Tower 3.5L Cavaletto Slow Cooker review: we put this budget-friendly gadget to the test

Overall star rating: 4/5

Price on writing: £35 | Buy now from Amazon

What we like

• Stylish design

• Includes a keep warm setting

• Easy to use and set up

• Affordable

• Pot is dishwasher safe

• Lightweight

• Great results

• Three-year guarantee (if you register product online with Tower)

What we don't like

• No timer

• Keep warm setting is manual

• The outer body didn't feel as sturdy as some other options

Our verdict

• Ease of use: 5/5

• Ease of cleaning: 5/5

• Features: 4/5

• Results: 5/5

• Design: 4/5

• Value for money: 5/5

The Tower Cavaletto earned a place on our best slow cooker round-up thanks to its style, ease of use, and tasty results. It's a fairly basic model, which is reflected in the price tag, but if you're looking for a gadget that gets the job done well with the added bonus of looking elegant on your countertop, then the Cavaletto could be the one for you.

With a 3.5-litre capacity, which is ideal for families of four, the Cavaletto is super intuitive to use – I just had to turn the chunky dial to my chosen heat setting. It also has a keep warm function, something busy families will love. My only grumble on this front was that I needed to manually switch to this setting; it doesn't have an automatic timer like some more expensive models do.

The results were great – it produced delicious casseroles and tender meat and vegetables. The outer body was a bit tinny, however, which made it feel less sturdy compared to other slow cookers I've tested, but all in all, I was impressed – this is a great buy for your kitchen.

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Tower 3.5L Cavaletto Slow Cooker: design and style

With a matte midnight blue outer body and contrasting rose gold handles, there's no denying that the Tower Cavaletto is a stylish gadget. It looked great left out on a countertop, something families who are battling for cupboard space alongside their cooking tools and Tupperware will appreciate. It's also available in two other colours – grey and black – so you can choose which one will suit your kitchen best, although my personal favourite was the blue.

The only downside I found with the design was that the base material was quite tinny and thin, which made it feel a bit flimsier than other slow cookers I've tested. That said, this means it's pleasingly light, so it's easy to manoeuvre around the kitchen, even when it has the ceramic pot inside.

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Cooking in the Tower 3.5L Cavaletto Slow Cooker: how easy is it to use?

I was impressed with how easy the Tower was to set up; the pot and lid just needed a quick clean, and once they were dry, I was all ready to go. The instructions were clear and easy to understand, although the font was quite small. However, with three settings (low, high, warm), an easy-to-use dial to operate the slow cooker, and a handy indicator light for peace of mind that it's on, I found it very intuitive to use – there's very little that can go wrong with operating it.

As with many slow cookers, the inner pot can't be used on the hob (although it is oven safe), so I did need to sear meat and soften vegetables in a separate pan on my hob first before adding them to the pot. This did create a bit of extra work with washing up, but it wasn't too much of a chore.

Then, I plugged the slow cooker in, adjusted the dial to 'low', popped the lid on, and left my casserole to cook for eight hours. At the end of the cooking time, I turned the dial to the 'warm' setting to keep it nice and hot, so I could tuck in whenever I was ready without worrying about burning or overcooking my food.

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Tower 3.5L Cavaletto Slow Cooker: what are the results like?

The Tower Cavaletto produced a delicious slow-cooked beef casserole. The beef chunks and vegetables were tender, and the sauce was packed full of flavour – perfect comfort grub.

I did thicken the sauce with cornflour 30 minutes before the end of the cooking time (as suggested in the cookbook I used), so the dish wasn't too watery. Overall, I couldn't fault the results.

How easy is the Tower 3.5L Cavaletto Slow Cooker to clean?

The Tower's inner pot is dishwasher safe for easy clean up. However, I opted to wash the pot by hand so it didn't take up too much dishwasher space. With Fairy washing up liquid and a soft sponge, both the lid and pot were super easy to clean; I was particularly impressed with how simple it was to remove food residue from the pot – it took less than a minute and needed very little elbow grease.

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Key specs

• Capacity: 3.5 litres

• Size: 25 x 35 x 25cm

• Weight: 3.16kg

• Settings: Three; low, high, warm

• Pot: Ceramic

• Lid: Tough glass

• Dishwasher safe: Yes, pot

• Power: 210W

How we tested the Tower 3.5L Cavaletto slow cooker

I tested the Tower Cavaletto at home in my north London kitchen, using it to make a hearty beef casserole so I could assess how it handled veggies, meat, and sauce.

During testing, I carefully rated it on its features, ease of use and cleaning, design, value for money, and those all-important results, evaluating how it performed in a real-life kitchen setting in comparison to other slow cooker models I've recently tested.

About the author

Natasha Gregson is an Affiliate Content Editor at Mumsnet, with an expertise in home and kitchen product reviews and round-ups. With several years of editorial experience under her belt, she also has had work featured in national publications including The i Paper and Stylist Magazine.

A keen home cook, she loves nothing more than whipping up new creations and experimenting in the kitchen, which often includes testing out and researching the latest time-saving kitchen must-haves including slow cookers, multi-cookers and recipe boxes.

When she’s not busy seeking out the top products and advice for Mumsnetters, you can find her searching for the next best restaurant, watching live music, curling up with a good book, cross-stitching, or enjoying a good hike or swim.

About Mumsnet Reviews

All Mumsnet product reviews are written by real people after extensive research and testing. We work hard to provide honest and independent advice you can trust. Sometimes, we earn revenue through affiliate (click-to-buy) links in our articles. However, we never allow this to influence our coverage.

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