Accessories Reviews

I bought the KitchenAid juicer attachment because I thought it would make sense to use the wonderful KitchenAid machine to juice citrus fruit rather than buying a dedicated juicer. There are, however, two significant problems with this attachment:

1. The juice runs down your hand and arm and splatters more than in should.
2. You can only juice 1-2 oranges before the pulp strainer is full.

I think the second complaint is the more serious of the two. Last night I juiced 8 oranges. I bet it took me at least 1/2 an hour, due to being required to clean the strainer after almost every orange.

I am planning to return the attachment and purchase something a little more heavy-duty and dedicated.

I just used this attachment to juice about a gallon of lemon juice in about an hour, including all chopping and several trips to the compost heap. I find it takes about five seconds to juice one citrus half fairly thoroughly. With the power of the mixer behind it, it is an effective attachment.

On the other hand, it has disadvantages. This is a messy, hands-on operation. Roll up those sleeves, wear an apron, and keep a towel at hand. I only had problems with squeaking when I tried to apply pressure sideways. I will try lubricating with shortening next time. It also helped to brace the mixer against the back wall of the counter. The included strainer must be emptied frequently, but it is easily removable, whether to empty or bypass it. In its defense, it did catch most seeds and excess pulp.

Finally, it is not worthwhile to use this attachment for very small quantities, due to setup and cleanup. I still have a handheld Oxo citrus reamer for that.

I've used the juicer attachment for years and love it except for the comments about the strainer being too small. A strainer with an extended pulp reservoir out the front would help, if it didn't get in the way. The extension would have a solid bottom and be ribbed so that the pulp could be pushed forward with a teaspoon to drain, thus extending the time between pulp dumps. Also, the comment about shaft wear/squeaking are valid. I have a small tube of food-service-grade grease I use on the shaft: never even thought about shortening. Very clever! Also, different-size reams for limes to grapefruit would be a nice way to sell more stuff! One more thing, K-A: how about a nice low-speed coffee grinder attachment? Mine would live attached to the mixer, as I use my Krups grinder every day, and could use the counter space. Maybe an ice crusher/shaver, too!

I bought a plain rabbit a couple of years ago, and though i liked it, it did, at times, take a lot of strength to get a cork out. Then it broke in the sense that it would pull the cork, but not take the cork out of the corkscrew afterward. So I went shopping for a new rabbit, and read a featured review quoting bad experience (not unlike mine) and recommending the le Creuset "screwpull". Though it cost more, I did buy the Le Creuset, and love it. It is way easier to pull any cork than the Rabbit ever was!

This is a very cool product, but there are a million knock-offs out there these days, and you can get them for as little as $10.00! They are almost totally identical, they look just as cool, they work just as well, and the only thing that the knock-offs don't generally have is the fancy wooden box. Cost Plus World Market sells one for $20, and Linen N Things sells one for $9.99. Some companies just don't get the idea of appropriate pricing.

I purchased the "Rabbit" for my husband this Christmas. We used to uncork wine with a typical "waiter corkscrew". We are not waiters, and would inevitably spill wine, break corks, and feel like idiots. It took a few bottles of practice to feel like a pro using the Metrokane rabbit. It's really a cool system. I've watched my husband open a bottle of wine in 10 seconds flat. My advice? Be patient. Learn the machine, and after a few tries, you'll be uncorking effortlessly!

reason this is not good, there is not any kind of a vacumn seal to keep the dogfood fresh.

super cute.. i ahve a little dog and this holds all her food very well. looks nice in the kitchen as well as being functional.. not for big dogs or heavy uses..would reccommend for a small dog(s)..

This is perfect for the small to medium dog. i have a min pin and this is an easy way to store her food and stylish enough to put on the floor in my kitchen. not for big dogs. won't hold enough food for them.

I purchased this wine rack at the local Target before reading the other reviews. I'm glad that I bought it before I read the negative comments, as I would have probably not purchased this excellent wine rack. It does take a while to put together, but if you follow the directions, you end up with an excellent looking, sturdy rack at a very low cost. I'm going to be purchasing at least 5 more to add to the first and use them for my main storage in my cellar.

I bought ten of these wine racks at my local Target Store and built a 120 bottle wine rack against a wall in a closet.. They do require some work to put together (it took me approximately two hours). But for the price ($8.00 each), it is a fair trade off. I found it easiest to use a hammer to get the dowls to fit in the holes. They are not hard to put together or require any skill other than some pounding with a hammer. I decided not to use the glue that was included since I figured that I would not be able to diassemble it in case we moved. I would reccomend this product to anyone who is looking for an affordable storage option and does not mind doing a couple of hours work assembling them.

I agree with the reviewer who bought 20 of these to make a very sturdy wine storage system. The essential key in assembling these racks is - follow the directions! It is very important that the smaller wood dowels are POUNDED ALL THE WAY into the holes on the larger dowels.Each small dowel needs to end up equal in length to the others after they are pounded in. To be sure you have pounded each of them all the way into the holes, MEASURE them. The rack is made of oak and does fit together very well if you follow assembly instructions. Each rack takes about an hour to assemble. I saw the same rack for twice the money on a wine web site. Target is offering a great value.

I've gotta say, I really think this thing is more trouble than its worth. My mom bought this for me, and it rarely got used. Somewhere along the line, she forgot she gave me the first one, and bought me another one. So the older one sits in the cupboard looking very lonely keeping the second one company - still in its box. Here's why: first off, the shield comes in two sections, and they aren't all that easy to attach to one another. Now you would think that if they don't go together easily, at least they'd STAY together, right? Nope. Mine keep coming apart. Now, if you get the bowl pretty full, say with a double batch of chocolate chip cookie dough, forget it - the thing is utterly useless. Once the dough rides up in the bowl, the shield becomes dislodged, making you want to chuck it out the nearest window. I like that it keeps the flour out of the entire kitchen if you add it while the mixer is going - but it gets stuck in the little "ramp" anyway, making you shove it all down with a rubber scraper. It would also be nice for something liquid and particularly sloppy. But all in all, I find it a waste of time and money. Fortunately it was my mom's money, not mine. (By the way, she has one and loves it. Can't figure out WHY exactly, because she has the same complaints I do. She just must like washing a couple more dishes...) If you want to spend money on a USEFUL Kitchenaid accesory, buy an extra bowl - one with a handle, and a set of lids.

I can't actually say how well this product works, because I didn't get to use it. The information above states that it fits all 4 1/2 and 5 quart KitchenAid stand mixers, but in fact it does not, and this is Amazon's mistake, not KitchenAid's When I recieved it, I found that it is much too small for my KV25GOX model mixer. When I looked at the box to see if I had made a mistake, I found that it clearly states that this accessory fits all 4 1/2 and 5 quart stand mixers *except* model KV. So if you're still interested in this product, make sure it's compatible before you spend your money.

This is a cool feature for this mixer.

I use it with mashed potatoes and chocolate chip cookies. It is essential, if you want to whip mashed potatoes and keep them in the bowl. With chocolate chip cookies the batter is so thick if you didn't have this on when you were adding the chips, they would wind up in orbit.

I find this guard easy to put on and easy to use.

The ramp for ingredients makes it handy to add stuff on the fly. It would be nicer if this feature had a wider opening and was steeper angled. I find I often had to push stuff down it. Also, when adding flour from another bowl, it was tricky to narrow the flow down enough to meet the width of this chute opening.

My pouring shield did not come with the mixer, I bought it separate, at that time for $14.00, which I thought was pretty pricey for a piece of plastic. However, when you use a mixer of this capability, you really need it.

Occassionally, if you over fill the bowl, it will lift this guard right off. It is held on by gravity alone, which generally is enough. It is a guard, not something that makes the mixer idiot proof and sometimes I'm that idiot that pushes the limit.

This attachment is designed to turn your powerful KitchenAid food processor into a citrus juicer. The word powerful defines the most important problem and safety issue with this product: unlike other citrus juicers where the core will spin at a moderate speed upon the user pressing down, this will power into action as you press the "pulse" button on the machine and then spin so fast that it is very tricky to hold on to the citrus fruit, especially smaller ones like lemons and limes. If you slip, your fingers can get badly scraped by exposure to the spinning core. Did that twice and threw the thing out. It is not worth it! There are many great attachments for the KitchenAid Processor, this is NOT one of them. Don't waste your money!

I had read a number of negative reviews about this product that had me a little concerned. I bought it anyway. My advice is: follow the instructions that come with the device if you do not want to get your fingers caught on the reamer. When preparing the fruit, be sure to only cut off the tip and do not try to cut the fruit in half. You also need to maintain a firm grasp on the fruit as you are pressing it over the reamer. When I did this, the juicer not only worked well, but I also got a 'fruit cup' from the shell that I was able to fill with ice cream and serve!

The negative reviewers, obviously don't know how to use this handy attachment.
It comes with a hinged citrus cover, for good reason. You place the fruit over the juicer, and lower the cover; sparing any contact between your hand, and the spinniung extractor. Gentle pressure is all thats required to fully juice any piece of fruit. If you're getting rind, simply stop the machine, re-orient the fruit, and continue. Its also got 2 spindles, for larger, and smaller fruit. As was mentioned, trying to do key limes(which are only about the size of a golf ball), well, there are more appropriate tools, as they are exceedingly small. Try a lemon reamer. Does wonders for anything from lemons, up to giant sized grapefruit. I use it all the time.

I bought this product for a fan sound when I sleep since I like that sound for sleeping. If you expect it to really clean anything, guess again. It is a small noise maker only and does not do what it is supposed to do, but in all fairness, virtually no aircleaners at any price really clean the air of dust, etc. I got in on an Amazon.com special about a year ago and since the price was so low, it has been an excellent investment for my purposes.

I want to say the actual hepa filter works great. Too bad it takes months to get replacement filters. Ordered mine in November and it's already the middle of January and it's still on back order. Cannot speak directly to a Holmes representative in customer service they seem to have some problems at the present time. If I were to purchase another one, I would order a replacement filter at the time you purchase it and then you may have it when you need it.

If you have to replace the filter so often , can we ssume that is because the filter is dirty? Doesn't that mean it is removing some stuff from the air --which is what you want it to do???

When I first got this last Christmas, this was great. The lather was hot and smooth.

But, as I was approaching having this machine for a year, the lather starting getting colder and colder coming out, even when the machine were turned on for longer periods of time.

I just threw the machine in the trash, because today, the lather was as cold as the regular can.

If you have ever had and/or are looking for a traditional barbershop shave, don't bother with this supposed hot lather machine. After I finally got it working (and not spewing out handfulls of cream) I was awaiting my barbershop shave at home. What I bought was a cannister heater that provides luke warm cream at best. Returned it...

My wife bought me this item for Christmas. I have always been a "mug & brush man" and was somewhat scheptical. However, this machine once you get used to it, ends up giving you a "barbershop shave".

Just read the instructions carefully especially the part about prying off the regular dispensor cap from the shaving cream can before inserting into the dispenser. As the product is hot when it comes out and really expands, you really need to use a light touch on the dispenser or you will get to much lather.

If you use a scented lather like I do, the fragrence really last longer without being too much. A very nice way to start the day!

This grinder has been fairly good to me. However, it's very difficult to change courseness settings (espeially from course to fine, since the burrs themselves are moving against residual coffee grounds) amd I would prefer to have numbers on the dial instead of different size dots, since it's easier to remember the number, e.g. for expresso grind, than the exact size of the dot. Also the courseness setting has a tenedency to move itself over time to other settings, due to the machine's vibrations.

Now I am trying to get a replacement bin for the bottom, which has been gradually chipping apart form the least 3 years. The distributor, European Gift of Mt. Vernon insists that I order from a list of retailiers, all of whom do not stock the parts. Now back to Square 1.

With a...grinder, it seems that one can never expect to buy parts.

I consider myself a coffee snob - so weigh my opinions accordingly. For my residence I use excellent equipment, but for my vacation cottage I just can't justify spending [a lot] on a grinder - so I bought one of these little things. La Pavoni has HISTORICALLY had a great name in the espresso world, so I figured it would be a passable [less expensive] burr grinder.

...you get what you pay for. This is not, in any way, a well made grinder and 'passable' may be overly kind.

I am now on my third one, it gets used intensivly one weekend in 10 and I have only been using them for a year. The burr mechanism is a flat parallel design which has a tendency to overheat the beans as it grinds. Further, the entire mechanism depends on a single small nylon gear which has been the failing point of each one I have owned.

It generates static such that you have to brush the ground catcher after every use and with fresh roasted coffee (we use a Hearthware) it is unusually tortuously inconsistant; it cannot handle Colombain Excelsio grade beans as they are too large.

In all, this little thing is a REAL disappointment. After doing a little research, it turns out this is just a rebadged OEM from a "European" manufacturer. Not the best use of [my money].

As others have commented, this grinder does not grind fine enough for espresso out of the box. However, it is fairly easy to tweak the grinder to go finer. I can now grind fine enough to choke my espresso machine.

To tweak: simply undo the three screws inside the bean hopper. Lift the top off. Adjust the setting to 1 (finest), then lift the adjusting wheel out and reposition to a new setting (I used 7). Reassemble the machine, and now you can go several steps finer. I use a setting four or five steps past 1 for my espresso.

I am not a coffee snob, but I do enjoy the taste of the 25 second espresso shots that I have achieved with the tweaked grinder.

I bought the bottle warmer due to the fact that i have a 2 story house and it would save me time running up and down the stairs to heat a bottle in the middle of the night.

The warmer was working fine until my baby switched to 8 oz of formula and the wide advent bottles. The warmer doesn't heat the 8 oz bottles unless i use 1 1/2 caps of water. The 8 oz wide Advent bottles do not fit in the warmer.

The warmer takes a lot of practice to figure out how much water to use to get the bottle to the right temperature. Other than that, I do think the warmer is a great idea.

This bottle warmer was such a life saver! I only wish I had gotten one sooner. We purchased ours when our son was almost two months old, and it was so convenient for nighttime feedings! With the nightlight on the front, I never had to turn on another light, even for diaper changes. Now our son is sleeping through the night, but I still use the warmer for every bottle, and will soon be able to use it for baby food jars. The only complaint is that the little containers for water were a bit hard to get open without spilling water everywhere, but I just keep a small bottle of water next to the warmer and use that instead. It was hard to get the water amount right at first, but trial runs with regular milk helped get the right amount to heat the bottles not too hot!

After trying and returning every bottle warmer at babies r us this one is a winner! I wish I would have bought it first. It warms my bottles (Dr.Brown's wide neck 4oz) perfectly every time!!! We keep it in the baby's room so the cooler part is perfect for late night/early morning feedings. Before I go to bed I place 2 bottles in the cooler and fill the water holders. This saves a lot of time in the middle of the night. Instead of going to the kitchen then the baby's room I go to her room place the bottle in the warmer, change her diaper, talk to her a little and the bottle is ready. Perfect every time! At first you do need to play around with the amount of water your bottles need. After you get that figured out you cant have a better warmer. Unless you found one that only takes a couple of seconds!! Until then we cant live without this warmer!