Home and Kitchen Reviews

The handle is big and comfy, like most of OXO's products'. But the "points" idea doesn't work so well. You have to drag the scoop across the ice cream, which requires some wrist strength. A spear point scoop you plunge directly into the ice cream that I used to have worked better.

Also the "chrome" finish is pitting, specifically inside the scoop. It probably doesn't affect its function, but it doesn't look great.

This is just what I was waiting for. I have always found the OXO brand to be well made and reliable. I was not disappointed in the function, quality or price. Would recommend to anyone.

This ice cream scoop recieved a great review in a cooking magazine so I bought it and love it!

This is an expensive machine that locks you into an expensive proprietary cartridge system. There are competing systems which make just as good and hot a cup of coffee without wasting this much plastic per cup and for much less money (Senseo, Melitta and others). Some other systems such as the Nespresso are just as pricey, but make significantly better coffee.
That leaves us with this in-between system, way overpriced for the mediocre coffee it produces. Unless you're absolutely enthralled with the taste of Flavia coffee (or one of their other beverages) there are better, cheaper, less wasteful alternatives.

This review is just to help others be sure that they really want the ice blue fusion before ordering. I ordered it for my wife's birthday directly from myflavia.com with drink medeley, rail of tea, and overnight shipping (extra $40) for a whopping total of $178. We were all excited about opening, but when the box flaps were pulled away audible groans of dissapointment came from my family as the size and color of this item became apparent. UUUUUUUUGLY, IMO. Also, the fusion has a size and presence that is MUCH larger than suggested in the web photos. "We can just put it in the back corner of the counter AND KEEP THE OLD COFFEE MAKER TO HIDE IT," said my wife! The entire family agreed that this machine is a blue monster!

I THOUGHT that the style would be rather retro and simulate a circa 1950's blue ceramic appliance. Instead, I would say that it more resembles a very large blue plastic emergency water jug with a very OBVIOUS shape.

I am sending it back for a black one, and EXPECT that the fusion will function much like my office flavia machine which I like very much. I will take the hit on the $40 overnight shipping. I would also suggest to anyone wanting to buy the red fusion that they try to SEE it before purchase.

I do love Flavia coffee, especially the Columbia. The blue cold-war inspired hunk of plastic - you can keep!

Granted, it is a bit noisy at first (more like a shocking sound, not so much noisy), but you get used to it. The mixing and matching of different drinks takes some skill, especially if you've never used any of the larger office machines. This was a complete first for me. I mixed a few, watered a few too many in my attempts at different mug sizes, but I got the hang of it and love it. I commute to work and no longer stop to get my coffe each moring at $2 to $3 a cup, so there's a huge savings in this product. And the tea is the best I've ever had. They actually add juice concentrates in the pack (some selections), so the tea is very flavorable. The machine itself was a little odd as far as trying to place it on the counter, but I think that is the case with just about any new appliance you bring into your home. It will always stick out at first. I bought black and it looks great. There really isn't any cleanup at all. Other machines I looked at in the store seemed a little trickier to use or had sharp needles poking out to pop packages and stange buttons. This really is so simple. Finding a place to store the coffee is a differnet matter. Because the packs are bigger than most pods, it is a challenge. I ended up with mine in a basket in my pantry. The round display rack that Flavia offers looks pretty neat. I will definately buy that. Over all, it's a perfect product in my opinion.

Although the dishes were beautiful and exactly what I have been looking for in terms of style, the quality of the dishes was very disappointing. I ordered four sets and found something wrong in each of the sets. The defects ranged from small bubbles, black dots, unfinished spots, small chips, wavy/warped edges and very rough bottoms (problem for stacking). If you want to use these for every day, these probably won't be the dishes for you. The other problem is that I discovered Churchill China sold off this division of Jeff Banks Ports of Call recently and so if you needed replacement from the company it would almost be impossible. I tried to contact them to discuss the quality with them and their website in England doesn't allow that type of contact. Amazon was helpful but the contact they had for the warehouse in the US wasn't the correct location either. So, unfortunately, I sent them back to Amazon.

i have been looking for dishes for quite a while. i purchased a beautiful set from another store, which i loved, but the plates were so large they woulnd't fit in my kitchen cabinets! these are perfect. i only wish the coffee cups were a little larger. the color is a pretty cream with small touches of beige around the border. all in all i am very pleased plus they arrived in perfect condition.

I have just opened the three sets and they are beautiful. They arrived in perfect condition and I cannot believe how fast the delivery was. A perfect addition for our dinner table.

If you are looking for a compact refrigerator to keep food cold then don't buy this one. Temp only gets down to 48... not cold enough.

I bought this refrigerator for my office 5 years ago. We have a tiny kitchen area and this fits easily under the counter. The freezer holds a couple of mini frozen dinners and is cold enough to make ice. We didn't notice any significant difference in our electric bills, but I didn't actually do the math, for those of you who are sticklers for that sort of thing.

The push-button defrost is nice, however I wouldn't put this refrigerator in a room that young children have access to. That red defrost button is a big temptation. When our office moved, someone's little one pushed that red button. By the time we noticed, the refrigerator was standing in a puddle of water.

Overall, this refrigerator is reliable, easy to clean and I would buy it again.

I bought this recently for 150 at the dept store with the 'bullseye' logo. I have the grey and black version. So far i'm happy with it as it does get cold enough to make ice in its mini-freezer compartment, and that was when i turned the temp control to the 2/3 setting(not even the max setting!). So make no mistake, it does get cold enough to make ice. If you're looking for a mini-fridge, temporary fridge, second fridge, single-person fridge, then this seems like a great value. I've only had it for a few weeks now, so i'll update my review if anything 'majorly bad' happens in the future(trust me, i'll be upset enough to come back and write a poor follow up if this fridge starts to breakdown in any way).

Finally, the energy guide. The energy guide included with the fridge says it uses 343 of 345kwh, and that its yearly operating costs is $28. That 343/345 is very high, but it says it is measured against other comparable fridges up to 4.4 cubic feet. This is a 4.3 cubic ft mini-fridge, so obviously it would be near the max. Other 4.3/4.4 mini-fridges use about the same amount of energy. And the Danby actually used about the same amount as a 3.3 cubic ft Avanti mini-fridge i was looking at. I don't have a bias towards one brand or the other(this ain't Ford vs Chevy, PS3 vs XBOX 360), simply just letting you know what the energy guide stats are. So compare and shop around before making a decision if this one is right for you. I have it, and think it's a good purchase(one of the biggest mini-fridges with a mini-freezer compartment!) and a good value(one of the cheapest prices for a mini-fridge).

We've had this vacuum for less than a year and it has broken 3 times. The belt seems to be the problem. Sometimes the budget buy is not worth the frustration.

I have to say, I dont understand the complaints I'm seeing regarding this one. If you read the owners manual, it clearly states the maintainence involved. Now..the ones the broke on day 3? Bad Batch? Mine is almost a year old. I clean it regularly, changed the belt once, works PERFECTLY.

This vacuum was for my mom who, when her old canister vacuum broke down, thought you had to go to a vacuum store such as Kirby, etc to get something decent. When I found out she ended up paying over $300.00 for one such vacuume, (and she is a senior on a limited budget!), I told her to take it back, and I will help her find a good one for only a fraction of the cost. I did a lot of research on vacuum ratings, and found out this one has a high rating. When you weight the great price, ratings and the fact you get FREE shipping, it was a no-brainer! Well, mom loves it, says the suction is excellent, and is easy for her to assemble and use. She could not believe you get get such a good vacuum for such a low price, and has now entrusted me to order additional items as she needs them via the net. Mom gives this vac an A+

The product came chipped on the bottom so its lopsided. Much smaller than anticipated, I can only fit a tablespoon in it.

I prefer my spoons to stand upright. Many of my spoons fall out of this one, I guess it depends on your shape of the spoon.

This spoon rest is a great compliment to the rest of the Nova Brown dishes. It is a very different style - the picture doesn't do it justice - true hand made pottery.