I grew up with food cooked in the old style pressure cooker in China, but never wanted to use it myself because it didn't look safe - steam hissing out of the valve that looked about to fly into the ceiling at any moment. But recently, a friend of mine in China (who owns both Fissler and WMF Ultra) convinced me that the newer pressure cooker is a totally different game. It makes cooking super fast and food comes out delicious. Tempted, I decided to get one also. The short version is that I got Kuhn Ricon Family Style pressure cooker 12 qt. Cooking with it is easy and fast, and food indeed come out extremely good! Below is the long version of the comparison between different makers and different sizes. In terms of the maker, the top 3 contenders are: Fissler, WMF and Kuhn Rikon. WMF only sells their entry level model ("Perfect Plus") in the US and it is getting mixed reviews. The improved model ("Perfect Ultra") is better and more durable but not available in the US. Fissler seems to have similar issues as WMF "Perfect Plus": its plastic handle is prone to cracking. So I decided to go with Kuhn Rikon (KR) which is all steel and old style mechanics, but really durable and foolproof with 5 different safety features. Once I decided on the maker, choosing the right size was another challenge. The measurements on KR's website are a bit confusing and incomplete. After talking to the customer service, I got the following dimensions: stockpot 6qt: 8.75" ('), 7" (h), 8 lb. stockpot 8qt: 8.75" ('), 9" (h), 8.5 lb. family style 12qt: 11" ('), 6" (h), 12 lb. Note: Add 2.5" to the height with the lid on. Actual capacity is 2/3 as you can only fill the pot up to its 2/3. After getting KR Stockpot 8qt initially and then exchanged it with a Family Style 12qt, I come to the following conclusions: * Stockpot 6qt: ideal for small family and small serving sizes, but too small to make 6 servings or large batch of stocks. * Stockpot 8qt: 2" taller than and same diameter as the 6qt. The shape is not practical -- very tall and narrow -- other than having an extra 2qt capacity for making stock, you can't do much more than what you can with a 6qt pot. * Family Style 12qt: It is much heavier with a thicker rubber ring and a much larger cooking surface. I find it to be the most versatile for making different foods with different methods (steaming whole fish, whole vegi, making stocks, browning large cut of meat, etc.), and great for double-deck cooking (cooking something in the pot and steaming something on the rack). Downside: not ideal for making small serving sizes. A cup of water just covers the bottom. My way to get around it so far is to steam the smaller serving such as a cup of rice in a bowl instead of cooking it in the water. The pressure cooker is very easy to use: * bring the content to boil, the valve on the lid starts to rise, pressure starts to build up in the pc. * To adjust the pressure: the valve has 2 red rings, ring I - lower pressure, ring II - higher pressure. Once the pressure reaches the desired level, turn the heat down to maintain the pressure level (about 2-3 on my induction cook top, or the lowest on an non-induction cook top). When the valve rises to 2.5 rings level, the valve will automatically let the steam out with a hissing sound. * To close the lid: unlike other pc, KR has short handles which are great for storage. Initially, I was concerned about whether it could be opened and closed easily. Once I used it, my worries went away. There is an arrow on the lid. Position the lid so that the arrow points to the handle, twist, it closes. * To de-pressure: 3 modes: 1) fast: less than 30 sec. by rinsing the rim of the lid with cold running water; 2) normal: about 1 min. by pressing the valve with a spoon; 3) slow: about 10 min. by letting it cool down naturally. The above time is based on steaming with very little water in the pc. If you have a lot of liquid food in the pc, it will take a bit longer. A useful accessory for steaming or double-deck cooking: WMF trivet The rack that is included in the KR pc only stands to 1/4" tall. WMF trivet is about 2" tall. With the KR rack on the WMF trivet, food is away from the water and double rack cooking is possible. Update: I have been using this regularly for almost a year and I love it. The size is perfect for the two of us. It is truly versatile for both small and large portions. I find that it is unnecessary to steam the small amount of rice in a bowl. I just cooked it the pot, 1 cup of rice. No problem at all. A tip for cleaning: I am often too lazy to clean my pot immediately after use. As a punishment, food/sauce dried up and became difficult to clean. In that case, I put some water (say 1/2 cup or 1 cup) in the pot, cook it with pressure for a few minutes. The high temperature and steam always clean up the dried up stuff without fail. Then I just need to wash/rinse the pot. Pictures: the tall one is 8qt, the other 12qt
