What Nobody Tells You Before Buying a Multicooker

The stuff the spec sheet leaves out

Multicookers are brilliant. Genuinely. But there's a gap between what the marketing says and what it's actually like to own one, and nobody really fills you in until you've already spent the money.

This isn't a buying guide - we've got a full multicooker recommendations page for that, and a breakdown of what you actually get at every multicooker price point if you are still working out a budget. This is the stuff we wish someone had told us before we hit Add to Cart. The honest trade-offs, the surprising realities, and the questions most reviews don't bother answering.

Your "30-minute meal" is actually 50 minutes

Instant Pot Rio Mini 3.8L 7-in-1 Multi-CookerA$135.20Check Price →

This is the single biggest surprise for new multicooker owners, and it catches people every time.

When a recipe says "pressure cook for 30 minutes," that's just the cooking time. Before the timer even starts, the multicooker needs to come to pressure. For a full pot, that's easily 10 to 15 minutes. Then after cooking, you've got the pressure release - either a quick release (a couple of minutes, but splatters liquid everywhere) or a natural release (another 10 to 15 minutes, but better results for most dishes).

So your 30-minute pulled pork is actually a 50 to 55-minute pulled pork. Still way faster than four hours in a slow cooker or three in the oven. But if you're banking on having dinner ready in half an hour from a cold start, you'll be standing there wondering why nothing's happening yet.

Smaller units take even longer. The Instant Pot Rio Mini 3.8L (A$135, 4.6 stars from 704 reviews) runs an 800W element, which is noticeably slower to reach pressure than the bigger units. Perfectly fine once it gets there, but budget an extra few minutes.

Once you adjust your expectations, it's not a problem. You just learn to start earlier than you think you need to.

You probably don't need 14 functions

Instant Pot Duo 5.7LCheck Price →

This is where the marketing really earns its keep. "14-in-1!" sounds dramatically better than "7-in-1!" And technically it is - you're getting more modes. But here's the thing: most multicooker owners use three to four functions regularly. Pressure cook. Slow cook. Saute. Maybe steam or rice.

Look at what Australians actually buy and review. The Instant Pot Duo 5.7L, a plain 7-in-1 at around A$163, carries 503 reviews at 4.6 stars. Its bigger sibling, the Instant Pot Duo Plus 8L 9-in-1 at around A$220, has 1,291 reviews at 4.6. Meanwhile the 14-function flagship below has 207. The machines with fewer modes are the ones with years of accumulated owner feedback behind them, and that feedback is overwhelmingly positive. Thousands of Australians bought a straightforward pressure-cook-and-slow-cook machine, used it, and came back to say it was good. They did not need yoghurt mode or sous vide or dehydrate.

Meanwhile the Ninja Foodi SmartLid 14-in-1 at around A$411 is a genuinely impressive machine. The SmartLid that slides between pressure, air fry and SteamCrisp mode is clever engineering. But it is also about two and a half times the price of the plain Duo. If you'll use the air frying and SteamCrisp regularly, it earns its spot. If you mostly want to throw a curry on and forget about it, the extra functions are expensive decorations.

The air fry question is worth asking honestly

Instant Pot Duo Crisp + Air Fryer 11-in-1Check Price →

Roughly half the multicookers on our list include air frying, and the other half don't. The ones that do cost noticeably more. The basic Instant Pot Duo 5.7L at around A$163 does not air fry. The Instant Pot Duo Crisp + Air Fryer at around A$339 does. The Ninja SmartLid at around A$411 does. That is a A$175 to A$250 premium for air frying ability, and it has widened over the past year rather than narrowed.

If you don't already own a standalone air fryer, a combo unit makes a lot of sense. One appliance, one power point, one spot on the bench. The Instant Pot Duo Crisp + Air Fryer 11-in-1 (around A$339, 4.6 stars from 1,742 reviews) is the sensible pick here - it is the most-reviewed multicooker on Amazon Australia by some distance, its 8L pot handles batch cooking, and the air fryer lid is a separate lid rather than a compromise mechanism.

One thing worth checking before you buy any combo unit, and it catches people out: some of the best-rated multicookers on Amazon Australia are shipped from Amazon UK rather than sold as Australian stock. The COSORI 5.7L is the obvious example - excellent ratings, competitive price, and a listing that is fulfilled from overseas. That means no Australian warranty to fall back on under the Australian Consumer Law, potentially a duty charge on arrival, and a return trip to Britain if something fails. Check who the listing says it ships from before you commit, not after.

But if you've already got a Ninja air fryer or a Philips sitting on your bench, be honest with yourself. Are you actually going to air fry chips inside your multicooker? Or will you just reach for the dedicated appliance you already know? Don't pay extra for a function that'll sit unused because you've already got the habit covered.

The inner pot matters more than you'd think

This one flies under the radar completely, but it affects how you cook every single day.

Some multicookers come with a stainless steel inner pot. Others use non-stick. They're meaningfully different. Stainless steel is more durable, handles metal utensils, and won't peel or flake over time. But food sticks more easily, especially if you don't deglaze properly after sauteing. The classic Instant Pot Duo models use stainless steel, and the most common complaint in reviews is food sticking during the saute step.

Non-stick is easier to cook with and clean, but it wears out. A couple of years of regular use and you're looking at replacing the pot. The Instant Pot Duo Crisp Ultimate Lid (around A$389) uses a non-stick inner pot, which is part of why searing feels so effortless in it.

Neither is wrong. But if nobody tells you the difference, you'll wonder why your saute step keeps catching on the bottom of a stainless pot, or why your non-stick is flaking after 18 months. Just know what you're getting.

Brand fame and actual evidence are different things

Instant Pot and Ninja dominate the multicooker conversation, and they have earned that. But brand recognition is not evidence, and neither is a star rating on its own.

The clearest illustration sits inside a single brand. The Instant Pot Duo Crisp + Air Fryer at around A$339 carries 1,742 reviews at 4.6 stars. The Instant Pot Duo Crisp Ultimate Lid at around A$389 - newer, more expensive, more functions - has 28 reviews at 4.0. Same brand, same product family, fifty dollars apart. One of those is a well-understood machine with years of owner feedback behind it. The other is an unknown quantity that might be excellent and might not; there is simply not enough data to say.

You will see the same thing at the cheap end. A budget 6L cooker sitting at 4.7 stars from eleven reviews looks better on paper than a 4.6 from 1,742 people. It is not. Eleven reviews tells you almost nothing about how a machine behaves in year three, which is exactly when pressure cookers start to show whether their seals, sensors and non-stick coatings were any good.

The rule of thumb: read the review count first and the star rating second. A 4.6 from a thousand-plus owners is a far stronger signal than a 4.9 from a handful, and it is worth more than any brand name on the box.

Bench space is a real constraint

Multicookers are not small appliances. Even the compact Instant Pot Rio Mini needs a dedicated spot, and the 7.5L Ninja SmartLid is a proper unit that needs clearance above for the lid to open fully.

If you live in a rental with a tiny kitchen, or your benchtop is already shared with a kettle, toaster and coffee machine, think carefully about where this thing is going to live. A multicooker that stays in the cupboard because it's too annoying to get out doesn't cook anything.

The Rio Mini (around A$135) exists partly for this reason. It's 3.8L, which is too small for batch cooking or feeding a family, but it's genuinely compact enough to live on a benchtop in a studio apartment. For one or two people, it handles the core jobs without taking over your kitchen.

Bottom line

None of this means multicookers aren't worth buying. They absolutely are, and we've got a full breakdown of the best multicookers for Australian kitchens if you're ready to pick one. But going in with your eyes open means you'll choose the right model, set realistic expectations, and actually enjoy using the thing instead of being quietly disappointed that it's not magic.

If you are torn between the two brands that dominate this category, our multicooker rankings put the Ninja and Instant Pot models side by side. Otherwise: know what you'll cook. Be honest about which functions you'll use. Check the review count, not just the stars. And measure your bench before your budget.