Tatyana, small portions can be cooked in a five-liter bowl. Up to the max mark is usually 3-3.5 liters. It is difficult to say whether a three-liter is enough for you or not, since everyone has their own appetites. I usually cook in 2 and 3 liter multicooker one or two portions at a time.
It's hard to talk about multicooker in general. There are no universal rules to be found here.
The bowl, yes, definitely has to be with good coverage. It is advisable to be able to buy a replacement bowl. There are bowls with anti-cigarette coating, and there are with the so-called. "ceramic" (not related to ceramics). The second is more difficult to care for (heating only with food, thorough washing, you cannot drop or hit it - cracks will go).
The modes are entirely dependent on what your family preferences are. Say, do you need active frying? And then ... the name of the mode is not enough ... but does it work correctly? Therefore, of course, it is better to talk about specific models.
By manufacturer ... Redmond and Polaris mostly have multicooker of similar quality, for the most part they do not have sensor modes (for liquid evaporation). I would not recommend Vitek at all, it is not known how reliable that multicooker will turn out to be. Phillips and Mulinex also have different models, some more, some less successful. If Panasonic is old models, then ... they are old, even ancient frying in them can be said to be absent, there is no yogurt ... but wonderful pastries, stewing, milk porridge. The new Panasonic has more features.
Yes, I also want to note that there are not only multi-cookers, but also pressure cookers from these manufacturers. Pressure cookers are cooked under pressure and in such modes, under pressure, the lid cannot be opened during cooking. Meat, of course, cook faster in a pressure cooker. For the rest of the dishes, there is no particular gain in time.
Yes...I don't know if my writing helped you ... it's hard to talk about multicooker in general
