Home and Kitchen Reviews

I don't think you can find a better, easier to use citrus juicer at any price. It's gone up a couple of bucks since I bought mine, but it is still the best deal available without question.

It's fast, stable on the counter, converts to a serving pitcher when you're done juicing, and it's absolutely a cinch to clean up. I can't think of anything Proctor Silex could do to improve this product.

If you're in the market for a citrus juicer (and fresh-squeezed is so far superior to anything you can buy in the grocery store) you can't do better than this one. Buy it.

I am so happy with my electric juicer, I can have a glass of fresh orange or grapefruit juice in a matter of minutes. How healthy can one get???

I am actually purchasing this juicer for my parents because I love mine so much! It is easy to clean (all of the parts are detachable) and works really well at extracting all of the juice. Try it with tangerines! :)

I purchased this product last week and have already returned it to BJs. What a waste of my time and money! For the past five years, I have used Eureka's "The Boss" Lite Cordless in my home filled with dog and cat fur, bird feathers, and messy husband and toddler syndromes. Unfortunately, it has finally worn out. Our floors are particularly bad in the spring with shedding and moulting pets, so this was a key time to test this product. It failed!
Unlike "The Boss" it failed to consistently pick up fur and was equally unable to pick up small items such as granola and feathers. I tried all of the various settings and the recommended multiple charges/discharges and vacuuming "pathways" to improve function. None of them worked.
Additionally, the product was awkward to use, especially when your surfaces change (playmats, linoleum, hardwoods, tile, carpets - we have it all), which caused the machine to jam and turn off. The receptacle filled quickly and dramatically reduced suction. The Shark was not as maneuverable as "The Boss" in tight spaces because of its size and shape. I had to give up on my stairs.
I had my old "Boss" for five years, as stated above. I'll be reordering another today. I've been very satisfied with it (our's is nicknamed "Miss Betty") and its been a champ with the copious amounts of dog fur in our house. Save your time and money - avoid the Shark and choose a different cordless sweeper!

Luckily I bought this sweeper on sale with a coupon. Otherwise, I would be very upset. This product started out fine: it's cordless and did run well on both carpet and vinyl. But after maybe half a dozen times of using it, it would work for 30 seconds and then the battery would shut down. I had charged the battery fully, so I know it was full of juice when I started. I was just very disappointed with this and frustrated every time I had to use it. Plus, it was too wide to get in the tight spots on my floors and it wouldn't go right up to the edges. I bought a Swiffer Sweep + Vac and couldn't be happier with it. True, it doesn't work on carpet, but I just use my vaccuum cleaner for that anyway. It's much cheaper, cordless, and has a swivel head to get to those hard-to-reach places. I was not impressed with the Shark brand and probably won't by anything from them again.

I have been satisfied with this product, however, customer service is the worst of any company I've ever dealt with. I ordered a replacement charger and it took over 3 months to receive it. I received a card from them about every 4 weeks repeatedly stating that "due to overwhelming demand the product is out of stock". The card didn't even state that it was from Euro-Pro or what I had ordered. I would never buy another product from this company again because of their customer service and looking at some of the other reviews, I am not alone.

John Egerton once said: "Iced tea is too pure and natural a creation not to have been invented as soon as tea, ice and hot weather crossed paths." Iced tea was first served at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis.

Today, we make "Sun Tea" by hanging tea bags in a lidded jar of water. We leave the jar to sit out in the sun a few hours. This is a more traditional recipe, but feel free to experiment with sun tea in your yard.

4 cups water
6 tea bags (herbal like MINT also works well)
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 cups cold water
Ice cubes
Lemon slices
Fresh mint leaves

1. Bring the water to a boil in 3-quart saucepan. Remove from
the heat. Tie all the tea bags together with their own strings.
Submerge the tea bags in the hot water. Let the tea steep for
15 minutes or longer if you prefer strong tea.

2. Remove the tea bags and add the sugar while the tea is warm.

3. Pour the cold water into a 2-quart plastic jug, add tea. Let diluted tea come to room temperature to prevent cloudiness, then refrigerate until needed.

4. Serve tea in a glass pitcher. Pour over ice cubes in tall glasses. Decorate with thin lemon slices and mint leaves.

Serves 4

~The Rebecca Review

Given that so many of the coat trees reviewed on Amazon received such dismal reviews (eg that a given coat tree would tip over if you hang more than a windbreaker on it), I wanted to share that I think this coat tree works quite well. I have not yet fully loaded it up, but I've hung several coats on it and have not yet had a problem. The only thing I don't love about it is that the base is a bit wobbly. But it still works fine. And given the cheap price and its ability to do the job, I think this is a great value.

This coat tree is fabulous! Though it does require assembly, it took my 13-year-old sister 10 minutes to put together. The design is very nice-looking, and it can handle a very large load of coats. I put a coat on every hook (most of them heavy winter coats) with the tree standing on carpet, and it didn't so much as waiver. I would HIGHLY recommend this product to anyone - a great bargain!!

I bought one of these for work and it is great. I plan to buy another for my home.

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.

I was definitely expecting something with a little more heft. This flatware is light and seems almost fragile. For $40, though, I guess this is a good buy. But next time I'll definitely buy my silverware from a store, or at least check them out in a store so I can get a better feel for them.

I am quite happy with my purchase of the Oneida American Harmony Flatware set.

The Silver Spoon is the official king of spoons. This goes back WAY before you and I were born. The Silver Spoon was the purest way to appropriately bring kings and queens their dinner. A castle without a silver spoon was deemed unsuitable. A champion among spoons. A warrior among silverware. The Silver Spoon has survived centuries of hardships. This spoon truly is a survivor and deserves all the recognition in the world.

Now, moving forward 200 years or so (probably more) we have entered the modern times. People today don't have the consideration for table manners that the kings and queens of the past did. We're more "on the go" and "rush rush rush". But no matter how fast this world becomes, we all have to slow down and eat. And we have to eat appropriately. The Silver Spoon is the answer. It's the right silverware. Something about it just makes you feel like a better person when you use it. They say its spirit has lived through generation after generation.

I don't need the Silver Spoon for hardly anything. Cereal maybe, and that's it. But this noble spoon should be treated as a worthy addition to your silverware collection. A must buy, says I.

These small clips are perfect for clipping small bags around the kitchen. We find them especially useful as our daughter has many snacks that we opens at once. They have a great spring and a strong magnet to keep on the refrigerator when not in use. They are also great for hanging small notes on the kitchen. Don't use these for larger bags such as chips and such as they are probably too small, but the larger OXO clips work well for them.

I love these little clips. They are small in size and useful for hanging a shopping list, a note, and things of this sort. Their magnets are strong and colors quite pleasant to look at.

We have nothing but Henckels in our kitchen, as we love to cook, and everyone who cooks knows the value of good knives.

I bought these without a second thought as I am used to Henckels quality. What a surprise we got! Made somewhere in Asia at bargain basement prices, I'm sure...

While these probably do cut steak as well as any cheap serrated knife would, if you are buying them because they are Henckels and you expect a certain quality - don't.

We returned these promptly.

I was looking at another Henckels set for a couple of hundred bucks. I just could not justify spending that kind of money for steak knives. I saw these and figured I could return them if they were too cheap. For $50 they are a super value. They don't have the weight of more expensive knives, but they are well built. I like the serrated edge. Cuts through a steak with very little effort. Block is a quality piece of wood. I'm very pleased and glad I did not spend $150 more for steak knives.

We are very pleased with the product sharpness, design weight and holder. Great value for the money.

I bought this one because I was looking for something to fry various things in without the pot warping (as stainless steel pots do). Since I got this pot, I have been using it to cook all sorts of dishes--soup, stew, reheating rice etc. It's big enough to hold enough fried rice, for example, for 4, and I can pop the entire pot, lid and all, into the oven to keep warm. But it's not so big as to be too heavy to handle.

The best part about this pot is how nicely the lid fits. I was surprised how tight the lid seals the pot. The steam starts to escape only when the liquid in the pot is boiling really hard. The interior of the lid is unusual looking. It is not flat nor smooth. It has a dozen small protruding tips shaped like candy cones. When steam condenses on the inside of the lid, the resulting liquid falls along those tips back into the pot, instead of dripping off the edge of the lid. Ingeneous, I thought.

I find this a very versatile and useful pot. Extremely well made--almost polished for a cast iron pot. It comes seasoned.

the entire family loves the taste of the foods coming out of this masterpiece of cookware, and its not just for frying i have made stews and sauces too, excellent, do yourself a favor and get one.

This is a very versatile pot. I've only made chicken in it twice, but everything else also seems to do well. It's an excellent size if you're not cooking for a crowd. I now have 3, 5, and 7 quart Lodge pots with two 2 quart serving pots on order from Amazon and none of my Caphalon Professional or All*clad compares.

I purchased one of these kettles a couple of years ago and generally like it, especially the spout that opens automatically when you pour. However the whistle is not durable. I sent my first two back to OXO due to the whistle failing. They graciously replaced the units with new ones, the second of which had a new design for the whistle. However, it too failed within a couple of months. I have followed the directions of not filling the kettle with too much water and only using medium heat to no avail.

I have an electric stove so I have not had the handle-heating problem that others have mentioned.

I cannot recommend this kettle as I feel it is dangerous to not have the whistle function properly.

this kettle is great - stylish, heats quickly, holds plenty of water. Only downside is that the handle still gets quite hot on our commercial range. That's a little surprising, given the amount of research Oxo does to make products usable for people. the handle is the only thing that keeps me from giving it 5 stars

This is the best teakettle I've ever had, by far, but there is a secret to making sure it works great for you, too. I'll get to that in a minute, but the reasons I like it so much include:

1) Its handle design allows one-hand pouring without needing to pull a "trigger" to open the spout, and yet the whistle in the spout works just as well as any other I've had in 30 years.

2) Its solid construction feels more stable in the hand than those light, copper-bottom stainless steel kettles, so movement of the water inside doesn't tip the Oxo to odd angles when pouring. You simply have more control.

3) In visual appeal, the Oxo is a bold, bright addition to our stovetop and kitchen. We got it in Almost Orange, which adds a nice smile of color to the surrounding black and strainless steel. And it comes in so many terrific colors, it's hard to NOT find one that'll work for you.

Speaking of working for you, here's the secret: When I was 10, I got the bright idea to light the charcoal grill for the family cookout without telling my parents. Being an idiot child, I poured on WAY too much lighter fluid. When I applied the lit match, the explosion of fire in my face not only singed my eyebrows, but also caught the grill's outer yellow paint on fire, which then caught the wooden handle and shelf on fire and turned the whole thing into such a conflagration that, when it was over, only a smoking black lump on four barely-vertical black legs remained. You can understand my sister's proclamation of "Dad is gonna KILL you."

So, you'd think I would have learned from that and other acts of stupidity over the years. Even so, when I first unpacked my new Oxo Uplift Teakettle, I rinsed it out, filled it up and put it on the burner with the flame high, curling up around the outside like a skillet filled with beans in a cowboy movie campfire. I then read the directions, which specifically says to NOT crank up the flame around the outside. So when I went to take it off the burner, the handle was hot and there were little black tinges all around the outside.

Luckily, I was able to clean the black marks off the outside. After that, I tried using the teakettle according to instructions, of all things. The result has been that when I turn the flame up just enough to cover, but stay under, the bottom of the teakettle, the water boils just as quickly, the handle does not get hot (so I don't need an oven mitt to pour), and the outside surface still looks brand new.

As a result, I have nothing but praise for the Oxo Teakettle. Ever since I chose to use it right, it's been nothing but perfect.