Hamilton Beach Electric Hard Boiled Egg Cooker, 3-in-1: Boiled Egg Cooker, Poacher & Omelet Maker, Can Hold 7 Eggs, Black with Silver Knob (25500)

This is a good idea if it is to compare it with a big pot of boiling water if you just want hard boiled eggs. The tricky part is when you want soft boiled eggs. Yes, it comes with all the instructions on how to make the soft boiled or poached eggs but it all depends on the quantity of water that’s added and that is the tricky part. Little bit more water and the egg is past soft boiled or its not runny in a poached egg… a little less water and the egg white is still slimy… despite the measuring cup that comes with which helps with the amount of water, to get a perfectly poached egg is still a hit and miss proposition.
Overall, this little egg cooker does a good job boiling the eggs for a plater of Deviled Eggs. Its small, compact size makes it fit in small places and its definitely faster compared to big pot of boiling water.

I use this product several times every week, so I can vouch that it does the job it is designed for. The eggs come out de-lish. It’s fast. It’s compact. It’s handsome. But there are some quirky traits about it which frankly, I was surprised to discover in a Hamilton-Beach product. My kitchen holds several Hamilton-Beach products. The problems are these:
1) after only three weeks use, a crucial plastic knob cracked and broke. The knob is one which –after you lift the lid –lets you lift out the egg tray. So it is rather vital to have it NOT break. I had to rig up a substitute from odds-and-ends.
2) This solid, sturdy, egg-steaming appliance depends on a fragile, frail, little plastic cup accessory. One uses the cup to measure a precise amount of water into the steamer, which then results in a precise ‘doneness’ of egg. Well what if this cup is lost or broken? How then can the unit continue to perform?
3) The measuring cup is also extremely difficult to read; with only very small, hair-fine little gradient marks etched into the side. Good luck trying to read it. You need to squint to get it right.
4) The measuring cup is actually wrong. The scale etched into the side of the cup is in the wrong order. This takes trial and error to discover; nonetheless it is false. To get a soft-poached egg with a soft yolk you need to read the marks in reverse.
5) Obviously any device which produces scalding steam needs to be handled with care. Most adults will grasp this intuitively; however the unit also comes with numerous warnings. But it is still not completely clear how easy it is to burn one’s fingers operating this unit. There’s a tiny hole in the lid over the eggs which emits steam, so even passing your hand anywhere over the unit risks a burn. And you have to reach your hand over the unit to grab the handle and lift the lid. Needs better safety.
6) No, it is not an easy device to clean.
I will continue to use this egg-steamer but, I don’t feel it is quite up to the traditional Hamilton-Beach standard. Not by a sight!

This cooker replaced a Cuisinart egg cooker I’ve had for years and disliked because it bubbled water out of the base onto the countertop whenever I hard cooked eggs. This Hamilton Beach cooker DOESN’T do that! There’s only one small thing about it that I dislike, but first the positives:

*It cooks eggs perfectly. Every morning I poach two extra-large eggs; the instructions are for large eggs and recommend adjusting the amount of water for for larger or smaller eggs. I tried adding just a bit more water the first time and found it overcooked the whites a bit; the second time (and every time since) I’ve added the amount of water it recommends for two large eggs and they’ve been PERFECT.

*I have tried hard cooking eggs–following the instructions exactly–and they turned out just as I wanted without being either overcooked or undercooked. The instructions don’t specify piercing the eggs before they’re hard cooked, even though there is a piercing point on the bottom of the measuring cup, but I didn’t take any chances and pierced my eggs before I cooked them.

*I have EXTREMELY hard water, and I found crusty mineral deposits were already occurring on the base after a couple of uses. My recommendation is to use filtered water in the base, and since it has somewhat of a non-stick surface, a wipe with a a soft, wet cloth is all the clean-up that’s required. Likewise, the insert for hard cooking eggs (egg holder) is very easy to clean (the Cuisinart insert was filled with small nooks and crannies that after a while NEVER came clean even in the dishwasher, and were impossible to get into even with a toothbrush). The instructions for the Hamilton Beach cooker are that the poaching tray and egg holder are top-rack dishwasher safe. The egg holder is plastic and would be fine, but the poaching tray is metal with a non-stick surface, and even the best dishwasher soaps eventually scour those surfaces to death. I found the poaching tray comes clean easily with a swish of soapy water and a quick rinse.

*When eggs have finished cooking, the Hamilton Beach has a constant alert tone (as opposed to a beep) that is like a faint shriek, but it’s not overly loud. I can hear it from another room even with the TV on, which I consider a good thing, but I don’t find it deafening or irritating, even in close proximity.

Now for the one negative caveat: the measuring cup is ridiculously difficult to read, especially after water is added, when the measurements seem to vanish because of the refraction caused by the water. The measurement gradients are lightly molded into the cup rather than printed on, which was a mistake. However, that’s a very small problem that’s easily overcome: I saved the measuring cup from my Cuisinart cooker, used the HB cup one time to determine how much water I needed, poured it into the Cuisinart measuring cup to see where it came to, and ever after I’ve used that as my guide.

Other than that one small thing, I think this is a GREAT little cooker which delivers on nicely cooked eggs every time I’ve used it. I recommend it!

Es un producto bastante útil en la cocina, tiene gran versatilidad y la cocción es exacta. Las instrucciones son claras. Si bien el producto es bastante bueno, existen tres cambios respecto a versiones anteriores que no mejoraron su desempeño: la charola de los huevos con cáscara era de metal y ahora es de plástico, la medición de la cantidad de agua necesaria se hacía directamente sobre la base del aparato y ahora tiene un vaso medidor, con marcas muy difíciles de leer, que me hace pensar qué voy a hacer si pierdo el vaso y, por último, ahora suena una alarma cuando termina el proceso, una versión anterior apagaba el sistema de calentamiento; la alarma es desagradable y me pregunto que pasará cuando no pueda atenderla. En una ocasión que tardé olía un poco a quemado.