Home and Kitchen Reviews

This coat rack is beautiful. I can not believe how lovely it is for the price. Great buy...go for it, you won't disappointed. I love it. And it matches my oak cabinets and kitchen set perfectly.

First, physical weaknesses: The pitchers crack and warp slowly but steadily, so won't last forever. You can replace them for about ten bucks, but with shipping that's half the cost of an entirely new unit. And you can't put them in the dishwasher, so you'll probably want at least several up front anyway, so that you can clean them.

Second, cleaning problems. Unlke the Hamilton Beach tea makers, the bags here go in the brewing housing, which has to be removed and cleaned separately from the pitcher. And if you forget to do that, you'll have yucky (even moldy) tea bags the next time you go to make tea, even if that's within two days.

Hamilton Beach instead keeps the bags' brewing area inside the pitcher itself, which you can refridgerate and prevent yuck and mold from occuring. Plus, the Mr Coffee station drips TEA on the counter as soon as you remove the pitcher, whereas the Hamilton Beach only drips WATER since the tea process is all contained in the pitcher itself.

Further, the Mr Coffee series requires that the pitcher get very close to the brew housing station, with the tea just BARELY getting into the spout, or else you'll get tea dripped on the counter WHILE brewing. That messiness increases as the pitcher begins to warp and crack. Hamilton Beach bests that both by including a pull-out tray that HOLDS the pitcher in the correct position, and by having the tea drip directly to the center of the pitcher rather than milimeters from the edge of the spout.

Above all, the Hamilton Beach series simply makes better tea. It includes a dial that allows you to make weak, medium, or strong tea, and that's all automated. The Mr Coffee series has no such setting, but requires you to "close" the brewing area for a period and then turn a dial to "open" before it starts putting tea in the pitcher. That manual step both slows down the tea production, and risks making quite the mess if you forget to go back and open the dial.

Finally, the Mr Coffee pitcher is a large and obtrusive ROUND cylinder that takes up lots of space in the fridge, even when there's only a glass or so left in the pitcher. The Hamilton Beach pitchers are instead elongated OVAL shapes, that fit in more places in the fridge, even in the fridge door, and are *shorter* so that you can put them on a shelf with a lower overhead.

Mr. Coffee: bigger mess, more manual, more cleaning, more risk, lower longevity, and lamer tea.

Hamilton Beach: no mess, no manual revisit, easy to clean, no risk, lasts longer, better tea, and more options when you make it.

No contest!

I noticed by reading some of the other reviews here, that most are not using loose tea. I have only used loose tea, both green and black teas, and I must say that this little gadget does a remarkable job. I personally like my tea fresh, so the 2 quart limit is great, as I'll be able to make more soon enough. In fact, my only complaint is that I have to wait for my freezer to make ice between batches, so if you're making a large amount of tea, say for a picnic or something, use bagged ice.

As a final thought, while not perfect for any one type of tea (some need boiling water, some just under boiling for best flavor) it does brew on average a pretty wicked pitcher. Make a simple sugar syrup with lemon and mint for an extra kick that will make your southern guests think of home.

I LOVE IT, thats all I can really say, we use ours daily and it has lasted 7 yrs. I bought it when I was breastfeeding my 7 yr old. I would always crave ice tea!
We still have BOTH of the original pitchers without a crack or many scratches through daily ice tea making and in and out of the dishwasher! Are people putting ice in them BEFORE letting the hot tea hit the pitcher?? You have to put the ice in so the hot water wont just fill the pitcher! I always use 2 family size Lipton tea bags and one Earl Grey small bag, it makes the BEST TEA! Everyone loves it! I recommend this FOR everyone needing to save some calories or who just love Ice Tea!

I primarily make smoothies with this blender, which can be a problem for many other blenders, but not for this one! It crushes ice and blends like a dream. My only complaint is that it is really loud. I had a Kitchenaid 5 speed blender before this one and it was MUCH quiter. I also sampled the Viking blender in a store once and it was also pretty loud. But aside from the sound factor, this blender is easy to use and works just as well as your top dollar blenders, if not better.

Also keep in mind, you can get add on accessories for a very reasonable price. I purchased the stainless milk shake carafe and the food processor attachment. This is an option that you can't get with other blenders.

My friends joke about how thorough I am about making consumer purchase decisions. They say, "If you want to get the best, get him interested in what you're looking for and he'll research it 'till he finds it.

Well I found it! The Osterizer Classic Behive Blender series is truly the best. In my search, I tried a professional bar blender by Hamilton Beach and the newer styles with the larger, wider bottom mixing jars like the one from KitchenAide. The Beehive crushes and blends anything I desire.

I bought an Osterizer Beehive that also came with a milk-shake mixer and blade, a food processor attachment and a babyfood jar attachment. They all work great and got them all as a single bundle on sale for $79 - less than the other blenders listed below that didn't work as well. You can also buy the attachments separately, if you desire. I even found that certain slightly smaller mouthed tahini (sesame seed butter) jars work as well, which enable me to mix things like sauces right in the jar I plan to refrigerate them in -- Jars made by Arrowhead Mills work well, for example.

Plus, the heavy duty construction of the Beehive is fantastic as well. Very sturdy base and solid motor. Yes, it's slightly loud, but only slightly. And it's not like it needs to be on long enough to destroy any conversation worth having. A couple of seconds, and you're done. I was a little concerned about the dial switch that came with mine since I thought the flip switches would be better and easier to clean. However, I love the three speeds with the option of turning off at the high end or the low end. And it cleans just fine.

The Hamilton Beach is only good for restaurant style crushed ice, forget it for home-made ice. Plus, the plastic mixing jar that is legally required in restaurants feels lightweight and cheap at home. The Kitchenaide has a strong enough motor, but their (and others') attempts at improving what already works has failed miserably. The larger wider mixing jars are great for crushing ice, but if you throw any fruit in there as well, it leaves fruit lumps. It couldn't even blend a banana for me without leaving lumps on numerous attempts.

Seriously, the Osterizer is absolutely amazing. And I am simply an enthusiastic consumer who has finally found a product that truly delivers. Oh, I was also slightly concerned that the chrome would be too "loud" in my kitchen, but it simply looks wonderfully retro. The very top part is plastic, as opposed to the metal of the base, which I also thought might be a concern, but the the difference in chrome color and texture are minimal, so no aesthetic issue, and the plastic is heavy duty and long lasting. Again, you can't go wrong with this blender!!!

We use this in our coffee house for mixing drinks & crushing ice. It does an excellent job for us.

Best to use the AC plug as opposed to batteries, unless you enjoy changing batteries often (batteries are beneath the tray and it gets pretty nasty under there). It does work better than any other smokeless ashtray I've tried, but it's still too noisy for my liking. Could be there isn't really any way to get it quieter as well as the vacuum does suck up the smoke quite well.

but you can buy it at walmart for $9.99 with no s&h fees either.. :\

This is not the first Holmes Smokeless Ashtray we have had, but this one works very well. It seems much more quiet, and the shipping was very fast. I would highly recommend this product, if you smoke ;-), and the company runs a tight ship.

I just purchased this steamer and I expected more from it. The instructions say to attach the brush to the steam head but does not address why and when to use the brush and whether there are times one should not use the brush. No tips as to best way to steam in the instructions, whether to pull on the fabric or just hold it up and steam away so you are on your own to figure this out.

I followed directions and attached the brush to the steam head. Started to steam a newly washed knit sweater. The brush pulled at the fabric and casued it to pucker and wave so I quickly abandoned that and moved on to a newly washed 100% cotton shirt. It was OK but ironing it would have given better results and the collar definitely could use an iron to touch up.

Then I tried a linen-type jacket and it, too, puckered so I put that job aside. Then I removed the brush attachment and got better results but still not as good as expected. I washed a cotton shirt and medium weight cotton capris, took them out of the dryer and started to steam. They looked better than when they came out of the dryer but still look like they could use an iron.

Next test was a cotton knit shirt and that did well as did a very lightweight pair of cotton slacks. I steamed a heavier weight denim-type pair of pants and they didn't do too well. Garmets felt a bit damp so I hung them out in the air to completely dry.

Conclusion is that this steamer would work the best on lightweight fabric and knits, like T-shirts, but one can always put those in the dryer for a few minutes with probably the same results.

The steamer was easy to set up. When I first started steaming clothes everything worked fine--heated up quickly. I used distilled water. Mind you the instructions say you must use distilled water even though the picture on the box shows the water tank being filled at a sink faucet. The steamer shut off when the water reached a low point. I refilled the water container and touched the "on" button but after no steam came out I realized I have to press the reset button to get the steam started again. A couple of times I turned the steamer off while I looked for more items to steam and when I turned it back on I also had to press the reset button. While on my 3rd container of water, the steamer started to shut off for no apparent reason and I had to keep pressing the reset button.

From reading other reviews I thought I could whip through a bunch of clothes in 40 minutes but it took me much longer than that since I kept going over and over the garments trying to improve the results. In the end I could have ironed these garments a lot faster and I would not have used 1 gallon of distilled water. Maybe the steamer gets too overheated after steaming for over 40 minutes which causes the constant shutting down and resetting. Maybe it's intended purpose is only for a quick touch-up of a previously ironed item or maybe I am too picky and expected too much.

A lot of steam comes out of the steam head but it is not like a shot of steam from an iron (no force behind the steam) and from time to time the steam head spit water on the garments. This is definitely not a COMMERCIAL steamer. I have seen those in operation at stores and have witnessed the wrinkles magically disappearing from garments without all the tugging that I was doing.

I was using the steamer next to a sliding glass door in my kitchen when I had an idea. I aimed the steam at the glass door and quickly wiped it down with a microfiber cloth--no streaks. Try it on your windows!

Conclusion: It took me longer to steam clothes than to iron them. Steamer will spit water on clothes at times even when hose is held high. Steamer has a tendency to shut itself off for no apparent reason. Probably is OK for quick touch-ups especially since you don't have to drag out your ironing board. I wish the power cord was longer.

I might return it to the store after I decide whether I would get enough use out of this or if it will just sit abandoned in a closet. Maybe a new iron with vertical steam would work better for me.

The steamer is nice, it does get clogged often even with distilled water...you have to use distilled water in it. It is difficult to make creases with it but it does help with wrinkles in skirts and sweaters. After using it a few times I would still buy it again.

The garment steamer was easy to assemble and begin using. The user manual is adequate -- we'd recommend special attention to the need to hold the hose up high frequently to drain any condensation back to the reservoir -- to avoid sputtering on the garment. Because it does exactly what we expected it to do, we rate it at 5 stars -- a very nice applicance for a reasonable price.

I brought this product from Amazon. The product is really a good one to use, especially the light weight plates and bowl. Only thing is the mug is bit heavy, but still its good.

I'm one of those folks who can only sleep with "white noise" in the background. I used to use big Lasko box fans, but the cheap plastic blades on those would eventually weaken and flap around, making a roaring sound. Plus the poorly designed and made screws that held the grills in place would eventually weaken and cause the grill to bang against the metal box, making a tapping sound all night long the would wake the dead.

I was a little nervous about getting this fan as I'd only been used to huge box fans, and this one seemed too efficient and quiet to make a real difference in the air and making "white noise" to fall asleep to. I actually purchased it at Bed Bath and Beyond (not Amazon) for $100, so I'm not sure if there is lower price out there somewhere. Anyway, I wanted to try it at home to see what I thought, thinking if I didn't like it I could return it.

The fan was incredibly easy to put together, and you can make it two different heights ... short near-the-floor height, or "my bedroom is so hot I need a fan blowing right on me as I lay in bed" height.

On low, you can barely hear that the fan is on, however it moves about as much air as a big box fan does on high. When the Vornado is on high, it makes a pleasing white-noise sound, and REALLY moves the air around in the whole room. It's easy to adjust to point it where you want the air to go. I point it at the upper corner of my room so the air bouces off and travels everywhere else ... it really works!

The grill is extremely easy to remove (no screws at all ... just four secure clips), and the fan blade slides right off the shaft (no screw there, either). This will make it simple to clean just under the faucet in the sink or bathtub when it inevitably gets dusty and dirty.

If you are looking for a whole room circulator or a white-noise sleep aid, I couldn't recomment any fan higher! Good quality construction and well-engineered thought went into every aspect of this product. You won't go wrong.

I'm a cyclist and this fan made all the difference in my indoor workouts. It will definitely keep your upper body cooler. It's even strong enough to create that fluttering sound the wind makes in you ears when you are riding. You can adjust the height too (low-high) so you can look over it and watch the TV.

If you just want to get there air moving in your room, I'm sure this fan will do the trick. Highly recommend.

The 285 and 785 offer the same height adjustability but with continuous variable speed rather than three speed settings. The 285 is the next model of this fan, while the 785 is the "maximum air circulator" model and the one I have. the 785 boasts a full lifetime warranty as opposed to the limited lifetime warranty of the 285. I have been very pleased with my vornado purchase, and have found their customer service easy to reach via email.

This is really great on the counter because it's non-breakable and very easy to clean. It would be nice if it was a little bigger, but for the money no complaints. Fast delivery and all in one piece.

This unit is well build, and things actually fit together quite nicely. Some cheaper unit requires you to push or pull the top to get a tight seal. It is attractive looking, and the stainless steel material also means that you don't have to worry about dropping it (except the mess) and you can also take a soft steel wool and scrape the hell out of if you need to.

P.S I have yet to try this myself, but I know there are special corn-based lining for compost piles - this may make clean up easier.