Morphy Richards Intellisteam 48781 Food Steamer, White

This is a terrific toy for the kitchen; I actually bought my wife a steamer years ago for a Christmas present but it was ugly and clumsy and ended up in the charity shop.

Not so this steamer from Morphy Richards, it looks great, is really easy to use and turns out super cooked food. I have so far only used it for steaming vegetables, but what it does is sort out the timing for each kind of veg. and then make sure that they all arrive perfectly cooked at the same time. If you are not ready to serve, no worries, the steamer switches to 'keep the food warm' mode for up to forty minutes.

I think it's great.

Having read the list of reviews for this product (which were really helpful) I decided to order it, the majority of people were singing the praises of the steamer, but I was a little apprehensive as there were a few reviews that were not so good. However, if there is an issue with an item I know Amazon will refund or it will be replaced so decided to take the chance.

I am so pleased I did - goods arrived super quick from the supplier (again I went with the one that had the best reviews - Hughes Direct, it was well packaged and no damage at all.

First try I put new potatoes in the back with the tray on top of it holding spring cabbage and some mushrooms, the front left 2 salmon fillets and the front right brocoli and carrots. I followed the really easy instructions, choosing the compartment, then the type of food that was in it. I didn't adjust the cooking times but you can do if you aren't cooking as much as I was. The fish clearly wasn't going to take as long as the rest of it and that was reflected in the time. I left it and went off and did something else for half an hour popping back to see all was going well. Everything was cooked to perfection - and I mean everything, the keep warm facility is also great as it keeps food warm for up to 40 minutes. I actually had a workout whilst I was waiting for my tea, with my old steamer I would have had to add stuff at different times and pretty much be chained to the kitchen. This allows you to go off and do other things and it takes care of everything.

It fits in the cupboard that I used before for my steamer so no hassle there, I didn't have any problem cleaning it, which I did by hand although it will go in the dishwasher - someone made a comment that cleaning needs to take place before you eat, but I didn't find it a problem doing it afterwards.

Last night I put did the same veg with the exeption of some tinned peas in one of the small compartments instead of the fish (they come with a container so you can cook things in their own liquid), peas I guessed at 5 minutes, and also added in to the same compartment a few left over potatoes to warm through - again these were perfect. I put my meat in the oven to cook on timer and went off and left it all cooking. Again perfect.

The taste is great and so far nothing has been under or over cooked. I intend to try some chicken pieces later in the week.

I would highly recommend this bit of kit.

I would have liked to have seen a preset timer button BUT I can see that it would be a bit risky, for example leaving bits of chicken at room temperature all day waiting to come on at night, but it would be nice to be able to set it up an hour before hand with something and maybe go out for a walk or bit of gardening and come back to find it cooked. Having said that it will keep stuff warm for 40 minutes so I suppose I could cook it and then leave it warming (duh my brain hurts).

I would rate this product 10 out of 10. Don't be put off by reviews of things not working, I think it's like everything you are going to get faulty ones - if this is the case it's a few days of inconvience versus the convenience and great job this steamer does.

The first one of these steamers we received did not work properly. One of the heating elements under the front half did not work. We returned it and asked for a replacement.
Replacement arrived promptly and we could start to use it. Our first meal was accompanied by under-cooked vegetables. The problem is in the timings. Our old steamer, which cost about £7.00 from Asda several years ago, had only a single heater, and its water capacity was only about half that of the Morphy Richards one. This meant that it was steaming within about one minute of turning on. The M-R one holds around 4 pints of water and so takes quite a long time to start steaming and heating up the food. On our old steamer we would give potatoes and root veg such as carrots half an hour and green veg about 15 minutes. Even with the slightly longer times of 37 minutes and 25 minutes set as standard on the M-R the vegetables are not cooked properly. I am going to experiment with increasing the standard settings and saving them - which the instructions say I can do.
Another problem concerns the design of the food dishes. The sauce dishes and the rice tray are fine - but the clear food trays are so full of holes and angular corners that it is very difficult to clean them unless they are washed immediately the steaming is finished. Again, we can work around this by washing up before we eat, but I would like to have seen a more easily cleaned design.
Overall I would give it 7/10 - good try but needs some more work.