the years, never making peace with their hard-to-wash (or chemical leaching) plastic trays or, in many cases, their hard-to-see, hard-to-set, and failure-prone controls. This Secura steamer costs more than most of its competition, but also seems to address persistent problems - making it a reasonably good buy at the price.Before buying, I had some trouble finding the unit’s dimensions, so here they are (approximately): Height with lid: 13 ½ inches; Height with lid inverted for storage: 12 inches; Width including handles: 12 ¾ inches; Depth including control panel: 10 ½ inches; Food tray diameter: 9 ⅛ inches; Food tray depth: 3 ¼ inches. This steamer fits easily into the cabinet space I have available, actually needing slightly less room than the oval plastic unit that it replaces. Speaking of the trays, their gauge or thickness seems well chosen for lightness plus reasonable durability, remembering that they play no role in heat distribution (that’s done by steam).

We traded out our plastic steamer for this stainless steel version due to all the bad press/effects from cooking with plastic. This is easy to use and steams food to perfection.