Tag: Top kitchen appliances

Haier I-Master Series 5 Toaster 2 Slice

Birthday Gifts, Christmas, Family Life, Food & Drink, Gifts for Her, Gifts for Him, Home, Home & Garden, kitchen appliances

Disclaimer: We received this product free of charge for the purpose of this review and all thoughts and opinions are our own

Haier are well known for their large kitchen appliances and have just entered the small appliance market with a new range consisting of 7 small appliances – a kettle, air fryer, blender, hand blender, compact food processor, toaster and  multi functional hot drink maker. We have been trying out a couple of them and I have to say I am really impressed!

Our previous toaster gave up the ghost recently after 25 years and I picked up a cheap one to tide us over, so I was really pleased to receive the Haier I-Master Series 5 Toaster 2 Slice toaster which with 21 different functions is  definitely in my mind the “Rolls Royce” of toasters!

The stylish black toaster looks unassuming at first glance however this black box has the ability to transform the humble slice of bread into a toasty delight. My pet hate is toasters with thin slots that can’t take a fruit teacake or even worse ruins them when they get stuck to the side, meaning you have to prise them out so I was very pleased to discover that this toaster has extra wide slots to accommodate everything from chunky slices of bread, bagels, baguettes and the all important fruit teacake.

This high tech toaster also has a one-sided function, which as the name implies allows you to toast just one side which is ideal for bagels. When I tried it my sesame seed bagel was lovely and crispy on the cut side but still soft and chewy on the other side.

I’ve been using the toaster for a week or so now and it has already proved its worth. I’m able to toast fruit teacakes perfectly without setting off the smoke alarm and they pop up nicely with no need to prise them out. The most important point of all is they are toasted nice and evenly and I no longer get the burnt bits where it caught the element.

There’s no dials on this toaster, instead you press the plus or minus sign depending on how well you want your item to be toasted. There are additional buttons for small slices, one sided toast, cancel and a favourite button allowing you to customise your favourite toasting method. The toaster also has a high-lift function so you can lift your toast out of the slot to check its progress without having to cancel the process and start again.

Cleaning the crumbs out is easy too, thanks to the removable crumb tray which pops out nice and smoothly. Another excellent feature is the handy lid which stops dust falling into the toaster and makes it look nice and tidy on the worksurface – why has no one thought of this before???

Whilst it’s not the cheapest toaster around everything about this toaster has impressed me – it not only has toasted perfectly every time, it has fitted every type of bread, bun and crumpet that I have thrown into it and the controls are simple to use. It looks very stylish and another measure of how good it is, is that the smoke alarm no longer goes off every breakfast time!!

It really is worth spending that little bit more on a quality toaster and, based on my experiences so far, the Haier toaster is up there with the best!

Matching the kettle it makes a perfect gift for any occasion, especially at Christmas when we have the time to enjoy a more leisurely breakfast .

RRP £119.99 but currently on offer at £79.99

James Martin Kitchen Collection by Wahl

Birthday Gifts, camping, Christmas, Family Life, Father's Day, Food & Drink, Gifts for Her, Gifts for Him, Home, Home & Garden, Mother's Day

Disclaimer: We received these products free of charge for the purpose of this review and all thoughts and opinions are our own

Whenever anyone asks me what I’d like for my birthday or Christmas I always struggle to come up with anything. I’m not one for trinkets or jewellery and unlike a lot of people I know I am actually quite happy with something practical like kitchenware. I really enjoy cooking so it is nice to be treated to better versions of the small kitchen appliances that I use regularly. Wahl recently sent me a selection of kitchen appliances from their James Martin range which look super cool in my kitchen and are a welcome upgrade to my existing kitchen gadgets. My food processer is at least 20 years old and well past its prime and my hand mixer is even older so it was really exciting to discover both of these products in the parcel from Wahl.

The 300W electric hand mixer is a substantial and reasonably heavy little mixer. It comes complete with stainless steel beaters, dough hooks and a whisk which all came in useful when I was making lunch on Easter Sunday. The beaters were used for the batter for Yorkshire puddings and for making chocolate brownies, the dough hooks for hot cross buns and the whisk for the whipped cream.

The mixer is a good weight, not too heavy to use, but just heavy enough that it feels solid in your hands. It has a rubberised handle which makes it comfortable to hold and is a huge improvement on my old mixer. The mixer has 5 speeds plus a turbo boost and is a fantastic little gadget. It has a button to press for the quick release of the beaters which saves you getting your hands covered in cake mix, you can just eject them into the washing up bowl or they can go in the dishwasher.

RRP £32.99

I wouldn’t be without a food processor, mine is a real work horse making light of chopping, grating, liquidising and making vast quantities of pastry. With a houseful at Easter the James Martin Compact Processor with Spiralizer Attachment really came into its own and I’ve spent the last few days slicing, mixing and juicing to create a range of culinary treats that went down a storm with my family. Delicious soups, buckets of coleslaw, healthy smoothies, even crushed ice for drinks, this little workhouse was the star of the show making mundane tasks like chopping vegetables and grating cheese a breeze. The spiralizer was an added bonus and any vegetable that went near it was spiralized by my son!! This was an innovative way to encourage him to eat more vegetables!!

The set includes a processor bowl with stainless steel blade, a disc for slicing and grating as well as a spiralizer attachment and a 1.5L blender with filler cap and easy to clean removable blades. The blender is a good size and perfect for making smoothies and liquidising home made soup. The parts are all dishwasher safe which is a huge plus.

The food processor is nice and sturdy and sits nicely on my worktop, it has suckers on the bottom which help it stay firmly in place when in use . I use mine a lot so I keep it on top of the worktop but it will easily fit in a cupboard.

It has a powerful 500 watt motor with two speeds and a pulse setting and the compact size means it is doesn’t get in the way when it is sat on the worktop not being used.  

RRP £74.99

The James Martin by Wahl Grind and Chop is such a handy little gadget and I don’t know how I have managed to overlook this piece of kitchen equipment. It’s one of those products that once you start using one you don’t know how you managed without it – especially good with a houseful of guests!

Stylish and powerful it has a 70g capacity and is perfect for grinding coffee beans and making curry paste with a simple press of the lid. With a 200W motor it makes short work of smaller jobs – instead of throwing away bread that is past its best, I use this to make breadcrumbs which I can pop in the freezer for my next recipe.

Use the grinder for dry ingredients and the chopper for wet or oily ones, no need to worry about working out which cup is which as they are both marked up. It comes with a handy recipe book with spice mixes to grind and accompanying recipes. The Spicy Tandoori mix was a favourite with my family.

There is no fiddling with this gadget as the blades are fixed in the cups and all you need to do is sit it on the base, pop the top on and press it down to start chopping. I like how easy it is to use – it can be operated with just one hand. Once you’ve finished chopping you simply lift the top off and use your ingredients.

The Grind and Chop machine looks very smart on the worktop, the brushed stainless finish being very on trend right now.  To carry out basic chopping and grinding with no fuss you really can’t beat this gadget.

RRP £36.99

Whan you have a houseful of guests extra cooking facilities are a big boost and the James Martin Healthy Table Top Grill has been invaluable to help feed all the hungry mouths. With a variable temperature control and ridged and flat cooking areas it sits nicely on the work surface and has  been used most of all for bacon butties at various times of the day as well as grilling chicken and meats for sandwiches and buffets.

It has a good sized cooking area and can easily cook enough food for a family in one go. It has a drip tray for excess oil and non-stick removable grill plates and it makes cooking easy and healthy.

Cleaning up afterwards was effortless thanks to there being  less burnt-on grease on the non stick plates and the fact that the grill plate can be removed so it can be washed in hot soapy water by hand.  

I can see this being an incredibly useful gadget and it will be great to take away in the caravan this summer so we can cook healthy meals outdoors.

RRP £59.99