News, reviews and articles about home and kitchen products.
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 […]
Light up the night with this solar patio umbrella Read More
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
aerelight is the first affordable organic LED table lamp Read More
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
I scream, you scream, we all scream for iced coffee drinks Read More
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
SnapPower Charger easily adds a USB port to a wall outlet without rewiring Read More
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
Monitor your energy usage without having to use a special plug-in module Read More
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
Miu Color 300 mL Aroma Diffuser Ultrasonic Humidifier review Read More
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
Device charging end table for those of us who don’t use Qi wireless charging Read More
Have you ever taken a picture and thought how wonderful it would be if you could recreate that picture as a piece of artwork? Unless you have an artist handy or are gifted with art skills yourself, the picture just stays a photograph. I’ve been happy to see services cropping up that will paint the
Pixelist oil paintings review Read More
Washing clothes can make the fabric pill and the colors fade. Dry cleaning your clothes is costly and inconvenient. Of course, you need cleaned clothes, so what do you do? You could use the SWASH Express Clothing Care System instead. Hang one or two items in the SWASH, insert a SWASH Pod, and your clothes
Stop washing your clothes. SWASH them instead! Read More
Water is such a beautiful, life giving precious resource and a fascinating chemical enigma – definitely something to be conserved. One of the ways to save water is by using low-flow shower heads, however “Low flow shower heads are weak and frustrating. No wonder nobody wants them!” (just ask Kramer for you Seinfeld fans out
Now you have a reason to sing in the shower Read More
There are a variety of ways you can open and lock your home’s door without using a key. I tried a WiFi-connected deadbolt that didn’t work, no matter what type of interpretive dance I used to approach it. I’ve been intrigued by other Kickstarter products that still haven’t made it to market long after the
Replace your door’s deadbolt key with Sesame and a smartphone app Read More
Nyrius has launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund a new method of automating control of lamps and small appliances in your home. The Nyrius Smart Outlet connects to an app on your smartphone or tablet via Bluetooth, so you don’t even have to have an internet connection to use them. So long as you are
Nyrius Smart Outlet controls your lamps and small appliances without WiFi Read More
We’ve just started planning for a small kitchen update. We’re replacing the countertop, replacing the flooring, and modifying a cabinet to replace the existing cooktop and wall oven with a slide-in range. We’ve been taking lots of measurements, and it’s a pain to take a measurement and stop to write each down so we don’t forget.
Take the guesswork out of taking measurements Read More
All fans of both Star Trek and sushi are going to need the Star Trek USS Enterprise Sushi Set. When you’re ready to eat some sushi, remove the “warp trails” from the nacelles and you’ll find they are actually BPA-free plastic chopsticks. Lift the lid from from the ship’s saucer and use it as a
Where no soy sauce has gone before Read More
Dyson vacuum cleaners are extremely popular for their superior suction power and bagless design. Last year I reviewed the Dyson D65 Animal vacuum and was impressed by almost everything about it. Dyson’s latest model is the Dyson Cinetic Big Ball Animal + Allergy vacuum which looks almost identical to the D65 but has a very important upgrade. It no
Dyson Cinetic Big Ball Animal + Allergy vacuum review Read More
If you’ve been thinking about swapping out all the light bulbs in your home with bulbs that can be controlled with your smartphone, I have an alternative product that you might want to consider. Switchmate, an Indiegogo crowdfunding project, is a switch that fits over your existing light switch plates by using magnets to snap onto the
Control the lights in your home without buying special bulbs Read More
Most single-cup coffeemakers require you to use pre-made pods with coffee inside. If you fill your own reusable pods, you can use your own freshly ground beans, but you have no idea how long ago the stuff in those pre-made pods was ground. To insure you have the freshest, tastiest cup of coffee without having
The single-cup coffeemaker that grinds your own beans before brewing coffee Read More
When I reviewed the Keurig 2.0 K550 Coffee Brewing System last November, the only complaint I had was that you can’t use your own coffee in a reusable capsule nor can you use store-brand pods. Green Mountain Roasters, Keurig’s parent company, had put some sort of “DRM” restrictions in their new 2.0 machines so they
If you have teens who eat a lot of pizza, and you’d like a cheaper way to supply all this pizza other than delivery, consider the cute little Cuizen Pizza Box Oven. It can cook up to a 12″ pizza, and it works with either homemade or frozen pies. You don’t have to dirty up
Forget delivery. Make your pizza in this little pizza box. Read More
If you cringe every time a new electric bill comes in the mail and you wish there was an easy way to monitor how much power and money your appliances are using, you should check out the ego smart Wi-Fi socket from Efergy. This small module plugs in between a wall socket and the appliance
Efergy ego smart Wi-Fi socket review Read More