Home and Kitchen

News, reviews and articles about home and kitchen products.

Bruno is the kitchen garbage can of my dreams – seriously

bruno smartcan trashcan

A while back, I told you about the Eye Vac that lets you throw away your dust pan because it could suck up all the sweepings using a vacuum port in its base.  The Bruno Smartcan includes a vacuum at the bottom to suck up all your sweepings, and it also serves as your 13-gallon […]

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Renny Home smartphone hub and ringer review

Renny Home 07

What do you imagine a “smartphone hub” for your home would do? For some reason, I thought it would integrate my smartphone and landline in some way to make it easier to use both throughout my house. I was pretty excited about that concept when I asked to review the Renny Home product. Let me

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ThinkGeek gives you the tools to make your own dragon

dragon cake pan thinkgeek

While not an electronic device, this kitchen item will appeal to the dragon-loving gadgeteers.  The Dragon Cake Pan holds just a little less than 2 boxes of cake mix or a bundt cake mix.  It’s molded to look like a scaly dragon curled around three eggs.  The pan is made of heavy aluminum alloy, is

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Withings Home surveillance camera review

withings home 2

Julie and I have reviewed many Withings living-well products over the years, primarily smart-scales and activity trackers up to this point. Though in the past year, they have expanded their line-up to include baby, sleep, heart, and home products as well. In this case, Withings sent us several of their new high definition surveillance cameras to

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Replace your existing bulbs with Philips LED bulbs for less than $3 per bulb

philips led bulbs 2 for 1

Home Depot is offering a 2-pack of Philips 60W-equivalent Soft White A19 LED Light Bulbs for $4.97.  These bulbs use 8.5W and produce 800 lumens of 2700K light.  Philips says they use 85% less energy compared to a standard incandescent 60-Watt light bulb and cost about $1.02/year to use (assuming 3 hours of use/day at

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Fitbit Aria WiFi Smart Scale review

fitbit aria 1

Whether you call it the IOT (Internet of Things), being plugged in, or something else, I really enjoy using connected devices. Some people will say, who needs a thermometer that saves your readings or a fitness tracker that tells you how many steps you’ve walked each day. I say why not! I don’t have the world’s

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PAVARA sink tidy aims to keep your kitchen stylish by hiding soaps and sponges

pavara kitchen tidy

This seems to be a product in search of a problem, but the PAVARA sink tidy is also in search of funding at Kickstarter.  I’m just getting started on the process of updating my kitchen.  You know me, I’m always interested in new gadgets, and a gadget for my upgraded kitchen seemed intriguing.  This product

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Keep your food fresher longer and your fridge sanitized with the BerryBreeze

berrybreeze

If you put the battery-powered BerryBreeze on the top shelf of your refrigerator, the manufacturer promises that it will keep your stored foods fresher for up to 2-3 times longer than normal.  The BerryBreeze “filters and cleans the air in your fridge. Using newly-patented technology, BerryBreeze fills your refrigerator with activated oxygen to neutralize bacteria,

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Brew fresh coffee anywhere with the Cafflano Klassic

cafflano klassic coffee maker

This may look like a travel mug, but it’s a full coffee brewing station.  Unscrew the lid, and you’ll find a coffee grinder and a filter basket inside.  Put 20g of coffee beans in the grinder, crank the handle to grind the beans directly into the permanent filter basket, then slowly pour hot water through

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Phillips adds the portable Go lamp to the Hue lineup

phillips hue go lamp 2

Phillips has a variety of lights for their WiFi-connected Hue system.  There are color-changing bulbs, white light-only bulbs, strips lights, and tabletop lamps, but they all have one thing in common:  they have to be screwed into a lamp socket (bulbs) or plugged into a power outlet to work.  The Go lamp is the first

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Order grocery staples to keep your house running smoothly with the press of a button with Amazon Dash

amazon dash button

I’ll admit that I thought this was an April Fool’s joke when I saw it yesterday, but it’s a real offering from Amazon.  The Amazon Dash Button lets you re-order laundry detergent, paper towels, diapers, pet food, even mac & cheese with the press of a button.  You just adhere the button to your washing

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Light up the night with this solar patio umbrella

ATLeisure solar lighted umbrella 2

If you’re lucky enough to have a personal outdoor area to enjoy warm weather, check out this lighted umbrella for your patio table.  The ATLeisure 9′ Easy Light Touch Solar Umbrella with 44 LEDs will fit in the umbrella holder made into most patio tables, or you can use it without a table if you purchase a

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aerelight is the first affordable organic LED table lamp

aerelight

Last August Kathleen reviewed the TaoTronics Elune Dimmable LED Desk Lamp, a small task lamp that used LEDs instead of traditional light bulbs. LEDs are very energy efficient, last longer than regular light bulbs and don’t generate a lot of heat. Fast forward to now and we have the aerelight which features OLEDs instead of regular LEDs. What are

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I scream, you scream, we all scream for iced coffee drinks

zoku iced coffee maker

I love iced coffee drinks from Starbucks, but they do get expensive, especially when you have three coffee drinkers in the family.  You can make your own iced coffee drinks from coffee you brew at home with the Zoku Iced Coffee Maker and save tons of money.  You just pour fresh-brewed coffee into the pre-chilled

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SnapPower Charger easily adds a USB port to a wall outlet without rewiring

snappower

Last spring I helped back SnapRays, a Kickstarter project for a wall outlet cover plate with built in auto-illuminating LEDs. The project was a big success and they actually delivered the products to their backers on time, which has not been the norm for most of the projects I have backed in the past. Now

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Monitor your energy usage without having to use a special plug-in module

outlink energy monitoring outlet

Several companies sell modules that you can plug in between the wall outlet and your device to monitor how much power it uses.  That’s great, but you can monitor energy usage by plugging your device directly into the Outlink wall outlet.  Outlink replaces your current wall outlet.  The bottom socket is standard, and the top

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Miu Color 300 mL Aroma Diffuser Ultrasonic Humidifier review

Miu Aroma Diffuser 9

About a year ago, I hopped on the essential oils bandwagon because several people I know use them for health and wellness purposes. However, I simply enjoyed the aroma and so did my kids. I’ve since purchased two ultrasonic diffusers, both of which have had drawbacks. One of these, the H2EO Ultrasonic Diffuser, leaves about

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Device charging end table for those of us who don’t use Qi wireless charging

device charging end table 2

We recently told you that Ikea has announced a line of furniture and lamps with built-in Qi chargers.  What about people who don’t use Qi charging?  We want nice things, too!  Well, Hammacher Schlemmer has a Device Charging End Table that has a built-in charging station for those of us who still need to cable

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