Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #52899 in Kitchen & Housewares
• Brand: Tefal
• Model: VC400715

Manufacturer's Description
Tefal makes cooking healthier

Tefal, brand leader in steamers brings the healthiest way to steam: the Vitamin Plus Black and Chrome steamer.

Vit Plus Button:
Thanks to its Vit Plus button, Vitamin Plus Black and Chrome starts steaming quicker than other steamers improving up to 50% the vitamin retention while cooking.

Keep warm:
The Vitamin Plus steamer features keep warm functions making it more convenient, and more practical: when you're dinners ready, it's kept warm for you.

Food Capacity:
With its 10L food capacity and its 1.1L rice bowl capacity, the Vitamin Plus is one of the biggest steamers on the market.

Tefal

Tefal owes its origins to a Frenchman, Marc Grégoire, and his wife, Colette. M. Grégoire, a keen fisherman, wanted to make his rod reel in more smoothly and, in the 1950's, experimented to see if a non stick coating might provide the answer. It did! But it was his wife who made the real breakthrough by gently suggesting that coating the cooking pans would have a more worthwhile application by making them easier to cook with and simpler to clean. Now, Tefal is the number one name in non-stick products and small appliances, operating in over 120 countries. Tefal remains committed to making household tasks easier and cooking results better, through a constant flow of new ideas and technology.

Customer Reviews

Vitamin Plus, Build Quality Minus!
This steamer replaced my 6 yr old model. I bought it online so when it arrived firstly it was much larger than expected and although the trays do collapse into each other for easy storage it is still very tall. Secondly the build quality is terrible. Along with the main water collection reservoir it also has a silly little black drawer at the back which works as an overflow too. If you however move the steamer during cooking this tends to become dislodged and leaks over the top. The foot pads also keep coming off and during cleaning, which is not simple due to its incredibly awkward design, water has now managed to come between the lid and the handle and can be seen inside but cannot be reached. I would not recommend this model and next time I will definitely view before purchasing, and unfortunately not a Tefal.
On the plus side it does cook well and quicker than the older model although they have not included in the newer model a tray divider for your veges so they either have to go in seperate trays (more washing up) or mixed together - a money saving move too far I think.

Excellent cooker, poor build quality. Flawed genius
Bought one of these originally and loved it. The vitamin plus option really did reduce the cooking time and even when mutli-stacked, there was no need to adjust cooking times as per other designs. Cooked all our veg perfectly.

Sadly, after about a year the seal around the element failed which we believed to be hazardous so sought a replacement. Went for a cheaper alternative which seemed as powerful but did not have the vitamin plus function. Everthing took much longer and results were very inconsistent when using multiple layers.

Went back to a vitamin plus but with digital timer. Forget it ! The steam build up is so vigorous it gets behind the digital display so you can no longer read it and you're unable to add a second tier at the appropriate time or confirm whether the Vitamin plus button has been reset.

Eventually went back to the clockwork version and the assurity of evenly cooked veggies... only problem.. we use it so often that within 6 months or so of near daily use the baskets starting cracking (out of the dishwasher) and some have failed beyond use. Thankfully I had kept the original baskets and these have slowly been re-introduced although the reserve basket 1 (bottom tier) has now gone too and I'm looking at spares parts trying to ascertain whether to buy replacement baskets or another (perhaps different again) machine... :o(

About to buy my second one
I've had this steamer for 3 years and I wouldn't be without it. In fact I'm about to buy my 2nd one without hesitation. The only reason I'm on my 2nd one is not the machines fault but my husband's, but that's another story!!

It cooks all food very well but salmon is especially excellent. It's quick and I love the vitamin plus facility. The external top up is great for me as I always forget to fill up the reservoir before starting! Veg is always cooked so well and I always feel I'm getting all the nutrients especially for my little girl. As a result of this steamer I've only ever used 2 rings on my hob cooker - until the past week that is of course when I've been without it. So it saves using cumberson and slow saucepans.

I haven't given it 5 stars becasue if I'm honest there are a few faults, but they are so minor in comparison to what the steamer achieves I feel a bit silly writing them down;

- the lid fell off after a year (poor glue fix) but I'm now so used to doing this with a tea towel that until writing this I'd forgotten it was missing!
- I've never used the prgammes in fact I can't think what they are for as you just need to turn on and cook!
- cleaning the base of the trays can be a pain especially after cooking fish, but I guess they all need to be scrubbed so it's just the tedium of washing up that I'm really moaning about!

I think you'll love this steamer. buy it here it's nearly half price in comparison to Argos!! Bargain!