A Nice Addition To the Kitchen bench
— 4 out of 5 stars
I was pleased to find this item in red as it matched my other kitchen appliances. Delivery was about two weeks. The juicer is well designed and very easy to put together. It takes care to get the parts lined up, but once you've done it, you don't forget how it goes. It comes with two large plastic jugs, one to catch the juice, one to catch the pith. The jugs are marked as safe for refrigeration. It's a shame the don't have lids. I used cling wrap with does the job. There is a tall tower-shaped feeder with a smart little flip lid into which you place your food items. Of course, it's not just a case of dropping fruit or veg into the feeder....oranges need to be peeled, pips or stones need removing. I tried a veg mix with some particularly hard celery and I was a little worried that the pressure required might crack the plastic mixing bowl but it coped with no problems. The are two outlets from the mixing bowl, one produces pith, the other (with a stopper) produces the juice.This machine comes with two sieves, one with a fine mesh and a solid one. I tried both when making orange juice. The solid sieve produced the juice mixed in with the pith, the fine mesh separated the juice. Even with peeled oranges, the amount of pith was substantial, so I reverted to the mesh for now. I made orange juice and mixed vegetable juice. The button to operate the machine is large and has a reverse function should you need it. It can be switched on an left to grind away, It's no noisier than any other blender or mixer. There is a caution that says don't allow the motor to run for more than 20 minutes. You shouldn't need to as producing juice from say four oranges only takes a minute, tops. Both juices I made were very good, with the benefit that YOU know what goes into what you're drinking. Washing up is simple. A little warm water works well, and a brush is provided for getting pith out of the mesh and more inaccessible parts. My only real worry concerned the rubber parts of the machine, specifically the two grommets that hold the main grinder, which is heavy, and the stopper which permits cleaning of the pith outlet. They will be subject to a fair amount of wear over time. The grommets may be easy to replace with parts from, say, a motor accessories shop. The rubber stopper however is very specifically shaped to fit....when that fails it would allow juice into the central motor spindle, perhaps critically. The user manual does not state where or even whether these parts are available. It would be wise to have a spare stopper because it could be replaced before the original wears out. But for the price, and provided it's looked after, I am pleased with the machine.