Home Appliance Reviews

I spent over two years planning my kitchen renovation, which was undertaken and completed this summer. Chief among our needs in an improved kitchen was a larger fridge — with kid #4 arriving earlier this year, our grocery runs were getting bigger and bigger.

For practical purposes we decided to get the Viking VCRB364 all-fridge, and teamed it up with a Sub-Zero 700BF undercounter freezer drawer. We keep a deep-freezer in the basement, so our day-to-day freezer needs in the kitchen tend to be modest.

I have two cats, a dog, and a baby. We live in a one story 1000 sq ft ranch with mostly laminate or linoleum floors. Bedrooms have very short, industrial style carpeting. I have some thicker (1-1.5″) area rugs with no fringe. I’ve tried Swiffer, normal brooms, “mop brooms” (blue, rubbery mops that are also supposed to pick up debris so you don’t need to sweep first), upright vacuums, sweeping with a dust buster in my hand…I’ve never been able to catch all of the pet hair that ends up floating ahead of me as I’m sweeping. Roomba does a MUCH better job than I have been able to.

I purchased my Simplicity two years ago - the hefty price tag gave me pause but I read extensively and concluded it was worth the investment. I haven’t been disappointed.

The unit is heavy (great exercise carrying it though) but maneuverable and the suction is powerful, remaining so even when the bag is full and two years after purchase (which should put to rest the nonsense about suction that bagless cleaners purport to be a disadvantage). In fact, this is no vacuum cleaner for novices as this powerful suction can endanger nearby objects, including the fringe on oriental rugs - so be forewarned. After vacuuming, the pile on all carpets is restored to its original height, one indicator of the force of the vacuum created by this machine.

My husband and I batted around the idea of getting a steam cleaner for years. I’d read all kinds of horror stories about leakage and poor performance, and just wasn’t sure it was worth the expense or hassle–that is, until we got a puppy.

We were going to get a spot cleaner, but opted for the full-sized model. I picked it up at Wal-Mart for just under $300. We put it to use RIGHT AWAY!

FEATURES

Water Heating: You should use hot water anyway, but this model will heat the water up to 25 degrees hotter. This feature can be turned on or off.

About 8 yrs ago I purchased my first Kenmore Progressive Vacuum from Sears for $300. There were several things I about it that I didn’t like but it did have the power I needed to keep up with my German Shepherd’s shedding issues.

So last winter when it stopped working, I went to Sears and bought another Kenmore Progressive. Now I wish I hadn’t.

Having bought many vacuums over the last 28 years of marriage, I am so glad I bought this Eureka Boss.

I would never be able to afford the expensive Dyson’s and such. I had read all the reviews on so many vacuums and many talked about how the Eureka Boss sucked as well as the more expensive ones.

They were right, I was so happy with the suction power, both with the rotating brush for carpets, the bare suction for floors and especially the hose attachments.

I have owned a Bradley smoker for about 2 years now. I bought this unit mainly because it can cold smoke, which means you can make authentic jerky and gravlox (cold smoked salmon).

For those who don’t know anything about smoking food, there are two main techniques: hot and cold. Hot smoking, like putting wood chips on a barbecue or in hardware store smokers, depends on a fairly hot burn of wood to generate smoke. The smoker itself is generally hot enough to cook the food. However not all food should be cooked when it is smoked, such as traditional smoked salmon, cheese, nuts, sausages, etc.

We bought this dishwasher about 1.5 years ago to replace a cheap 5 year old GE dishwasher. The kitchen is part of a “great room” so high on my list was quiet operation, which the old dishwasher failed miserably at.

The LG is very quiet. The only noise comes from the kitchen sink when the washer is emptying, and occasionally from the hard food grinder if a chunk of food was left on a plate. So very high marks for quiet operation.

Also on the good side, the washer looks great. Controls are well designed. LED display indicates cycle time remaining.

I purchased the Whirlpool WTW5600SQ washer after my Fisher & Paykel GWL10 broke down for the fifth time in five years. The problem once again was a tiny twig that got stuck in the pump. Of course I wasn’t able to get anyone to come fix the washer for a few days and ended up having to go to the laundr-o-mat to wash my clothes. This repair was the last straw. With two small children, there are bound to be tiny bits of stuff that get into the wash. The Fisher & Paykel was just too sensitive. Over 5 years I could have purchased another one of the machines with the money I paid in repairs. Of course the appliance store that sold me it was still in love with the F&P and they never had the same problems I did.

Taken from my blog. FOr an update follow the link.

http://myglutenfreekids.blogspot.com/2008/07/starry-eyed-over-front-load-washers.html

Starry eyed over fron Loaders?

The Dream-

Do you have a very large family or an average sized family and very little time?

Do you have aspirations of moving mountains of laundry and freeing up your time?

I certainly did. I wash more clothes each week than many with my 7 children ranging from 16 on down to age 3 and me, Mom and Dad.