Appliance Reviews

I've had the Kitchenaid food processor for several years and it is less than fully satisfactory. The buttons are difficult to press positively, making the operation less than wholly precise and the loading tube is too small for most veggies - exactly the sort of thing a food processor is supposed to save you time preparing. The mini bowl was its only redeeming quality, it was great for little batches of spices or a small hunk of Parmesan cheese, but the plastic they use for their blade assemblies doesn't hold up well over time - it gets brittle - and our mini blade broke. The kicker is that you can't get individual parts for the Kitchenaid like you can with a Cuisinart. You have to buy a whole new set for nearly the price of the entire machine and oh by the way, you can't get a new mini bowl and blade at all. After Al sent the blade stem thingy down the disposal, we are down to only the one main chopper blade, but the plastic is going on it too. We don't have call to use it but every once in a while, so it isn't like we've worn it out.
I plan to replace this machine with a Cuisinart 10S very soon.

Well Cuisinarts arent cheap in price but for the price Amazon is offering this French Made beauty at it beats the pants off Cuisinart's Chinese Made models. A plus is the citrus juicer which would cost you close to what the whole food processor goes for plus you can make Pesto, Hummus, Grind Meat, Pastry Dough and chop and slice anything else your heart desires.

I wish I could rate this product higher than 5 stars! As a (fairly) newlywed and novice chef, I decided I needed a food processor. After much research, I decided to spend a bit more money than I initially expected to and purchased the mid-size KitchenAid food processor. I've owned it for only 2 weeks and have probably used it an average of once per day! The first time I used it, I thought it wasn't working because it was so quiet! The first words out of my mouth were "My mom won't believe this!" Growing up, my mom would have to warn us to cover our ears when she was about to use her food processor, because it was so loud. (By the way, she was amazed this past weekend when she visited and we used the processor). Not only is it quiet, but it is very powerful and fast! It has the pulse feature which is good when you want to take care in how finely you want things chopped. (It may work too well sometimes...it takes some getting used to). This product has made cooking so much easier for me. No more chopping garlic and onion or shredding carrots (my knuckles are thanking me). I love the mini bowl - I can use the processor twice in one meal without having to clean up. I have not used the citrus juicer yet, but when I do, I'm sure it will meet my expectations. One caution: do not leave liquidy food in the processor for a long period of time, as it will leak out. I would recommend this product for anyone looking for a high quality first food processor. I plan on upgrading to the (red!!) 11 cup after I pass this one on to my future children.

This is a great little appliance for anyone who finds flipping pancakes challenging. Since the entire machine flips over and you don't use oil, there is no splatter, no mess. The results you get are perfectly golden, perfectly uniform pancakes that anyone can make. They are also lower in fat than if you would fry the pancakes. Another reason I love this appliance is because I have a rather small kitchen, and limited storage space, and The Pancake Factory does not take up all that much room- it's not heavy, bulky, or oversized.

This small appliance is the perfect addition to my kitchen. It's small, so it fits perfectly in the kitchen drawer and it turns out perfectly golden pancakes every time. The hinged base allows you to flip the pancakes with no splatter, no mess. I was looking for an easy to make pancakes, and this definitely solved the problem.

This machine is perfect for anyone who is watching their fat. Instead of frying pancakes in oil, all you need to use this machine is some cooking oil spray. The pancakes won't stick, and come out perfectly golden. This Pancake Factory does everything it says it will. I love mine and use it at least once a week. The only disadvantage I can see is that it would take a while to make an exceptionally large amount of pancakes, but in my household everyone gets up at different times, so I just make a bowl of batter and everyone makes themselves fresh pancakes whenever they get up. This machine is very easy to use, and even those who can't cook will be able to turn out perfect pancakes every time. It is very easy to clean, because it's non-stick- I just wipe mine down with a wet, soapy sponge, then dry it off and throw it back in the drawer (it's compact size makes it easy to store.) P.S. This also makes a great wedding shower gift, because it is something most people don't think of asking for or giving.

We enjoy the flexibility of an electric skillet, especially during the hot summer months. Over the years we have used many brands. We purchased the Rival in the fall of 2003 and we used it frequently.

This is an excellent product, especially at this price. It is one of the few electric skillets we've owned that provides an even heat across the pan. The "simmer" actually simmers.

However, I do feel a safety precaution should be noted. Sadly, last night as I picked up the Rival by its handles, the one-piece handle/leg broke. Luckily, the skillet was not in use.

I was looking for something like this when I recently moved into an apartment with a friend . I figured if I had mini-fridge , microwave, and some kind of electric or gas skillet I would be self-contained cooking-wise in my room .
Well I went to my local Target and looked at several models until I spotted the Rival S16 . It was ... which seemed at the time very reasonable, so I got one .
I have been using it for several weeks now and I am blown away by the performance and versatility of this skillet . The shape and design of the pan is very well thought out . It is big enough to cook just about anything and it has perfectly slanted edges so that rice or pasta that is simmering cant sneak up the sides and get stuck . Seems to me like a fairly thick , quality , non-stick coating as well . The speed with which this skillet reaches a usable heat is amazing . It's at least 3 times faster than a pan on a conventional stove , gas or electric.
You can fry hamburgers or steaks , grill oil-free chicken or fish , boil water for mac & cheese (cheese & mac?), simmer pasta or rice mixes , make grilled cheese sandwiches , its endless .
The only negative thing I can say about this product is that the vented plastic lid gets hot enough to emit a plastic odor the first several times you use it. I could sense a slight plastic taste after using the lid on particularly high heat dishes . This goes away after 4-5 uses but I wonder if you put it in the dishwasher, if it would temper the plastic and prevent this ?
All in all a great electric skillet , and I highly recommend it. That ... "reasonable" price has developed into a steal .

Great, this makes your dorm more like home. I am a sophomore now, and after a year of nasty cafeteria food I got one of these. It 's a life saver. No more running to the cafeteria at bad hours, and it also saves money. If you cook for yourself, you really save on the seven dollars a meal in the cafeteria. It's very safe, and only requires a sturdy surface. =) I dont know how I lived without it.

We've used this about 4 times so far. It is easy to use by adults, a breeze to "clean up," and simple to store.

... the number one out there I have had mine for a week now and it works swell!!! Also if you are getting syrup with it get the company HAWAII ICE!!!

Push the kids aside - they can buy a snowcone from the dude cruising around the neighbourhood selling them from his barely running ice cream truck. Plus you want to support him so he buys a new song - how many times can you hear "ROW, ROW, ROW THE BOAT" before you go completely postal?

Shave up some ice into your cocktail shaker - add your margarita mix and some Sauza Gold. Shake it up. Add a little bit more ice on top and some margarita salt and you are chilling with a way tastier treat than some imitation fruit flavoured food colouring added snowcone junk!!!!

I've been very pleased with my Bosch. After researching my options, I went with the Bosch for its power, capacity, reputation, and design. I've found that it easily handles large batches of dough. The mix-from-the-bottom design makes it easily to add ingredients while it is kneading the dough. The Bosch kneads well when conditions are right (you can't just dump in the ingredients and let it go). But learning what those conditions are takes practice. One tip: start with an overly wet dough and gradually add flour. It seems to knead best when the dough rings the center column, when this happens increase to speed setting 2. It is fairly loud, but most stand mixers are. It cleans up well, stores nicely (you can fit all the included attachments in the bowl), and has the look and feel of a high-quality product. I haven't used the blender or beaters yet.

I highly recommend this product and don't regret my purchase. Serious yeast bread bakers shouldn't limit their options to the Kitchen Aid series. I didn't have good luck with my Kitchen Aid Classic mixer. I didn't give it 5 stars due to the learning curve for kneading...but overall I'm very pleased.

This is a wonderful mixer.

Holds alot of ingredients. I can make loads of cookies and breads with only one recipe!!

I like the convenience of the attachments and they don't take up as much space as seperate machines.

Make sure you order cookie/batter whips (not available on Amazon) if you are making cookies. The wire whips will not work on cookies and the dough hook does not work well for them either.

I bought the stainless blender, food processor and citrus juicer attachments as well as the cookie/batter whips.

I purchased this product a few weeks ago. Bread dough is kneads as fast as cake batter. Nothing slows it down. No need to let the dough rise twice - kneads so well that one rising is all that it takes. Monster cookies, pumpkin pie, all came out great using this mixer. I got the ice cream maker - works just wonderful. Ice cream in 15 minutes! I also purchased the food processor - works just great. This is the best mixer I have ever owned. All items store great and have lids so items don't get dusty between use. I'd recommend this mixer for the serious cook. This mixer is just wonderful!!

This is the perfect accessory to my Showtime rotisserie and my George Foreman grill. I use it mostly to grill ribs, which can't be done in the GF and which are just too troublesome in the Rube Goldberg Showtime setup. I made some bacon on it this morning and it was absolutely perfect. No burning, no uneven shrinking, no exessive fat, and those little grill marks. It looked like bacon from a TV commercial.

I just break it apart and slip it into my dishwasher. It's much easier to clean than the GF.

This is a wonderful indoor grill. It cooks with an even heat and there is no exposed heating element. All parts are dishwasher safe. It is great especially for vegetables and leaves the food with attractive grill marks. A non stick grill plus a splatter shield offer the best and most innovative grill on the market.

I love this little item so much I keep it on my counter top. I use it almost daily. I'm grilling aspargus as I write this review. I've been so happy with it, the only problem I'm having is that with continued use, it gets harder to clean. I let it soak after each use but would like to find out how to clean more easily. At first everything just fell off of it when I soaked it. Otherwise, it makes everything taste so good. I'm an expert at grilling Salmon. The chicken breast comes out so juicy and it definitely has a grilled tasted. Don't miss charcoal at all.

I just wanted to chime in as I read a lot of the posted reviews before I bought this mixer from Amazon. First, my mixer showed up in just a few days. Great service as always from Amazon. As for the mixer - after mixing up one batch of cookies, I was already asking myself how I got by without one of these things. So far I'ved used the mixer for cookies, cakes, and pizza dough and it has worked beautifully. My wife was skeptical about me ordering this, asking me why we needed another "toy" in the kitchen? Her doubts quickly disappeared the first time she used it to mix up peanut butter bars. She loves the mixer too! If you cook/bake at all, a mixer such as this is as essential as having an oven/stove.

Straight up, I am able to say this is the best mixer you can get. If you are experienced in cooking or not, the three attachments offer options for your mixing. I am looking into buying one of these mixers for my family, my boyfriend's parents, etc. In my culinary arts class these are the only mixers we have, and they do the job for anything you'd need.

A comment to the person that complained about the banging when the dough was mixing on high: This is because you don't leave the dough on high once it is near finished; you should take it out and knead it for a few extra minutes. It's hard on your KitchenAid Mixer!

Just a note to the previous poster: There are 2 series for the 5 quart capacity bowl-lift mixer. Sounds like you have one from the Heavy Duty Series which is 325 watts. The Professional 5 Series is 350 watts.

My mother has these and I used to make lots of fruit rolls with them - lots of fun, and a good treat! I recommend mixing applesauce with (thawed) frozen fruit juice concentrate of your choice to make whatever flavor you like. My favorite was mixing grape fruit juice concentrate with the applesauce. It makes a very deep purple and fruity treat. (Ratio was one can frozen concentrate to a big jar of applesauce. I'll edit my post and add specific sizes soon.)

I bought a set of these to make fruit rolls for hiking. The Scouts in my troop are always impressed with them (if I bring enough to share). They work great, and are very easy to use. Simply spray them with Pam and pour your fruit mixture on them. Put them in the dehydrator and turn it on. For the fruit mixture, I usually use unsweetened applesauce (from big Costco jars) mixed with jam or jelly. In season, I've also used fresh fruit with applesauce, but it sometimes comes out a little sour.

I've also had no trouble with them warping, as another has mentioned. I once tried to make fruit rolls on waxed paper, instead of buying these. Don't do that, because the waxed paper will become permanently bonded to the fuit.

I ordered an FD-50 dehydrator and an extra set of these fruit roll sheets. As far as I can tell, the extra sheets are identical to the one that came with the dehydrator.

There has been no problem with warping. Perhaps the previous reviewer got a bad set or exposed them to too much heat (e.g., left lying in the sun or washed in the bottom of the dishwasher).

This company does not have a service department that is functional. We bought one of their washer/dryers for about [$]. They do not return service calls, although they promise and do not return emails. They will not supply the names of dealers that service their product.

They bring fulfillment to the adage, "Let the buyer beware." We have wasted hours trying to get our machine fixed. Do not buy one of their products.

Our machine is located in Iowa.

I've had this now since January and I can tell you the wine chills perfectly for the pallet. Not too cold and not too warm. The size also fits a household wine tasters pallet. You can also keep beer and other refrigerated items in this. The shelves and basket come out. This has a control knob for the perfect temperature. I would recommend highly and buy it on Amazon. They give you the perfect price.

During the black out of 2003 we had no power for 14hrs and when the power came back on the temperature was still in my set range.

I purchased this machine in November of 2002 for my wife. It worked suberbly handling difficult sourdough breads as well as delicate eggwhites for genoise. Unfortunately, after two months it simply didn't turn on. Customer service indicated the need to drive 120 miles to nearest repair facility. After waiting over a month we were informed there was a problem getting authorization to simply replace the machine. After the 2nd month we were told that this repair facility was not authorized for this repair and we needed to go get it and send it to New Jersey at our cost. We are told this is another 6-8 week delay. Contrast this with KitchenAid which immediately sent a replacement machine in the warranty period and paid shipping. The Delonghi Kenwood is more powerful but warranty and service are significant detriments.

If I could own only one appliance, this would be it. Powerful, simple to use, super large capacity...this mixer has it all! I own a Kitchenaid, as well. While that has also served me well, I use my Delonghi for all the most demanding tasks. If you like to bake bread, you should own this.

This is an excellent mixer. I think it has the best value/performance combination of any other mixer on the market today. I love the fact of having a continuously variable speed control instead of a limited number of speeds. This provides a higher degree of control in comparison with the KitchenAid.

It offers virtually vibration free performance even when dealing with heavy dough. This is a very powerful machine (800 watts motor! The Kitchen Aid Professional has 525 watts).

I disagree with one of the other reviewers about the noise. I think that the noise level is very comparable with the KitchenAid; maybe a little higher noise level, but not much given the fact that is has a much powerful motor.

Quality wise, this mixer has very meticulous craftsmanship. The only complain I have is that the splash guard should be of better quality. It is made of somewhat thin plastic. I expected it to be more heavy duty.

Since I have stainless steel appliances, it complements my kitchen beautifully.

I highly recommend it