This is the step-up from my “regular” size slow cooker, that I didn’t even know I needed. I’ve had an *enormous* ham in the freezer for a while that I never knew what to do with, because it was too big for my other pot (even with the foil-over-the-top trick) and I’m never up for the time and work it takes to do it in the oven. This beast fit into the 8qt with no problem at all! Looking forward to trying out all kinds of extra large roasts and recipes. The controls are basic (warm, low, high settings on a manual switch) which works just fine for me. I love the lid holder/cord wrap feature too! The answer to two of life’s great mysteries, lol.