Review of The Dog Hut Hotdog Steamer and Merchandiser

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List Price: $426.00
Sale Price: $319.00
Today's Bonus: 25% Off

This machine was purchased for an organization. There are hundreds of people who make use of this food service and the machine makes the best hot dogs available anywhere. The buns need to be watched so they are not in the machine for too long or are kept in their bags with the bags tightly shut. Otherwise the buns become soggy over time. The machine is easy to set up and easy to service. Cleaning is a snap and the parts are of excellent quality. I don't think you can do wrong if you buy this hot dog display cooker.

This machine will make dogs as they used to be made at the ball parks and parades. They are hot, juicy, and really good tasting. I recommend this machine to anyone who needs to have a large number of hot dogs ready at all times and wants to put out a quality product that is the same quality day after day.

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We purchased this in hopes of using it for a party and other events.

In some ways, it really is great. It's compact enough to store easily (a bit smaller than a pair of compact microwaves stacked on top of each other) and can cook a good number of hot dogs. The interior parts are dishwasher safe, as has been noted before, which makes clean-up quite easy. It also looks fun and cool and can be easily set-up for a self-serve situation, more or less.

Now the cons, and why we didn't keep it ...

First and foremost: the doors. They don't open or close easily or at all. In our case, an entire side of the unit was unusable, because it couldn't be accessed. No matter how much we fussed and fiddled, the door would only open about 1" on that side. The other door was also very, very difficult to slide open, even though nothing was obstructing the path and I'm positive it was put in correctly. (Taken in and out and adjusted hundreds of times.) It looked like it should work. It just didn't. Doors that swing open would have made a LOT more sense.

The other problems were more niggling, and more design quirks/flaws, than outright failures ...

-The bun steamer insert is fairly worthless. Even wrapped buns are soaked through in minutes, while the machine itself is designed to hold a large number of hotdogs at temperature for serving for a good amount of time (2-3 hours), the buns have to be constantly babysat, which doesn't really make sense. I tried a number of things, and nothing really worked, so we just didn't use that part.

-It takes a long time to heat up (45 minutes) and cook (another 45 minutes). This isn't really a flaw, just something you need to know about. It is also ONLY rated for reheating fully-cooked dogs, so no gourmet, unprocessed wieners here.

-The sides of the unit do get hot and it takes a long time to cool down in order to drain the water. Again, not really a flaw, just a quirk and something you should know.

Honestly, if this were half the price, we'd probably have lived with the above shortcomings, but at nearly $300 the problems just weren't worth dealing with. And the flakey doors, frankly, aren't worth it at any price.

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This little machine is awesome! Always a big hit at parties! I've used sveral times and she works like a charm every time.

Honest reviews on The Dog Hut Hotdog Steamer and Merchandiser

If you like steamed wieners, you will no be disappointed. This unit is easy to use and fits on any counter. Draining the used wiener water was also very simple with the valve on the side.

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I was surprised by how small the unit was. Based on our first try of the machine, I cannot see how you can cook as many hot dogs as mentioned.

It took 3 1/2 hours to cook a dozen sausages and 2 1/2 hours to cook 12 hot dogs.

I will say, the dogs/sausages tasted good, but way to long to cook.