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Villaware Juice Extractor
by azana
If you are serious about juicing, as in wanting to juice fruit and vegetables regularly then this juicer, which I was lucky enough to receive to try out recently, is sure to please. The first thing to note really, apart from the £130 price tag, is that it's really well made - everything about this item from the surprisingly quiet 1000 ... watt two speed motor to the fully dish-washable plastic parts screams quality and it has a number of nifty features. To incorporate the very good functions that it has you do pay with footprint - there's no getting away from the fact that this is a beast of a machine, it's 36cm long, 24cm wide and over 40 cm high - bigger if you include the chute. Due to having a diecast metal bottom it's 6.5kg heavy and it takes up a fair amount of space on the work top, especially given that you will need more depth to fit the supplied jug under the outlet at the front. It has a good lead length and rubber feet - again good little touches that you would expect with a quality item like this. Design wise it's a really good looking machine but it's certainly not something you can hide in a small corner on your counter and it's defeated even the largest of cupboards that I own, if you are looking to buy this you need to be prepared to find a place on the counter for it.
The juicer arrived, unsurprisingly in a large box - it was well packaged with not too much needless packing. I found that once out of the box set up was easy, the manual is comprehensive and makes everything very clear. There's a degree of slotting bowls and jugs into space, but it's pretty fool proof - the silver chrome top bit you can see on the juicer is actually the security catch, you have to push it in so that everything is firmly in place ready to go. Control wise it couldn't be easier - there's one big button that you press to power off the device and turn for the two speeds.
The juicer works by centrifugal force and has a spinning inner bowl with blades. There's a 1.5 litre capacity pulp container, basically you put peeled oranges and other fruits (you can apparently put whole apples into it but I chop mine into quarters in general. The chute is pretty wide but I'm not sure it's quite wide enough to take whole apples as billed and the less you chop the apples the bigger the waste I've found. The instructions state clearly that you should make the machine run and then push things down the chute - this doesn't ever feel intuitive to me, but it's something I've learned to do fairly successfully. I find that the machine pulps most things I can throw at it with ease, and generally without requiring use of the second speed. It deals well with apples, carrots, pineapple, oranges, strawberries and mangoes - which is what I've tried thus far, never quite reaching the suggested 2 litre per minute you can apparently produce with this machine, mainly due to the fact that I don't need that quantity of juice or have that amount of fruit at my disposal - I can fully believe though that this machine could cope with far greater quantities of fruit than I produce on an average use - I usually manage to fill the 1 litre jug about 3/4 full. It should be noted that you can't juice wheat grass with it - which may be pertinent if you are wanting to be more adventurous than me in your juicing. The amount you get from each fruit obviously will vary on how juicy they are - I find the orange juice I've made best diluted - the supplied jug has a clever froth remover and lid - the froth remover is pretty essential as due to the high speeds this is produced at the juice does get quite frothy. The jug is perfect for storing in the fridge for later use.
I've been using this machine fairly regularly for a while and have made some interesting concoctions - it deals less well with banana than it does with apple and orange but it makes short work of anything you put down the chute. I do find, however, that once I've finished juicing there is an awful lot of cleaning to do. This is to be expected I suppose, but still time consuming given that there about 5 splattered with pulp bits to tackle. It's good that a combined brush and spatula is supplied to scrape out the pulp; you will need it as the pulp flies out with a good degree of force, is contained, but certainly seems to get into the nooks and crannies of the lid. It's this that stops me from using it more often than I'd like - even though the parts can all pop in the dishwasher ( and emerge clean and unscathed from the experience every time) cleaning is still a bit of a chore, and also pretty dangerous when it comes to cleaning the inner bowl - essentially like a very fine grater - a degree of healthy caution is required. That said, the juice that you can produce with this machine is generally delicious and no doubt laden with vitamins so maybe worth the bother.
Like other Villaware items (I'm lucky enough to have a kettle in this range too) what you are getting here is quality and has nice touches that make you feel like it has been designed with cooks in mind. I like the way the cover clicks into place and that you can see exactly what you are doing, and as I've already said it's quiet on the scale of appliances. Overall then a recommendation from me - I'm glad that I own it and it juices far better than my magimix juicer attachment - just be aware that this is a big item that isn't quick to clean, but as I said at the start if you are into juicing then it's a great machine. I really like Villaware items and though this American brand is not very well known - I'd never heard of it before - it's certainly one that I think is a bit classier than the norm. The fact that this juicer comes with a three year manufacturer's guarantee speaks volumes to me. This appliance is definitely one for the serious juicer and for anyone else it's possibly likely to fall into disuse fairly quickly, but if you want to make juice you could do far worse than invest in this machine.
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Kenwood JE290
by MEL0611
With the summer months now well and truly here it has been lovely getting some sunshine and just having more energy. When the warmer months are upon us I find that I have less of an appetite but certainly have a thirst. I have also recently just returned from a holiday and whilst away I got a real taste for fruit juices and mixes and so ... on my return I have got out of the back of my cupboard my juicer. I used to use the juicer on a regular basis, I used to make a citrus cheesecake and this came in very handy, but like many kitchen gadgets it got put to the back but on my return I have been using my Kenwood Juicer, model number JE290 and here are my thoughts.
The Kenwood juicer was brought a few months ago now. I got it from the Amazon website and it cost me £21.99. I have had a look and it is still available. The Kenwood juicer can also be found in electrical stores or the Argos catalogue. The Kenwood brand is one that I have owned a toaster from before and been impressed so with knowing a little about the brand I was confident of the purchase. I don't think the price tag is too expensive with this one and £20.00 is about what I expected to pay at the time I purchased this.
The juicer came in a cardboard box, once opened I was keen to give it ago but also made sure that I read the instructions first. The juicer also comes with a one year manufacturer's guarantee. When you look at the juicer you will see that it is a white colour and is made of plastic. The dimensions are 21.9,21.2,16cm (H/W/D) so you can see from these measurements that this is quite a small kitchen gadget and can be stored away quite easily. We're told my Kenwood that it has a sturdy and elegant design and I found when getting ready to use it, even though it has a small and compact look about it , when holding it, it was quite sturdy.
There is 60 watts of power to the juicer and it has a 1 litre capacity, you basically need to press your chosen fruit onto the rotating cone which is at the top of the juicer, this then goes into the transparent jug, this is great as you can see how much juice you have got. I firstly started using something as simple as oranges; I found that you did not need to apply to much pressure to the juicer. You just need to gently apply some pressure onto the fruit and then you will see that juice will appear!
There is a little bit of noise when the motor gets going, it is to be expected though and you sort of get used to it. This is not a quick process, the motor is not great I must admit with the speed and it takes a long time (And a lot of fruit) to get a full glass but it is worth persevering with. I then moved onto using a couple of other pieces of fruit. It was great for juicing lemons; this was when I was obsessed with making my citrus cheesecake!
I guess, as long as you have patience then this juicer is a good find. It is slow and I am sure there are quicker products on the market, but then when I look at the low cost I paid for this juicer, I am impressed. Once you have juiced you can remove the tray and pour directly from the jug into your glass. It is also worth noting that the juicer is dishwasher safe.
In summary, I am really impressed with this product, a great juicer and whilst not the quickest, it is a great gadget that allows you to get a good amount of juice from your fruit.
4 out of 5 from me on this one
Thank you for reading
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Philips HR1881 Robust Collection Juicer
by lozx1983
I have been nagging my husband for a juicer for ages and to my utter delight he came home with this!
This is the Daddy of ALL juicers. So lets break it down, This wonderful contraption is amazing. It has everything you need and you can juice literally anything!!!!
Stylish in looks, brushed aluminium and charcoal grey ... (fits in VERY well with my kitchen design) this looks the piece but can it do what it states on the box?
The simple answer yes!
As a very busy mum to three children,I simply do not have time to be faffing around. This juicer is easy to wash, easy to maintain and more so easy to use. Hardly any prep time is needed on your fruit or veg.
It has a huge 1200w motor(which comes with a 15 yr guarantee) and 2 speed settings, which will power through anything! So far carrot juice, beetroot, apple, orange,mango and celeriac juice has been made and none of these have even given it pause for thought! My daughter wants carrot juice all the time(if your a fan of buying carrot juice you know how expensive it is) and to my delight I don't need to peel the carrots even, due to the fact it has a pulp catcher, Ijust cut them in half and press go. 1 min later fresh carrot juice and a happy 7yr old!!!
The feeding tube is larger than on nearly all models, 90mm and will take a whole beetroot or a small orange with no cutting(I personally still cut them in half, I think you get more juice that way).
The pulp catcher is huge - 2 litres and it come with a 1.5 litre jug which you can put in the fridge.
The parts are dishwasher safe as well, so if you have a sudden desire for orange juice it literally takes 2 mins to make and 1 min to disassemble and put in the dishwasher.
But with anything there is always at least 1 downside. With this particular model it is the weight of it. It is heavy and its just not the sort of thing you can put away easily into a cupboard every time. It will become a permanent feature of your kitchen(I use it enough that it works for me) and it is expensive. Although it has come down by nearly £100 since my hubby bought it.
What I would say to anyone who is reading this is, that if you already have a juicer and want to upgrade, or if your looking for a first time juicer, this model is worth every single penny!!!
I have saved a fortune on buying juice and with 3 kids money counts! It might seem like an extravagant purchase but as its fully guaranteed for 5 years(motor for 15) you will definitely get your monies worth.
I Know that I have and will continue to relish my juicer - it in my opinion is a must have if you like juice!!
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