Home and Kitchen Reviews

I LOVE OXO products. I think they are some of the best designed kitchen tools on the market. I started using OXO knives when I found a 6" utility knife. That is a great knife. OXO makes many other great/good knives but this one is not worth the money. I was very excided to use it for the first time and when I did I noticed that the blade was flimsy, it was more like cutting with a sharp piece of sheet metal rather than using a sturdy knife. I would recommend spending a little more and getting a better knife.

I also am sort of a kitchen knife nut. I enjoy cooking and any cook will tell you that knives are the cook's most important tool.

The first knives I ever actually purchaed was the OXO knives including this Chef Knife.

These knives work _GREAT_ at first and if you sharpen them they'll keep cutting. These knives are also very cheap yet the handles are comfortable.

The problems with the knife are also related to the low quality. Since the knife is very light it makes you do more work when cutting (if you cut properly and are not using your chef's knife like a parer or slicer). Also the knife is not full tang and has no bolster. Most cheap stamped knives like this are at least full tang. As a result this whole line of knives are not safe. Hence the one review about the knife breaking while cutting cheese. No chef's knife should break under such simple usage. Trying to cut a raw whole chicken with this knife would be dangerous if you did not know how to cut. Not a safe learner knife.

My advice is take the money you'd spend on this knife and look elsewhere. If you only need a Chef knife consider the Calphalon Chef knife. It's the best value for the the money. It's forged from German steel and will last a lifetime. Its about twice as much as this knife and sometimes can be had cheaply during a Friday sale. Or consider the forged set from Farberware which have received many best value awards.

I have top of the line Wustof an Sabatier knives which I've learned from experience are my favorites. If you have the money to spend hundreds on knives then top of the line knives are worth it. Happy knife shopping.

THis is a great knife that arrives quite dull. After correct sharpening, however, it became one of my favorites. It is easy to hold and the balance is good... a great buy overall, but it does dull easily. If you hate the rusting and/or discoloration of expensive high carbon steel knives, this is the knife for you. I find myself using it even when I could use a smaller knife. Use a stone to keep the edge on it after every use.

I purchased this machine from an on-line vendor in November 2005 and immediately the bobbin casing cracked. After 4 months of run around I finally found a singer store that was able to drop ship a new bobbin casing to me. It is now March 2006, and now that I have the new bobbin casing I find that the whole machine design is defective. Now it wont allow the needle thread to pick up the thread from the bobbin so that I can sew! I have had this GOD AWFUL machine for 5 months and the only thing I have been able to do with it is stare at the damn thing while it collects dust! I am furious!!

These machines are awesome and powerful, but were getting poor reviews when they debuted in 2005 because of a bobbin problem and a software problem. Singer has moved to fix both problems. Newer stock of machines have a much-improved bobbin cover, which eliminates the problem of the bobbin getting progressively worse. A new version of the software has no known problems. You can update your software at their website, or call customer service to get the problem fixed. I have found their customer service to be first rate. Poke around the website for tons more information than is in the books that come with it.

For a long time, embroidery machines were sort of the gift for the person who has everything. You had to be pretty rich to own one. It takes a lot of computer power to translate a pixel to a stitch, and embroidery machines were incredibly expensive, and subject to all kinds of problems. NOT a good financial investment for those of us with other claims on our cash; therefore, the machines were largely in the hands of older, more financially well-off individuals, and the designs available for them tended to be cutesy and trite. Singer has done the most brilliant thing by enabling us to put the computers we already OWN to work running the embroidery machine. You just hook this up to your laptop, and you can convert any file format to run on your machine. It has taken all the barriers to designing away with the (optional on the CE-100, included on the CE-200)Auto-Punch software, which enables you to convert any .bmp or .jpeg or .wmf or just about any little image file and turn it into an embroidery design. There is literally no limit to what you can do with it. And the stitch quality is excellent. Think about it--your kids can draw a picture, and you can turn it into an embroidery design! The mind reels!

Singer is to be congratulated on making machine embroidery accessible to the masses. This is truly a breakthrough for creative people everywhere.

My husband bought this for me a year ago, I had never used an embroidery machine before. I was kind of scared about having to learn the new technology. I flipped through the manual for about 30 minutes and then got started, it worked easily and effortlessly. I use the software to digitize clipart and drawings that I scan into the computer, it is so much fun! Family members and friends are always so impressed when they see what I make. I'm going to a wedding in a month and I plan on monogramming some towels as a present.

I've never had any problem with the bobbin or software. However, sometimes if I cancel the embroidery transmission halfway through, the machine will start flashing and I wont be able to start a new project until I unplug the USB, turn off the machine, and restart my computer. But that only happens very rarely. Also, when I first got the machine I had trouble with thread breakage because I had unknowingly bought very poor quality rayon thread. I now use good quality polyester and the thread never breaks anymore. I recommend this machine!

We were looking for a toaster to toast thicker breads such as bagels. The toaster does this and more. There is a bagel button you press when toasting bagels and only the outside heating coils come on and toast the center of the bagel! This is how I like them to be toasted. The toaster also has a basket that holds the bread/bagel in place while it is being toasted. This feature is really nice when toasting soft things such as pop-tarts. Good variance of heat controls too. I have not found anything bad on this one. Good choice.

This is the best toaster I've ever had! Wide slots and temperature controls for both sides.....you can toast anything in this thing!

I DO HOMEWORK ON ALL ITEMS I BUY, READING ONLINE REVIEWS ETC. I AM VERY HAPPY WITH THIS CHOICE. IT DOES EVERYTHING IT CLAIMS INCLUDING HAVING THE LARGEST SLOTS ON THE MARKET! THE BAGELS COME OUT GREAT---NO FIGHTING TRYING TO GET THEM OUT EITHER! THE MACHINE IS LARGE, & IT DOES TAKE A LITTLE LONGER TO TOAST------HOWEVER, COMMON SENSE DICTATES......LARGER SLOTS, BIGGER MACHINE = LONGER TOASTING TIMES. I CAN DEAL WITH THAT FOR A GREAT TOASTER!

I searched long and hard for a percolator with a GLASS knob, and finally stumbled across this one. I love the ease of use and ease of cleaning.

The one drawbck to this percolator is the grounds that seem to always get into the bottom of the percolator and in my cup of coffee. I have tried to find percolator filters, but so far, I'm still looking.

The coffe tastes good, and it stays hot for a long time without the "burned" taste. I do like the fact that you can unplug the pot and pour the coffee, or take it to the table then plug it back in.

I am using a tea strainer to keep the grounds out of my coffee cup. If this problem was solved, I would definitely give this pot 5 stars.

I bought a second one for my RV because I hated leave mine at home while traveling.

Cuisinart PRC-12
1.
The cuisinart.com website does NOT carry info on this perc, so it
MIGHT be already discontinued. The item is GOOD, so were I you, I
would buy 1 or 2 while they are still available. Good things seem
to get discontinued.
2.
The thing has a glass top, so you can monitor the progress of the
boil. A watched pot never boils, I hasten to add.
3.
The advantage of a percolator over the contemporary drip process,
which seems to be the most common in households and in many shops
that I've seen, is that the COFFEE gets maximum exposure to water
passing over it. The re-use of the same water means that you gain
more coffee strength/flavor/taste/oils/whatever. Rather than toss
a batch of coffee grinds (either freshly-ground or store-bought),
which is what you do after ONE in a drip coffee-maker, you get to
'save' the SAME coffee grinds for ANOTHER pass-through of the hot
water. You cannot do that with a drip machine, since their water-
tank does not allow you to pour into it the recently brewed water
that just came out of it (would gum up the tank's lining, maybe).
4.
See? You don't have to WASTE slightly used coffee grinds (1 use),
and you don't have to somehow MANUALLY recycle hot coffee through
the same grinds again since the perc process does it automatical-
ly, and you can SEE your coffee being made through the glass top.
5.
Once you lay out an initial investment for this durable appliance
(far less than what you'd pay in a year for a 50-cent coffee cup)
you come out ahead in terms of RICH FLAVOR and less waste of good
coffee grinds. The aroma and sound of the perc sure beats a drip.
6.
In case you prefer (or must) save every penny on outlay, you have
the Cuisinart model PRC-4 to consider. ASIN: B000A7OQVC 2-4 cups.

This is the second Cuisinart percolator we have purchased. The first was outstanding and lasted far longer than we expected. We were thrilled to find a replacement on Amazon.