Norpro Tin Heat Diffuser

Customer Rating:
Summary: Not that great
Comment: For less than $3, I wasn't really expecting much from this -- so I don't feel too bad about the fact that it's destined for the back of the kitchen drawer. I washed the diffuser as recommended, but it still smells up my house when I use it (I think it's the wooden handle -- it's a treated wood kind of smell). While my glass kettle was protected from cracking, the water took even longer to boil than it normally does -- like 20 minutes for maybe 3 cups of water. The bottom of the diffuser was corroded and terrible looking after only a couple of days. I just don't feel good about using this diffuser.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Just what I needed.
Comment: I have a gas range which I like for almost all cooking except when I want to simmer or keep things hot. Even with the flame turned all the way down things would still cook or boil. The diffuser I bought allows me to simmer things without them overcooking or sticking to the pan.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Worked like a charm.
Comment: I used the diffusers on an electric stove under cooking tajines bought in Morocco, for the first time(after seasoning.)I was keeping my fingers crossed not knowing what to expect, and with guests arriving in a short time. The two diffusers I purchased worked like a charm. Food cooked beautifully and nothing cracked! They are well make and very well priced. I looked all over in St. Louis and didn't find such an item. So this website certainly saved the day for me. Shipping time was very fast!

Customer Rating:
Summary: Great item
Comment: Love it. Had been looking for this item for months. The local appliance store said such an item didn't exist.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Diffuser usage
Comment: I grew up with diffusers the same style as these Norpro ones. We had very old gas ranges that produced much higher BTU's than most modern ranges do. In the 80's I bought the first new range I ever had--a pilotless GE. I had often wished I could find diffusers because I like to cook a lot of things very slowly. (Eventually a client of mine was actually marketing a housewares line that included diffusers with the pan area identical to these from Norpro, but that had a stiff folding wire handle--which I very much like for space-saving storage and because I did not have to worry about scorching the wooden handle.) I purchased these Norpro diffusers through Amazon for my sister-in-law who was totally unfamiliar with any diffusers other than a thick aluminum disc. The disc was handleless and heavy, and therefore not easy to move around if it was hot. My husband was visiting her and told her about my diffusers. She uses Visions® glass cookware and had trouble setting her burners low enough that flames did not touch the glass. I searched for diffusers with the folding wire handles and found none. My sister-in-law was very happy with these, and, had I not already seen/had ones with folding handles I would probably also have been happy with them. However I personally am very, very partial to the folding handle model. When we moved to our farm it was the first time I had ever used propane and the range at the house was very, very, very "cold"--it could take the better part of an hour to bring a large home pressure canner up to pressure. Eventually we figured out that the orifice had not been changed from natural gas to propane when that stove was originally installed (DUH!). That stove was also made with very thin steel and deformed significantly from the weight of a full pressure canner. I purchased my second new range in 2001--also a GE, and the "home kitchen" model with the highest BTU's on the market, and which is also very heavily built. I now have a really, really, really HOT range, and even the smallest burner turned as low as possible is often too hot for my style of cooking. It is very, very, very rare for me to cook without a diffuser--and often if I'm using all 4 burners I am also using 4 diffusers. I would very, very highly recommend that anyone with open flame gas burners get diffusers. I do have "non-stick" sauté pans, but all of my other cookware is Revere Stainless with heavy aluminum cooking plates on the pan bottoms. Without the use of diffusers I am certain that I would be endlessly trying to get burned-on food out of pans. I don't care how attentive a cook you are; it is often impossible to get a low enough flame to cook food without scorching it into the bottom of pans. Sometimes I even use 2 diffusers at the same time on one burner. I do have 3 double-boilers (various sizes) that I purchased when I was unable to find diffusers. Using DB's really slows down the cooking process. Using a diffuser instead of a double-boiler is much, much faster and has only a very slight possibility of scorching food (whereas it is impossible to scorch food with a double-boiler). In the summer-time I utilize electric pans as much as possible. BUT in the winter I use diffusers, welcoming the extra burner heat that keeps the furnace from cycling as often. IF THESE HAD FOLDING HANDLES I WOULD RATE THEM AS 5 STARS. I am rating them lower only because of the wooden handles. NOTE: these are plated tin, and in a very short time they will probably be completely rust coated. I never wash a diffuser unless I actually spill food on one--I just ignore their appearance--just as I do the appearance of my stove burner grates--which also rust on the surface when I am pushing/pulling pans over the original baked-on enamel finish. Once they are rusted they don't seem to further deteriorate--my mother's was an antique by the time I inherited it, and even the ones I bought in the 80's with the folding handles are not deteriorated or worn thin after the initial lost of the plating.