Appliance Reviews

You have to take off the fan part to add an extra tray which causes you to place your hands over the hot steam. Very easy to hurt/burn yourself.

This steamer is very nice. It is large, well made and easy to use. It even cleans up fast. I use it daily for dinner. I just line up the vegetables and meats on the two wide and long trays. Press the up/down buttons to set cook time and hit start, what could be easier? A full, healthy meal for a family that adds no artery clogging saturated fat/trans fat by way of oils. What could be smarter? The only risk involved is when you ignore the instructions and common sense by opening a working steamer, as another reviewer did. Each to their own eh?
But I had to get the truth out about this. This steamer impresses both Donna (my lovely g/f) and myself. I also considered the TCS-60 and other models. But this model is very solid, very quiet and fair priced. I'm very pleased.
Good Luck to you.

This steamer has a big capacity, cooks stuff really fast, and is really easy to use. All the parts are easy to clean, and everything but the base can go into the dishwasher. Nice slippery, tough plastic that your food comes right out of without sticking. It cooks rice as well as anything else, so save yourself the trouble of buying a separate rice cooker. I had a cheap rice cooker that didn't cook the rice well, and broke after about 2 months. Do yourself a favor and get this instead, even if you only want to cook rice.

You can also cook beans in a very short amount of time as compared to traditional methods.

I would agree with the other reviewer regarding the safety factor; you should know better than to open a working steamer. Would you give a stove 0 stars because it was too easy to burn yourself on it? A knife 0 stars because it was just too darn sharp?

I highly recommend this steamer.

I have so many problems with trying to just TOAST in this thing! I love the design of it, but I have tried every setting, every placement of the toast, etc. but it BURNS every time, or, better yet, putting it on the lighter setting, does nothing. Wheat fields are crying at the waste of bread that has gone throught this machine. It really is like a "dumb blonde" joke, it should just sit there and look pretty. Ugh!

I have owned this retro convection oven for 3 weeks now and have no complaints. Today I used the convection feature for the first time - and wow! My filo tarts were done in half the time, crisp on the outside, just perfect. I may retire my microwave. The toaster aspect works well, though you can't turn off the timer once you begin toasting - but that's no big deal, I figured out what setting I like right away. I admit, I was seduced by this oven's retro style, and am pleased that it works as good as it looks.

...still love it - I don't know what the last reviewer was talking about. To make toast you just need to figure out what setting you like best - maybe hers is defective? I use mine all the time, whatever fits, in lieu of my oven. Very easy to clean, still looks great too. Food cooks in half the time or less.

Cooks well but the handles (plastic) start to crack and wear out very rapidly due to the heat, would not buy another after being scalded when handle broke off and boiling stew went all over, dangerous around kids.

My husband and I received this as a gift. It's just the right size for roasts, cornish hens, etc. This is our first time having a slow cooker, and I like the fact that it has a warm setting--not just high, low and off). It's easy to clean, even with potatoes.

I gave it 4 stars because this is our first slow cooker, and I don't have anything to compare it to.

I love this thing! I love the fact that I can cook two things at one time. It was great for a party I catered, and the large one is great for family suppers. I dropped my last one and shattered it, so since this is also ceramic, set it in a safe spot! The little dishes are also great if you are going to make just a little and I love the fact that the dishes and lid are dishwasher safe!

When I was ordering my Kenwood Electric Food Mill I thought that it would do what a food mill does only without effort on my part. I gues I had a misconcept about food mills, because when I received it I found out from a brief instruction that it can process only well cooked soft vegetables that have been peeled, cored and mushed prior to puting them into the mill. There should be no seeds or fibers. It specifically warns against fiberous vegetables like carrots. The reason I wanted to have a food mill was my ambitious desire to prepare my own baby food as well as rasberry sorbet and cranberry drinks, but it looks like the only food it can prepare is mushed potatoes. In disbelief I tried to mush a well cooked stalk of broccoli. Ha Ha! The whole thing got clogged and not a single speck of broccoli appeared on the other side (with 2 mm grid). In addition it was very loud at least as loud as a vacuum cleaner and vibrated in my hand violently. This mill is made in Italy but don't try to make tomato sauce with it. Won't work.

I've had my electric food mill for 3 years now and I can't imagine making my tomato sauce withoout it! You just have to use it PROPERLY!!!

I love my food mill and so do my Italian neighbors. They are always coming over to my house to borrow my electric food mill. We use it primarily to make our tomato sauce. During the summer, we cook with fresh tomatos which are much different than the ones in the states. Before we place them in the food mill, we cook it for a little while in order to soften it up. This way it's easier for the food mill to separate the skin and seeds. It might be a pain in the rear, but the final product is fabulous. If you don't want to bother with fresh tomatos, then I suggest purchasing canned tomatos (preferably Ciro). That way they are already soft and ready to be put through the food mill. The only problem I have with this electric food mill is the outragous price...

Big, bulky, cord is inflexible. No matter what I put in this toaster the top inch of so gets burned, the rest is a pale version of toasted bread. The only thing going for this toaster is its beautiful blue color. Now to get the bread toasted a lovely brown, not burnt, color/flavor!

I had to have this to go along with all my other cobalt Kitchen Aid appliances because 1. it's my favorite color and 2. it's hard to find a blue toaster. Only gave it 4 stars instead of my usual 5 because I'm still trying to figure out how to get my toast to my preferred brown color. It's still a little too light for me and I'm always fiddling with the control. However, with this toaster you can push the lever down again immediately after it pops up if the toast is not done to your liking. With every other toaster I've owned there was a delay of one or two minutes before retoasting.

I'm finally glad to replace my old toaster with one which does bagels and english muffins the way I like.

When I'm making an egg for a sandwich in my Tupperware CrystalWave, I need an English Muffin which is toasted on one side for the best results for me.

This toaster does it, and goes along with all the rest of my blue appliances.

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This skillet is heavy and looks well-made, but it has many faults. After 2 years of use, I'm glad the stupid thing burned up because now I can throw it away!

1. The large handle is inconvenient and unnecessary. It gets in the way when cooking, and especially when you're trying to wash the skillet in the kitchen sink. I've been tempted to wash the skillet in the bathtub because it simply won't fit in my kitchen sink because of the stupid long handle. The handle isn't even practical, because the pan is too heavy to pick up by the long handle alone, even when the pan is empty. They should have put one small handle on each side rather than only one small handle and the one ridiculously large and cumbersome handle they used.

2. The legs get loose and won't stay in place. I tigntened the legs with a screwdriver every time I used this pan. It's enough to drive you crazy. They spin around and make the pan wobbly, which isn't very safe when you're cooking hot foods. DUH! Really bad design on the legs.

2. The knob on the lid is designed so that if you tighten it even the littlest bit too much, it POPS and falls off. The knob can't be replaced due to the way the lid is designed, so you have to buy a whole new lid. What a bad design idea! DUH again!

4. After approximately 2 years of use, I'm not happy with the way the non-stick cooking surface is wearing. It seems to be wearing off even though I clean it gently by hand and only use non-metal utensils.

5. The worst thing of all is what happened last night when I was cooking dinner in this pan. I was browning ground beef, which only takes about 5 minutes or so. Halfway through the cooking, I noticed a strong smell of burning plastic. I didn't see anything melting, but when I unplugged the thermostatic electric cord, it had a very strong smell of burning plastic and burnt wiring. I've spent the entire day on the internet searching for Circulon to see if I can order another cord, but I can't find a website for them, nor can I find any listing in the Yellow Pages here in Chicago, so I guess I'm stuck with a very expensive broken Circulon electric skillet.

I would NOT recommend this skillet due to the many reasons listed above.

I think I'm actually a bit relieved that the thing burned up and that I can't buy a replacement cord for it, because now I can justify throwing the stupid thing away and getting a more practical one that doesn't have spinning legs and a ridiculously long handle that gets in the way!

I had a Presto 'dutch oven' for the past two years;it is essentially their electric skillet with higher sides. I loved this skillet and used it several times a week for everything from frying chicken to making spaghetti sauce to cooking pot roasts and briskets. I'd still be using it, and happy with it, except that the nonstack finish started coming off after a few months. I kept using it until I couldn't tolerate little black flecks in the food. There's no doubt that a nonstick finish can be a godsend for sticky things, but half a nonstick finish is much worse than none! They always say these finishes are nontoxic, but who can be sure?

I went to the store to buy a Farberware, only to learn that they'd been discontinued. I came across the Circulon skillet at a factory outlet kitchen store and decided to give it a try. I have a large flat round griddle/skillet in Circulon that I've had for years, and also the large and small woks.

I've been using this appliance for roughly six months for essentially the same things I used to do in my Presto. However, since the sides are much lower, I can't really do the soups I did in the Presto. For me, the greatest drawback right now is its inability to neatly fry chicken--sides are too low for the grease level without making a mess! And, no, I'm not talking about deep-frying, but instead Southern pan fry style with roughly an inch. However, it does great steaks, croquettes, etc. I haven't seen any wear on the finish so far, and always use the appropriate utensils. It's certainly the prettiest of the available choices.

With the excellent luck I've had with Circulon pans and woks, I'm looking forward to a long history with this pan.

The Circulon Saute Pan cooks evenly, heats quickly, and the ridged bottom doesn't crack, warp or shed its protective layer. One wipe of the sink sponge gets out material cooked into the ridged bottom. We love it as a primary cooking appliance. One minor beef: some of the legs haven't stayed tight and as a consequence keep rotating out of position; even retightening the screws doesn't solve this. But other than that, this is a slam dunk purchase for your skillet needs.

Although the DLC-1BC Mini-Prep Food Processor chops and processes food well enough, the safety system makes this processor difficult to use. The safety system prevents the motor from running unless the base is in a certain position, along with the lid being closed and also locked in a certain postion. This is impossible to do with one hand. It is often extremely difficult to with both hands. At times, the lid can be closed in what seems to be the correct position, yet the safety still prevents operation of the processor.

I've owned this product for several years and find it user-friendly and useful for its intended purpose. I use it for chopping onions, chopping nuts, making enough bread crumbs for one recipe, etc. It is not intended for processing large amounts of food but works very well for my needs. I especially like that all of its parts are dishwasher safe, including the blade.

As I already had a full-sized Cuisinart, I debated about buying the Cuisinart Mini-Prep Food Processor. However, I soon discovered that the Mini-Prep was ideal for chopping onions (without tears) and for making paté and chopped liver. Soon I purchased a second plastic work bow,l so that I could use one for chopping the lightly braised chicken livers and the other for chopping onions and hard-cooked eggs.

The Mini-Prep is very easy to use, and it has a strong pulsing action. You use it the same way that you would use the larger Cuisinart food processor. After a brief pulsing, you use the small plastic spatula to scrape down the sides of the container and pulse the contents again. The ingredients are always chopped uniformly. If you want something more puréed, you just pulse it a bit longer. You can reverse the small blade for different ingredients. The booklet that comes with the Mini-Prep is very informative about which side of the blade works best with different items.

One caution: the blade of the Mini-Prep is very sharp! I cut myself the first time I used it. So now I handle it with care. I wash the blade by hand, but I put the containers in the dishwasher.

A long sad story: we ordered this wine cooler at the beginning of January and it was supposed to be delievered in middle January. Well, they shipped the WRONG cooler (Haier HVFO60ABL 60-Bottle). We complained at Amazon.com and I have to say they promissed to replaced it with the right one. Today ...they delivered... only that this model is HORRIBLE: temperature setting works randomly, the cooling unit is extremely noisy: we can hear it from upstairs and our house is really big.

Folks, my father, when asked by someone why he is buying expensive things, he answered simply; "I am too poor to buy cheap things!". Too bad I myself forget these very deep thought sometimes.

PS Too bad that Amazon does not have start the star counting at minus infinity. That's where this piece ... is at. And too bad Amazon is doing business with these kind of companies.

As others have stated, the unit is noisy when the compressor kicks in, but this does not last long since it cools quickly. A new unit needs 24 hours for the temperature to stabilize, but after that it is very accurate. I keep two thermometers inside at different levels. It is within one or two degrees of the LED
readout. I have it set for red wine and keep white wine at the bottom where it is about 8 degrees cooler.

It is a very elegant piece with the brushed steel handle and the black front with see-thru.

The stated capacity of 60 bottles is optimistic since it requires putting one bottle sideways in front of the five bottles facing forward on the top 9 shelves. This will not work if you have any longer bottles on a shelf, but with most bottles it works fine. Overall, an excellent buy.

im very satisfied with this unit! i had been shopping around for an affordable - stylish - serviceable unit for some time and found it here! as other reviews indicate when the cooling unit switches on there is some "sound" - sort of like a quiet whoosh of wind/water.. the unit maintains its temperature well and you cant beat the elegant looks. the only problem i encountered was with the shipper (i opted for the free delivery) in arranging the delivery.. they messed that up indicating delivery had been made.. (ever try to misplace a 5 ft 125 lb box in a 12 unit apartment building... ) when it had been returned to the loading dock.. after a day they found it and successfully made the delivery around my schedule. other than that inconvenience id buy it again! (with the way im raking up wine - i may have to, too !!)

This mixer works okay, but I was disappointed that it only came with the regular beaters. I previously owned a mixer (approx. the same price) that also came with curved dough hooks. The little splatter shield that comes with it is useless, unless you happen to be using exactly the same size of bowl as the shield. I still spilled stuff all over. And Hamilton Beach's customer service is VERY DISAPPOINTING. I will not be buying from them again!

This is a great item for the price. It's not the best mixer out there but its a great deal for the user that doesnt have more than the basic mixing needs.

I have found this mixer great for things like routine mixing/baking needs (cakes, mostly or even large amounts of scrambled eggs) I can't imagine it working well for stiffer batters like dough, it doesnt seem to have the power (regular beaters only come with this) Its a bit tedious to make meragnue with this too. That was a bit of a dissapoinment.

I don't think that this can come close to stand mixers or even some hand mixers out there. but with the low cost, it's really not a bad item. I don't have the stroage room for a stand mixer (or the bucks) and this is pretty small to store. I do wish the beaters were better for things like merangue because ultimately its not all that hard to mix a cake but egg whites are a bear to whip sometimes... Maybe a second set of beaters would help...

But as I said...for a first mixer...for the price, It really cant be beat.

I was very happy with this mixer. The 6 speeds allowed me to play around and find a speed that was appropriate to the recipe I was working with. So far I've used it for brownies and whipped potatoes. The splash guard is a very nice feature. My kitchen can get pretty messy when I'm cooking, so it was nice that with this mixer I did not have to conted with batter flying out of the bowl. I could just mix away without worrying about spills. This mixer is the first "small appliance" I've ever purchased for myself. For future purchases, I will probably give Hamilton Beach products first consideration.

Before I ordered this grill I requested info on the useable grill cooking area. You emailed me the next day and informed me the cooking surface was 14x19.So I ordered it because I wanted the large area. Well somebody better get out there ruler...(including the manufacture, whose website also said 14x19 grilling area, and the printing on the box also says 14x19). The grilling area is only 14x9!!!The total width of the whole unit is only 11 1/2 so it couldn't possibly have a 14" wide grill size! I probably will return this...!!!

What I thought I was buying was a pancake griddle with the bonus of having a grill. What I got was a too-small griddle with a grill. I don't know about you but when I'm making breakfast I want to get it cooked and sit down and eat it. The size of the griddle was good for 3 small pancakes without having them run over into the well. The metal itself was thin with a very thin coating of non-stick. The griddle was, on the other hand, very thick and heavy. The power was more than adequate. The metal on the sides was not easy to clean. For me, hopeless.

I ordered this grill after reading an enthusiastic review in strangely enough Smart Money magazine. The grill has lived up to my expectations--it is sleek, stylish, and cleans up easily. The variable temperature control feature also provides additional cooking flexibility.