Although we have a large oval 6 qt. crockpot and a truly tiny, 1 qt. micro round crock pot with the the traditional glazed earthenware insert crockery, my favorite slow cooker is a medium sized metal, combo, teflon slow cooker, serving dish, chafer, casserole dish, and hot plate/griddle from the 80’s that we got at a garage sale. It’s the best James Bond multitasker gadget in the kitchen, or especially in an RV galley, handsdown. The closest modern slow cooker that I could find that is similar to my garage sale find is this West Bend 5 Quart Oblong Slow Cooker or this Magic Mill 6 Qt. Slow Cooker, but these seem to be missing the oven safe casserole lid… The beauty of this model (or at least my old model) is that the base is a hot plate griddle, perfect for frying a couple eggs and a pancake, it has five heat setting levels for frying/slow cooking/warming/chafing. The teflon non stick coated “pot” simply lifts off the base to double as a serving dish, and the pyrex lid simply flips over and doubles as a casserole dish that you can put in the oven.It’s really a very simple and perfect piece of kitchen engineering and is really an effective slow cooker all around. It satisfies Alton Brown’s multitasker rule that I subscribe to, as well.
Oh, and 5 and 6 six quarts are about the perfect size for an average user or family.