Home and Kitchen Reviews

I am a confirmed sharp knife-aloholic and have experimented with nearly every tool to keep a razor sharp edge on all the knives in my collection. The things I look for in a sharpener in order of priority are:
1. ease of use
2. will it maintain the proper angle without requiring an apprenticeship?
3. will it consistantly produce a razor sharp edge from heel to toe?
4. can it go from dull to razor sharp?
5. can I change angles for specialty knives?
6. overall system design including packaging.
I have never seen a 5 star yet and maybe that system can never be built. I found a Furi to be relatively intuitive to use and easy to switch from one phase to the next.
Unlike a previous reviewer, I had no problem using the system and found that the diamon 'finger' design maintained the correct sharpening angle for both my 22.5 degree and 15 degree knives.(I still have not tried it on cleavers or hunting knives)
Overall sharpening abiliity was much better than the average sharpener with only minor discrepancies(rollovers) along the blade length (which may be operator error). The system did well transforming dull knives to sharp. I have never been a real fan of diamond coated syatems and still fell that a real 'razor' finish on specialy knives(like fine Japanese knives)requires a ceramic touch up.
Overall system design appears well thought out with the exception of the carrying case which is made of cheap plastic and is almost useless for convenient storage. Considering the cost, they could have come up with a much better design.
I will definitely keep the Furi system and find it to be the best sharpener available on the market considering the above criteria.

I bought the Furi knife sharpener to keep my Furi 7-Inch Gusto Grip knife sharp. I also used it on my old knives and what a positive difference it made! Even my cheapo knives are sharp. I used to use one of those electric sharpeners that you pull the knife through but always got poor to mediocre results. The Furi sharpener is so easy to use and does a great job every time I've used it. I'm very pleased with this purchase!

The sharpening system works very well on my good knives and even made my mediocre knives much better. It is expensive but good quality.

This Bunn is better than most cheaper automatic drip coffee makers, but definately not as good as the commercial grade Bunns you see in restaurants.

I have had this brewer for 3 years, it makes a decent pot of coffee but I need to use twice the amount of coffee to get a decent tasting cup. I also grind my own beans with the bunn coffee grinder.

I am single so I usually only brew 6 cups, which may be why my coffee isn't so flavorful. I requested the slower brewhead from Bunn and it only makes a small difference to me.

I've read many great reviews about this coffe maker but I'd have to disagree with many. I feel that the water temperature does not get hot enough and it brews too quickly to extract all the flavors from ground beans.

It is possible that my unit may be defective and not quite get up to temperature. I have certainly tried many different variations of grinds and quantity, and the coffee is still only slighter better than most of the home automatic brewers but it is definately no match to the proffesional Bunn's used in retaurants.

If you only brew six cups or less at a time, I would recommend looking elsewhere. Having to use twice the amount of coffee for this brewer is also an added expense.

I looked at Bunn's single pod brewer and read many reviews, but I could never justify spending over two hundred bucks on a coffee maker which would also render my expensive Bunn Coffee grinder useless.

So... My search continues to find the perfect home automatic drip coffee brewer.

The B10-B makes a good cup of coffee.

We had a Krups for about 4 years at the office and the coffee was good. We needed to replace it because the Carafe broke and there was no replacement available (Krup discontinued the model and the carafe - thanks Krup). So, we replaced it with the Krups FM4. I didn't like the coffee from the start - but I figured it would get better. Two weeks later, I dumped it for the Bunn B10-B which got good ratings here on Amazon. This Bunn makes a very good cup of coffee.

The only thing I don't like about the Bunn is that you can't get one of those stainless steel gold filters that fits the unit - so, you need to use their paper filters. The stainless steel filters are easy to clean, cheaper in the long run, you don't have to mess with getting filters off the filter stack, and the coffee tastes a lot better.

Bunn is probably looking to make money off disposables (i.e., their paper filters) so they don't make the stainless steel filters available.

We always use Starbuck's coffee. Some folks here claim that the coffee is weak with this unit. I don't find that to be the case.

Thirty years ago I purchased a Bunn-O-Matic home coffee maker. It was wonderful then. As I have always made 2 pots of coffee per day, I tend to wear our coffee machines in under 4 years each. Since the original Bunn that I had I have gone through 2 more plus several other brands. I learned a good lesson. Once you have had the best, don't experiment with the unknown. The other brand coffee makers, Mr. Coffee, Hamilton Beach, etc. all paled in comparison to the Bunns.

This past week I threw out a 6 month old Hamilton Beach machine as the coffee had a plastic taste and I could never get the tank clean. I replaced it with a new Bunn and am happy that I did so. Never again shall I wander!!

The reason I gave this a 4 stars was just because this fan's power was not as strong as i expected from it's series. However, we loved the padded handle on top for ease of moving the fan around. It's sturdy and very quiet.

I purchased a Vornado model 610 fan 3 years ago and it is performing very well. Therefore, when I needed another fan I purchased this fan thinking it would be more powerful than the 610 model. This fan has 1550RPM air control, but seems to be about the same as my lower priced fan. I am very pleased with this fan, but expected more power for the price compared to the 610 model. Nevertheless, it is well built, has a very good comfort grip handle, a 10 foot cord and the ball-bearing motor is very quiet for the air flow produced. Vornado quality is impressive.

PROS: Definitely a must-have for machine and woodworking shops. Surfaces are made so you can easily wipe off saw dust. You can take it apart and snap the pieces back together after cleaning. Small footprint makes it ideal for moving a lot of air but with little space. Nice heavy insulated power cord with ground pin, making it good for dirty environments.

CONS: Relatively expensive. If you have enough space, a $10 box fan will do the same thing. Some of the plastic pieces that snap on/off for cleaning seem flimsy and easily breakable.

Easy to clean, compact (tall but not wide), great spout design (no dripping), fits perfectly in my refrigerator, seal of lid with reservoir is tight, filters costs less over time than spring water, holds enough water to make a big pot of soup...Very happy with it.

I do not write reviews, nor did I ever think I would buy into the water filter craze, but I ADORE this pitcher. Since we have purchased this item, our water consumption has increased from maybe a glass a day to 4-5 glasses. It is easy to refill and takes up very little space in our refridgerator. I LOVE IT!

Great product. Water is always, clear, clean and cold. Very easy to use and it holds plenty of water, so you are not replacing water every single day. I'm buying another one for our second home.

I just today bought the Le Creuset 5.5 qt. French Round Oven in the Flame color. This is a beautiful pot!
After finally commiting to take the plunge with Le Creuset, I was then faced with the color dilemma.
30 years ago I had a 2.5 qt pot in their original flame color. In those days I didn't have any other good pots. I loved my little Le Creuset. But things happened and the pot is long lost.
I was planning to buy one of the newer colors for my French Oven. But when I saw the old Flame (no pun intended) color, I went for it.
It's now sitting on my cobalt blue Viking range and looks so good that I probably will just look at it for awhile before I use it.
The Amazon price is very good, and I almost bought it last night. I'm probably not supposed to say this, but I drove up to the Le Creuset outlet store north of Phoenix today and bought it for [...]. Not a second. The sale is supposed to go on for a week.
Hmmmmm.... they cencored the price. OK. Let's just say that I saved approx. the price of three bottles of Kendal-Jackson Chardonnay.

Joey

I purchased the 5.5 qt. LeCreuset oven after recommendations from Cooking Light, Cooks Illustrated and reading others' reviews. I only wish that I would have purchased this great product sooner! I have been inspired to cook more and try new recipes. I have also purchased the 2 qt size based on another suggestion, along with the cookbook "Glorious One Pot Meals" by Elizabeth Yarnell. She has lots of yummy recipes all designed around using the 2 qt size- for 2 servings.
Although the oven is heavy and somewhat difficult to handle at times, I would definitely recommend this to anyone who values quality cookware.

I think I read about all of the reviews before buying this dutch oven (Cherry Red). I put it in my shopping cart, then procrastinated - checked back, and the price had increased by about $30.

One valuable tip in the reviews was about the non-glazed inner rim of the lid. It could become rusty, so I try to clean the kettle as soon as possible and put the four little rubber tabs back on the outer rim to hold the lid up off of the kettle when not in use. It was also a nice idea to keep it on the stove where it adds a cheerful color to the kitchen.

I've had the dutch oven for about 4 months now, and I simply love it. It was a worthwhile investment. So far I've just been using it for making soups, soup stock, roasts and one-dish meals - but I'll be launching out with more experiments.

Thanks to a lot of the reviewers for their excellent tips and also warnings about what not to do. Here's to good health!!!!

However, the local Target store has this one at a $29.99 everyday price, so you don't have to worry about a shipping charge (Sales tax is considerably less.). The whole reason for the short cord and easy plug release is consumer protection. Perhaps Rival should have this 'boisterous child safe' version and create an adult version for the rest of us.

The real reason I gave this 4 rather than 5 stars is that you are going to use at least quart of peanut oil each time you decide to fondue with oil and that is a fairly pricey item. I would rather see a 2 quart that would still comfortably allow for 8 to fondue.

All-in-all, better than the old 70's Oster fondue pot and won't put a dent in your pocketbook.

We took the fondue set and 4 pre-made cheese mixes for a weekend with friends. It the easiest, fastest meal to assemble and be ready! Great for after skating and skiing.

We love to use this pot. We've made cheese, meat, broth, chocolate fondues in this pot without any problems several times. It heats up quickly, cleans up easily. A good feature is that the electrical connection (magnetically connected) will snap off very easily if it is bumped into and the pot doesn't move at all.

THE CLOCK NEVER HAS KEPT TIME. IT WILL BE OFF BY HOURS IN ONE DAY! BUT WE DON'T USE THE TIMER SO IT'S OK. OTHERWISE IT IS LOW COST AND WORKS GREAT.

This coffeemaker is great because it makes hot coffee unlike the carafe coffeemakers. The timer allows me to wake up to a fresh pot of coffee in the morning. The spout was made to pour without dripping. It's a great coffeemaker for the price.

This coffeemaker is great. we loved it from the first pot it brewed. its very easy to operate and looks nice on top of that. Great for large and small amounts alike.