Kitchen

[Buck-i-Nana]

On 3/18/2014 house cat said:

On 3/18/2014 Buck-i-Nana said:

Mine arrived today too, and I unpacked both of them. Perfect condition. I wonder if it took this long to deliver because they redid the packaging after the multiple complaints of breaking?

I cored and sliced a large honeycrisp apple - easy peasy. Then I chopped up my tomatoes, peppers, onions and mushrooms for our shish kabobs - done in a flash and perfect.

I'm 5'1.5" tall with standard height counters and had no problem operating this. In addition, I even did some chopping using my forearms instead of my hands and it worked perfectly. Arthritis flare days won't stop me now!

I'm glad you're happy with your purchase. I'm 5 feet tall.. barely… and I can't use an apple corer on my kitchen counter. I have to use it at the table or I can't get enough pressure on it. I was imagining that's what would happen with this chopper, but I suppose the blades on the chopper are sharper than my apple corer. Have fun with your new toy!

I struggled with apple corer/slicers too. This was so much easier as the apple is more stable. Very little apple left snagged on the blades too.

[4uthebest]

Ok, first of all NOT all the pieces fit in the container for storage and that is a major thing for me as one reason I was concerned was the storage.

Secondly, although the potato cutter has worked well for several pounds of potatoes, there is no way that I would use the potato pieces as french fries for they are too big for me. Perhaps in Australia they like large potato pieces but no one in our family here does. Maybe in the future other smaller pieces can be made such as would be used for normal and shoestring french fry potatoes, and a fine mince.

The design of the machine requires you to use a rapid forceful depression and on a standard cabinet height this is more important. If you put it on a lower table less speed is needed because more body weight can be applied.

The apple corer/sectioner works well and it too would be easier if the unit is placed on a lower table.

The actual installation and removal of the cutting pieces requires a bit of practice yet the overall construction is better than I have seen with other similar plastic tools yet the inability to store all pieces in the container is reason for me to return.

Overall, this is a rather sturdy plastic tool that functions as promoted but is not the easiest to use or assemble/disassemble/store.

[Buck-i-Nana]

4uthebest - You're absolutely right that all the pieces won't store in the bin. I only watched one presentation of it, unfortunately that was Shannon's, and she was the one saying everything would fit inside. Granted Curtis didn't correct her, but he may have learned to tune her out? I haven't pulled all that I used out of my dishwasher yet this morning, so I can't say for sure, but I'm thinking that all the cutting blades will fit inside the bin for storage and that will work for me, protecting the blades and me from them. I'll be able to keep the whole thing together in one of my wire pull-out drawers in my storage cupboard.

[4uthebest]

The last hour has caused me to consider changing my mind about the return of this unit and that is because for me here in Florida I find picking even my largest oranges they with the wedger section easily and very quickly better than any tool I have ever used. Even for my smaller fresh picked grapefruit, this unit worked flawlessly.

As others have said for short folk like me, the key to using this tool for the tasks that require you to "slam down", is to do exactly that "slam down".

[chickenbutt]

Hey, if it works well for a couple of things that you would use it for frequently might as well keep it.

I'd put it through the test, though, right away, to know if it's going to fall apart. But then you already know that.

There are a lot more reviews now and it looks like it's still primarily negative except for a couple who just received it and ran right to the computer to put up a glowing review. That's the bad thing, especially with shopping channels, too many people open the box and run right to the computer to say how 'purdy' it is, with no facts about how it works and continues to work well.

Plus, some chuckleheads will say how bad it is and still give it four stars - saw a couple of those, just in reading a few more of the reviews. They need a course in how to write a review.

[Buck-i-Nana]

chickenbutt -

I plan on really giving mine a workout over the next few weeks. I bought one for my daughter too, and just told her to make sure to use as much as possible and if there are any issues we'll return them That said, I often read the reviews and like you find the high stars but bad reviews funny. On the flip side, I read some of the bad reviews and that old computer tech story comes to mind - "box it up and send it back, you're too stupid to own it"

[chickenbutt]

That's really smart, Buck! Some of the reviews I read complained that they used the item just once, or a few times only, and it completely broke on them. Hope it works out!

ha! Love the computer tech story. No doubt.

[4uthebest]

On 3/19/2014 chickenbutt said:

Hey, if it works well for a couple of things that you would use it for frequently might as well keep it.

I'd put it through the test, though, right away, to know if it's going to fall apart. But then you already know that.

There are a lot more reviews now and it looks like it's still primarily negative except for a couple who just received it and ran right to the computer to put up a glowing review. That's the bad thing, especially with shopping channels, too many people open the box and run right to the computer to say how 'purdy' it is, with no facts about how it works and continues to work well.

Plus, some chuckleheads will say how bad it is and still give it four stars - saw a couple of those, just in reading a few more of the reviews. They need a course in how to write a review.

I will say that compared to the Genius slicer that I got here, the mandoline attachment is very poor and when doing harder items like potatoes, slow and I feel quite dangerous. I just started to slice some potato disks so that I could make my own fried potatoes and even wearing the kevlar gloves that I normally use, I did not feel safe and got the Genius slicer out and it was now like a warm knife through butter. I will Never use the vastly inferior mandoline attachment if I have the Genius.

I doubt I would ever use the garlic slicer as the resultant slices are thicker than I like and of course with the Genius and the small attachment that you fill, it is in my opinion far superior.

The graters is another feature that is poorly executed when seen in comparison to the Microplane tools. Again I will not use this feature as long as I have the Microplane.

The hard boiled egg slicer I would rarely use and never for egg salad as I like my eggs diced..perhaps just me.

All and all I will use it for my citrus and to core/slice apples and pears. If they made smaller sized square blades there is no doubt that I would use them as the action (slam it) is better than the nicer dicer but alas Curtis Stone has not yet.

[Puggirl]

Read reviews in Hsn.. not good....""

[4uthebest]

On 3/19/2014 puggirl said: Read reviews in Hsn.. not good...."

When they were there, for a performance based product roughly 40 reviews were speaking about shipping damage issues and NOT product performance. This is what I would call a corrupted database for product reviews.

Regarding the product itself, for me it has performed the core removal/sectioning/LARGE dicing tasks well but the other design failures cause me to knock Curtis off any pedestal I might have put him on.