Kitchen appliances chat

Have you checked John Lewis?

Not sure about microplastics, but I'd definitely be concerned with leeching, esp. since microwaves are prone to overheating hot spots

Oh I’ve had one of those. Tried using one when my kitchen was ripped out and all we had for a while was a microwave.

For me it was worse than junk.
Starchy water collecting on the plastic insert, leaking out, causing a mess, and non uniform cooking of rice.

Possibly user error, as the Amazon reviews look good. I chucked it away.

I said I'd report back on the eufy 15c robovac once I'd used it for a bit.

My main comment is why didn't I get one of these things sooner. It's massively removed the hassle of spending nigh on a day vacuuming per week. That's an exaggeration as it includes the other cleaning tasks I'd do alongside but it's been a revelation.

Highly recommend a robovac. Thanks @spotter for swaying my decision.

So who has bought a Balmuda toaster for their 40k kitchen?
fess up and share the experience.

"Flavor, Aroma and Texture

The three essential elements of culinary delight. BALMUDA The Toaster uses steam technology and precise temperature control to bring out the best in every kind of bread"

Anyone have a combined washer / dryer?

Do they suck? We could save some needed space by getting one. There are heat pump models (spendy) .

Yeah, we've got a basic Beko one. It's fine although quite noisy. Ones I've used in the past haven't done a great job of drying but this one does.

It's a magical machine that turns dirty clothes into wearable clothes with a few button presses. Do it.

The limitation is you can only 50-70% fill them or the drying doesn't work.

Here's the latest from Which?

Ah man, thanks. You are far superior at copy and paste than my mum, bless her. Grainy photos of the website sent via WhatsApp...

Shame the spendy Mile and LG models aren't mentioned.

I also suspect those two Bosch models are no longer available :(

Bosch series 6 user here.7kg /4kg. When balanced “silencio”. Use the tumble dryer only for sheets -socks and pants. Otherwise Lakeland (natch) heated drying rack and / or dehumidifier combo

For context, we have a Bosch washer and Bocsh dryer, the later of which now trips the RCD if we try to run it. We inherited both with the house. So, we know we need a dryer, I'm interested to know if a combined unit is as good as the ten year old pair we've had, thanks to iterative improvements over those years. I suspect the answer is mostly yes, but a pair of specialised units would be better again, but more space hungry, and the 'betterness' marginal to us.

Yes. Use it for drying underwear, sheets and children's clothes and it's fine.

Not the speediest, particularly if it's got a lot in, but does the job. No reason to not get it over just a washer I'd say. Not sure how it compares to separate, the extra space is more valuable for me

It's one of these
https://ao.com/product/z816wt85bi-zanussi-washer-dryer-white-67027-2.aspx

I use my mum's account to avoid that.

I suspect the answer is mostly yes

Really?

Heat pumps are cheaper to run (assuming you exclude purchase price in your calculations) and are apparently gentler on clothes, but they are also way slower and can't be repaired economically.

As for washing machines, interior led lights are great and they're lighter on water and more energy efficient, but again there's no huge leap IME.

My experience being going from a shit 7-10yr washing machine to a new Bosch. Obviously a balanced machine with new bearings is a beautiful thing... so quiet.

Please could someone recommend me a slimline standalone (non-integrated) dishwasher?

Sistema one is wonderful. Plug in rice cooker hasn’t been used since.

I’ve been saying

Bravo. Would eat rice at your house. :)

I think mine was a Kitchencraft rice cooker. Never got satisfactory rice out of it.

The sistema is £11 in sainsburys at the moment, so might buy one for comparison purposes.

Has anyone got a Fisher Paykel with an ice/water function? Any first hand thoughts? Temperature of the water, how often does the filter need changing, ease of getting water out of it without spraying down your shirt, any other quirks/comments?

Looking at: https://www.fisherpaykel.com/uk/cooling/refrigeration/contemporary-refrigeration/freestanding-refrigerator-freezer-79cm-491l-ice-and-water-rf522wdrux5-26473.html

I bought this exact fridge from someone in Leyton who’d just re-done their 1yo kitchen. Mentalists. Barely a year old, £400.

Used it for a bit before starting building work; door water dispenser is convenient, nozzle not too splishy, flow quite slow but you get used to it. Auto ice maker is v handy. Can’t comment on filter longevity as I only used it for a few weeks. Compressor is louder than the ancient Siemens fridge we had before, but apparently all ‘frost-free’ fridges are louder.

Best thing is the form factor: big wide chode of a fridge compartment, much more versatile than ‘French door’ type, can swallow giant baking trays, no unwieldy top shelf. I like the freezer drawer; the plastic damping gears on the rails of it feel a bit cheap tho.

The freezer rails appealed - presuming even if it feels a bit cheap it'll be an improvement on typical pull out box things? And I've not used a 'frost-free' before. Is it actually frost-free? Presume just feels dry and cold in there? Size is perfect for an alcove in our kitchen (will project enough so that the door can full open. Just need to finish floor first.

Yeah, modern frost-free tech works really well. So does the veg crisper stuff.

The freezer drawer rails are solid, just the damping mechanism uses plastic gears and feels a bit shonky.

It’s a very nice & posh fridge, but like I say, it cost me £400 and I would never spend anywhere near RRP on something like this. If I was buying new, I’d be looking at fridges with ‘inverter’ compressors (quieter, more efficient) and funky thin walls for more internal space.