Kitchen Reviews

I purchased this MicroHood in December and had it installed in a new home. Delivery was held up due to scheduling delivery with the contractors and the Christmas rush of shipments that UPS had to deal with, but it arrived without damage.

The unit far exceeds my expectations in its cooking ability. Everything we have used it for, from warming up coffee to cooking vegetables, has come out perfectly hot without hot spots. It does a good job of keeping food warm without overcooking. We thought we would only use it occasionally, but is so easy to use and does it so well, we've ended up using it at almost every meal. The fan noise is more than we expected, however there are three settings for the fan and the lowest setting moves considerable air with little noise. The floor of the unit does get hot when the lights are used but we have not experienced any delay in cooking related to a cool down cycle. We have not received the $50.00 rebate yet, though the information with the rebate does say to allow 6-8 weeks for delivery. I wouldn't take the rebate as a deciding factor.

We love our MicroHood and recommend it in spite of the noise, heat and rebate issues. After all, who can find fault with an appliance that is so curtious it tells you to 'ENJOY YOUR MEAL' after it finishes cooking?!

This item was purchased to replace a 20+ year old oven. Different mounting holes from the original but the included paper template made it a straightforward installation. Total install time was approximately one hour. Can be completed by one person but two is easier. A leading consumer magazine considers this a “best buy” in their Jan/04 issue. The $50 rebate was received in about 6 weeks. A Panasonic web page allows one to track a rebate’s progress. Generic charcoal filters are available from Home Depot for $15 a pair. Vent fan will turn on automatically when the internal temperature reaches a certain point. For example, when there’s a lot of activity on the stovetop below. This is a feature that protects the internal electronic components. The night-light doesn’t activate the fan! Overall, a great purchase for $199.

We bought this microwave for $199 last month from Amazon.com. What a good price plus there was free shipping and the $50 rebate! We never had an over-the-range microwave before and did not know what to expect with the install or the size of it. It is huge compared to our old counter top model and it was not too difficult to install. The fan is ultra quiet compared to our old fan- I do not understand how any one can say it is loud. Also we have used to light as a night light all night long, and never had the fan come on as the other review noted.
The buttons are easy to follow and the food cooks much better then in our old microwave. Also the plate never gets hot as it did for us in our old oven. And the food cooks not just on the outside edges, but in the middle as well equally! Amazingly good quality at an amazingly good price! We love it. And it is very pretty in white. The two level cooking with the shelf is awesome as well. The best quality microwave you can find at it price for sure!

I am not impressed with the initial quality of this dinnerware. We have had a few items with obviously manufactoring flaws. Additionally, we had three shipments with broken items that we had to return. One of the replacement settings came in a taped-up box with no packing slip. It appeared to be someone else's return because there was also a flawed plate inside. We have returned three boxes so far out of 6, and we have another 6-8 boxes still to be shipped! If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't.

The bottom of the dinnerware is rough. The plates and bowls are of good size. The pieces we did receive, that were not broken or flawed are nice.

I am still in the process of receiving all of my order. I do like this dinnerware, but so far I have received 2 broken items.
I am very happy with what I have received. I received a great price through Amazon and their return process is extremely simple to replace those broken items. The dinnerware is exactly what I was looking for. Very pleased.

I'm very pleased w/ this set. I was looking for something simple, but stylish and this pattern/color is both. I like (as many others mentioned) the large soup/cereal bowls. I like the mugs too. Normally I wouldn't use the cup/saucer or mug that typically comes in place settings, but these I like b/c they are large and don't have a saucer. To me, saucers are an unnecessary waste of space. I also like the salad plates. They aren't really large enough for salads, but they are bigger than traditional bread/butter plates and can be used for child-size portions.

The only thing I don't like so much is the size of the dinner plates. Actually, I like large plates, but they don't fit in my dishwasher well. I have to be careful where I place them or they block the spinner.

As far as accessories go, the platter is round--I prefer oval, but it's no big deal. The vegetable bowl is fine. .... All in all, I'm glad I chose this set and I hope I've helped someone w/ this review.

.....I find that the regular square spatula is huge... you can't get anything out of a can or container with it, because it's too wide. I love the small spatula for that use, but it's already cracked (torn??) along the side after owning and using it for a couple of months. Another thing I noticed is that I have to be very diligent about keeping "gunk" out from between the silicone spatula and the handles.....where the two connect..... otherwise, stuff stays in the cracks. *blech*

Overall, I like being able to use them for things on the stove, and REALLY like the size of the small spatula, but I think I will try another brand next time.

These are great for frying eggs. My husband was amazed that they did not melt into a puddle while making his sunny side up breakfast. I have to agree with the writer who thought the notch on the handle to be uncomfortable. It kinda digs into your hand and these will discolor in chili or spaghetti sauce. Just a warning. Overall they are good but if you can stretch to buy the Le Crueset then spend the extra $$.

I love these spatulas! And for the price, what could be better??
They're great quality and are soft, flexible scrapers that really do their job, without scratching surfaces, or breaking (I'm pretty hard on things, too). Their strong plastic handles are tough, yet flexible, and the silicone heads prove to be long-wearing. My favorite is the little one, but the big (not kidding! it's a big ol' bowl scraper) comes in handy for quickly cleaning out larger bowls. Not much left in those bowls after a quick sweep with these.
Baking Happiness! =)
I'm very very glad I bought them.

These were great, and inexpensive! Just what I ordered and have suited all my food storage purposes. I would have ordered a higher quality set, if I could have found one, but these worked fine for what I needed (come on it's tupperware, right?)

I should point out that I would not buy these again for my wife as a Christmas present. She made note of the lack of romance in this as a gift.

If you don't want to spend a small fortune on Tupperware, and you only want a small set of food storage containers, these will do. If you are looking for containers which will stack nicely, these are OK! Tupperware is better for kitchen cupboard storage. These are handy for keeping leftovers in the refrigerator.

I've been a long-time fan of Rubbermaid kitchen storage products as a more reasonably-priced version of Tupperware (which is good quality, but not worth the high price). This particular Rubbermaid set is quite nice, including 2 small and one large oblongs; one small and one large squares; one small, two medium, and one large bowls, and one divided oblong dish, each with its own royal-blue "E-Z Topp" lid.

The E-Z Topp lids make removal of the lids a breeze, especially for someone with arthritis (or with a manicure they'd rather not endanger). The "flap" is easy to grasp and large enough to get some real leverage.

I've purchased each of these separately at the grocery store and occasionally at discount stores, usually paying on average (...) or so per item. So 10 items for [the price] is a considerable savings.

My only complaint is that these will stain if you store tomato-based sauces/casseroles/etc. in them. This isn't just a problem with Rubbermaid -- virtually all plastic containers will stain. (One trick I've learned is to coat the interior of the container with a *thin* film of solid shortening [like Crisco] before adding the tomato-based food. This seems to *almost* eliminate the stain.) They also show signs of wear over the years, but then again, what *doesn't* show signs of wear?

One other caveat -- be careful in the dishwasher. Don't use high heat for drying, or you'll end up with lids that will never fit their respective bases again! If you want to use heated drying (for your other dishes), just remove these before the drying cycle starts. If a piece inadvertantly gets only slightly warped, just run very hot tap water over it, and pair the warped piece with a non-warped lid or bowl -- it'll recover its original shape quickly.

For its intended purpose, you can't go wrong with this set.

This iron works only for things like sheets and fairly square things. It does not work at all for shirts, pants etc. although the manual claims it does.

Nice product that works well. However, it takes quite awhile to heat up and is not suited for the usual "touch-up" ironing. In other words, it's not a really practical item unless you are in position to do a lot of ironing (say, a week's worth) at one time. But if you're organized enough to pull everything together, it will save a ton of time.

The press works as advertised,presses slacks and shirts in half the time. Irons best when the clothing being pressed is damp. You still need to keep your iron handy for that early morning before work touch-up as the the unit takes quite a while to heat up.The unit is better suited for volume pressing or volume touch-ups(I iron once a week). I cannot remember the last time I used the old iron!

Value and function and design meet together in these beautiful glasses. Nice and thin, the crystal is beautiful and the glasses seem well-blown. A joy to use.

It was so nice to find a set of stemware, that I could afford, to compare to my parents' Reidel glasses (though these were a gift). I agree whole heartedly that for the money they're the best port glasses on the market. I look forward to expanding my Spiegelau collection :)

These aren't as nice as some of the specialty wine glasses, but for the money, these are the best port glasses on the market. Lead? Perhaps a concern in a long-term decanter, but not from a 7% non-soluable port glass.

Amazon.com needs to look for a different shipping company because I've returned this item twice. Each time I received the package it was full of broken shards. Only 5 out of the 20 pieces manages to survive each time. It was very obvious upon arrival that the item could have been packaged better. I was not refunded my money or given any sort of store credit. I'm completely dissatisfied with this companys service. I will never use Amazon.com ever again and continue to spread the word that this is a horrible company to purchase products from.

We have almost every piece of this Pfaltzgraff Ocean Breeze set. They look great with any type of setting. They are also very durable and don't seem to scratch easily (although I haven't had them all that long.) I like that they have a perfect weight to them -- not featherweight, but not heavy enough so you can't carry a whole stack of them at once.

The additional pieces that comes in this set that I think is worth investing in are: the vegtable bowl, 13" serving platter, the sugar and creamer set are very attractive and well designed, the gravy boat is perfect, and the 2.5 quart serving bowl. The butter dish and the salt and pepper shaker are two items we also have that I don't love as much as the rest of the pieces. The butter dish is way too big for butter. It is round and the lid is quite tall, too big for butter in my opinion. Also, the S&P shaker are pretty small and I just don't care for the style of them.

What a great set! This set is something that goes well both formally or casually. It matches lots of different place settings. You will be more than pleased with this dinnerware set!!

Just got back from a honeymoon in Jamaica, and the colors in this set truly do look like the ocean.

This is an attractive, good quality opening price point cutlery set. They should not be washed in a dishwasher and should be hand dried, just like all cutlery! They are a stamped set with a "fake" bolster, and as a stamped set they are light weight. You would have to be doing something very wrong to have one of these "snap like twigs" as another reviewer has suggested. Yes, they would rust if not hand dried. Overall this is a good cutlery set and a very good value. A solid 4 star set.

I love to cook for friends so when I bought a cabin this year, I got this set. I have used them almost every weekend and I really like them. They are lightweight,easy to grip and very sharp. Like any Stainless Steel knife, they lose their edge and have to be sharpened sometimes with the included steel. Even though I paid almost $350 for the French set I use at home, these are almost as good and are a whole lot less expensive!

I am living in my first apartment and my Dad bought me this set along with some other essentials. I am having a great time using it when I cook for friends and I have not had any problems with rust. The block looks great on my counter and the handles are soft and easy to grip. I am going to buy this set for my sister when she moves to a new house next year.

I live in Brooklyn, and artisinal breads could not be hotter now. I do all of my cooking from scratch, including hand rolling pastas, whipping cream with a wisk, etc. I thought this clay would make up for my non "professional" oven. You can make better baguettes (which I thought was French Bread) by turning your oven up to 500 degrees with a metal pan in the bottom and letting it get hot. Then mold dough into shape and score dough to put on rack over heated pan. Fill this pan with hot water and mist the sides of your oven, every two minutes for ten minutes. Take water pan out and reduce temperature to 400 for 15-25 minutes depending on preference/altitude etc. This pan makes the final rise easy, and the bread is decent; but you won't be wearing a barret and whistling "Gigi" since the result is a crispy bread which looks more like something from a California kitchen.

When you bake bread using only a sourdough starter you get a dough that is more relaxed than dough made with commercial yeast, it wants to rise out as well as up. This pan is the best I have found for baking with sourdough because it not only supports the sides of the dough (so it rises up and not over the sides of the pan) but gives it a fabulous crust.

To prevent sticking you will have to *really* grease both the top and bottom the first several times you use it, also genrously sprinkle the the bottom with cornmeal. After the pan is seasoned a light greasing will do, and once it is *well* seasoned you often won't have to grease it at all. I always lightly sprinkle the bottom with cornmeal though.

One important thing to remember is that you can't wash this with soap, the stoneware will absob it and make your bread taste funny. Most of the time all you need to do is dust the cornmeal out, but every now and then (and if something sticks) you can soak it in plain hot water.

I just took the first loaf of bread out of the oven made in this bread baker. It's awesome. If you love good food and freshly made bread, buy it - you won't be sorry with the end result, yummy soft-on-the-inside but crusty-on-the-outside homemade french bread.

Contrary to the other reviews of these steak knives, I don't like them. The serrations are too deep, and the handles are so fat they don't fit easily into a drawer with my other knives.

They'll be difficult to sharpen later.

These knives may have "ergonomic" handles, but they look really strange in a place setting. I do not like the handles, and I think they are too big compared with the blade. The blade is serrated. It works like most other serrated steak knives. Another reviewer mentioned that the fat handles do not fit easily into the drawer, and this is true. The blades will get spots if put into the dishwasher. Not bad for the price, but not something that looks good on the dinner table.

I was happily surprised to discover that for once I got much more than I paid for. They cut the through thick and thin with ease and, as a side benefit, they are great at cutting rolls and baguettes. After I got my initial set, I returned and got 6 sets for Christmas presents (plus another for me). The handy wooden tray is an added bonus and is also of good quality.