Appliance Reviews

I'm not one to write reviews of appliances, but I have been very pleased with this microwave. When it's time to upgrade from a $39 dorm microwave, this is the one for you. Lots of bang for your buck.

I am particularly impressed with the sensor feature of the Sharp. When making popcorn, for example, you touch the "popcorn" button once and the overn turns on automatically. When the inside of the microwave reaches a certain temperature the sensor shuts off the oven automatically for ZERO unpopped and ZERO burned kernels. I'm considering calling the Guiness Book of World Records on that one.

Frozen meals cook evenly. I also like that the turntable is flush with the bottom of the oven.

Best Buy was recently selling it for $99 (I purchased it for $89), so $79 is an excellent price. Buy it and be happy.

After much researching, I purchased this combination unit about 6 weeks ago. I cook small amounts, use frozen foods much of the time, and disliked having to heat the large oven for this. The dual function rocks, and so far, the unit has met my expectations 100%: the 900 watt microwave is faster than my old 600 watt; the convection is about 25% faster than my regular gas oven; and it browns and makes things crispy just like the regular oven. So cool!!!!

I haven't tried "real" cooking, like roasting meats or baking, but I don't doubt that it would perform just fine.

It is big, and that is ok with me. If I need to do larger amounts, there is plenty of room. There are two round racks, one for broiling and one for baking, which are removed when using the microwave. One curious thing is that the instructions say that when popping microwave popcorn to put the bag on top of an overturned glass pie plate or dish. They do mean this!! I tried just putting the bag on the turntable and about 10 kernals popped in 4 minutes!!! When I did as they instructed, it popped just fine. Also, since this is counter-top level and the door swings out, it is much more convenient to use than the regular oven.

So far I have no complaints. The free shipping from Amazon was great and it got to me in just a few days. I haven't needed to contact Sharp for customer service so can't comment on that.

One final note: I suspect that I won't be using my gas oven again. If not for the burners on top, I'd probably not need the range at all.

There are two things that set this product apart from the other smoothie makers. One is the drip tray, which may seem like a small detail, but I had a Back To Basics smoothie maker that dripped from the spout, making a sticky mess on the counter. The other thing that sets the Villaware blender apart is that it has a 700 watt motor, not a 500 watt, like so many other similar blenders. This means that this blender is made for heavy duty use. My Back To Basics 500 watt smoothie maker gave out after a couple months of use, and even before it gave out, it was very loud and the motor gave off a strange smell when it was used. But this blender by Villware is top-notch. The container also seems bigger than other brands- it holds 7 cups. And just like all smoothie makers, the stirring stick makes it easy to get all the ice crushed, and the spout makes serving the drinks a breeze. P.S. They (Villaware) also make a double sized smoothie blender (one base with two motors and two 7-cup containers) that I bought for a wedding shower gift, and the bride and grrom LOVED it- they have since used it each time I have been over for parties, and rave about what a great gift it was.

I love my Heritage stand mixer! I used a sunbeam stand mixer for aprx. 25 years and it finally died on me. It was great except for the real heavy duty mixing (it had fewer watts than the Heritage model does). I replaced it with a KitchenAid stand mixer. I put up with it for 5 years and mostly hated it. It beat things too light... mashed potatoes, cookie dough... which changed the texture and taste of foods. Worst was how frustrating KitchenAid's are to use. The mixing bowl is deep and small in diameter. That means every time you need to mix a bit with your spatula, you have to turn off the mixer, unlock the head, lift up the head, then mix your ingredients, then put the head back down, then relock the head, then turn the mixer back on... every time you want to stir a bit. There just isn't room for reaching into the bowl it's so small in diameter. When you add in dry ingredients to your dough you can't get into the bowl enough with anything other than a stirring spoon. I just found that it wasn't worth the frustration.

Compare that to the Sunbeam Heritage which I bought 5 months ago... powerful motor (in fact, more watts than the KitchenAid most people buy and more watts than my original Sunbeam)... large diameter bowl so you can add ingredients easily and mix when you want to.
Only thing I would like on my Sunbeam Heritage that I don't have is a glass bowl. My original one had glass bowls and they were great for mashing potatoes in and then heating them up a bit in the microwave, without having to transfer them. (KitchenAid's bowls aren't glass either.)

After hassling for a while with my old toaster, never getting good toast, I purchased this toaster. Intially I got it because it was a good price and a classic design but I've been very happy with it's performance as well. The slots are wide enough to accomadate all manners of bread and BOTH sides get a nice even toasting. There aren't alot of fancy-dancy features which is just fine with me-I just want a good piece of toast! Plus the shiny chrome finish allows for some sparkle to your kitchen.

After spending about 10$ for a cheapie toaster just to have it stop working, I decided to buy a good one to have around for awhile. This one is sturdy, the outside doesn't get too hot to touch while in use, the button to lower the toast inside is reliable (the cheapies broke in less than a week). Easy to remove crumb tray. Nice dark/light selector. All in all, a very worthwhile product that has performed perfectly. We make alot of toast in this family and I am very well pleased with the performance of this small appliance.

I had a Braun hand mixer that finally went kapoop. I bought this one because of the price and I love it more than my old Braun. The detatchable neck makes it super easy to clean, and the container that came with it is actually usable. It holds over 1 quart.

If you want to store larger things and you have the foodsaver vacsaver this is the way to go. Cost wise its pretty much the same as the roll but you don't have to mess with cutting and sealing. Cutting it straight can be a real pain at times. Unless your doing something really custom these should be big enough. I got the rolls and the gallon bags and discovered most of the time I ended up cutting the rolls to the size of the bags.

I love gadgets ... and this blender met my requirements of (1) a good buy for the price, (2) lots of attachments, and (3) a speed control button that is up/down ... not twisting (which is more a natural control for when you are blending stuff in a bowl). Only fault is that even at slow speeds (on a "1" on the control), the beaters turn quite fast! There are so many speeds on this blender (from 1 - 5 ... low speed and high speed, plus burst of speed) ... for a total of about 12 different speeds! Amazing for the cost!

... and I have had several blenders. I was specifically looking for a blender for protein shakes and smoothies. I went to the Viking Store in Atlanta and did a side-by-side test with other blenders, incuding the Waring bar blender. The Viking's blades are noticably larger, and when we fired them up it was no contest. I have now owned this for about 4 months and never has it failed me (or left even a small ice chunk).