Our Place Dream Cooker Review

Introduction

I was already familiar with Our Place, having tested its popular cookware, which ranges from Titanium pots and pans that are safe up to 1000°F, to its colorful ceramic cookware, which comes in such gorgeous colors as spice, blue salt, sage, charcoal, steam, and butter yellow. The company is known for thoughtful designs that avoid forever chemicals, Teflon, lead, cadmium, etc.  

The Our Place Dream Cooker continues this tradition with a colorful multicooker that has an inner cooking pot with a toxin-free ceramic nonstick coating. It’s incredible easy to operate and takes the guesswork out of cooking. I’ve never been a fan of pressure cooking, but the Dream Cooker even makes that task easy and convenient. Slow cooking, sauteing/searing, and even keeping food warm after it’s finished cooking are also easy. I have two categories of favorite foods: favorite foods that I like to cook, and favorite foods that I love but don’t cook often because it’s too much trouble. With the Our Place Dream Cooker, I was able to move Chuck Roast and Seafood Boil from the latter into something that I can now enjoy on a regular basis. 

Design and features

• Beautiful design with nonstick inner pot
• Easy-to-use control panel
• Automated steam release

I’ll admit that I’m still gushing over the beautiful design of the Our Place Dream Cooker. As a product review writer, I’ve tested hundreds of products. However, it’s a combination of performance and looks that determines which items remain in use in my home after the testing process – and which items go on a shelf in my garage or are gifted to family members and friends. 

However, the Dream Cooker is so stunning that it has found a semi-permanent spot on my countertops. I tested the limited-edition spice color, but it’s also available in blue steam, salt, and charcoal. In addition to the beautiful color – which sets the small appliance apart from its utilitarian competitors – the design is thoughtful and user friendly.

The Dream Cooker arrived in a brown cardboard box, and inside of that, a color-coded branded box and wrapping that coordinated with the color of the appliance.  It was securely packed to ensure the Dream Cooker was not damaged during the shipping process.

In addition to the Dream Cooker appliance, there are three pieces of literature. The Dream Cooker User Manual is very thorough. In addition to identifying and explaining the functions of the parts and accessories, it provides cautions against overfilling the pot, and explains how to release steam manually and automatically, along with several other helpful advice. There’s also a quick start guide, and a less than impressive recipe booklet that contains six recipes.

The Dream Cooker consists of various parts (that were, thankfully, already attached), including the cooker base, and inside of that, the removable inner cooking pot. 

The power cord is removable (always a bonus), and on the back of the cooker base is the condensation collector, which collects any moisture overflow and should be emptied and rinsed each time the Dream Cooker is used.

The top of the lid’s exterior includes the manual steam release button, the steam release vent cover, and the float valve pin. The float valve pin is down when the Dream Cooker is depressurized, and will stick up when the appliance is pressurized. 

On the underside of the lid are the anti-clog cap, float valve pin, sealing ring holder, and silicone sealing ring.  The anti-clog cap is designed to keep food and debris from getting into the steam release pipe (as this could affect pressure regulation during the cooking process). It works in conjunction with the float valve pin. Our Place recommends checking the cap on a regular basis to ensure that nothing is blocking it – and cleaning the underside routinely. 

The control/display panel includes the four cooking functions: Slow Cook, Sauté/Sear, Pressure Cook, and Keep Warm. The panel also includes the Timer, as well as icons for Preheat, Steam Release, the Lid Warning Indicator (if the lid isn’t properly closed), and Inner Pot Warning (if the inner cooking pot isn’t in the Dream Cooker – or if you’re trying to close the lid while it’s in Saute/Sear mode).

The Temperature/Pressure section is where I select low, medium, or high temperature or pressure. The Start/Stop icon, and also the On/Off icon are at the bottom of the control panel.

I found the control/display panel to be very straight-forward and easy to use. 

Performance

• Searing is quick and convenient
• One pot meals cook perfectly
• Automated steam release is safe

The Dream Cooker performs marvelously. After turning on the Dream Cooker, I select a cooking mode, and a temperature. The plus and minus icons allow me to adjust the time.

After pressing Start, the appliance beeps to indicate that it’s preheating and Preheat appears on the panel.

When the Dream Cooker reaches the cook time that I entered, it beeps three times to let me know the food is ready. Then, it automatically goes into Keep Warm mode, and the timer begins counting how much time has elapsed (it will do this to keep the food warm for up to eight hours). 

During the pressure release process, the word Hold appears on the display and the Steam release icon also appears. I need to wait until both disappear from the display and also check to ensure the float valve pin drops before I remove the lid.

My first test was to slow-cook a chuck roast. This is one of my favorite meals, but I don’t cook it often, because it’s too much trouble to make. And by too much trouble, I mean that I don’t want to mess up a skillet just to sear the roast, I don’t want my oven to be on for three to five hours, and I don’t want to worry about having to pull a heavy, ceramic Dutch oven (loaded with hot food and liquids) out of the regular oven. 

So, I was elated that I could just lightly season and sear the meat in the Dream Cooker. 

I actually cooked this recipe twice when testing. The first time, after searing the meat, I added small potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, and small peppers in a water base. The second item, I used broth, and added sliced squash, small tomatoes, and small potatoes. Both times, I probably added more liquid than necessary, because I wanted to be sure I was meeting the requirements of a minimum of 1.5 cups of water – and I couldn’t open the lid during the cooking process.

Both times, after adding everything, I put the lid on the Dream Cooker and turned it to the lock position. Then I set the desired pressure, time and pressed Start. The word Pre was displayed on the panel, as was the preheat icon. When it reached the set indicated, the appliance beeped, the words and icon disappeared and the timer started counting down to indicate that it was not in cooking mode.

When it finished (indicated by three beeps), HOLD appeared on the display panel along with the Steam Release icon. I didn’t time it, but it took well anywhere from 20 to more than 30 minutes for the steam to release naturally.   

The second time, I actually used the Slow Cook feature and set it for four hours. Both times, the result was perfect. The roast was easy to cut, and incredibly juicy and tender, and the veggies were flavorful. Best of all, each time, I had enough food to last for several days so I didn’t have to cook again.

Next, I made a seafood boil – another one of my favorites that’s usually too much trouble. I added small potatoes, corn on the cob, chicken broth, and pressure-cooked on high for four minutes, then used the quick-release steam method (Note: these were the instructions from an InstantPot recipe). Then I added shrimp and crawfish, pressure-cooked on high for one minute and then quickly released the steam again. The seafood boil was beyond delicious – albeit it’s always messy peeling crawfish. Both the crawfish and shrimp were spicy and tender, while the corn was juicy and sweet, and the small potatoes were fork-tender and melted in my mouth. 

One of my favorite features is the ability to use natural steam release and also manual steam release by pressing the manual steam release button. (For rice and pasta, it’s actually recommended to use the manual steam release feature to avoid overcooking food.)

On another occasion, I tossed some store-bought, frozen Salisbury steak into the Dream Cooker. After sauteing the meat, I added gravy broth, then I switch to the Pressure Cook mode. It was also juicy and delicious. 

I must admit that I don’t stand around watching food cook in the Dream Cooker. Because there’s an automatic Keep Warm feature, I would often be in other parts of my home while to food was cooking. The freedom provided by this intuitive appliance is another feature that I love. 

Should you buy it?

FAQs