JennyD

Where did Bickfords go wrong? – Ah, a really great product gone bad recently. I was buying the reduced sugar version and loving it totally. Outclassed competitors, hands down. Especially pre-made ones. But…

now it seems to have disappeared and the full sugar shots are almost as sickly as can be. I've reverted to making my own with espresso and a little sugar, but that takes planning! Hurrumpff Bickfords.

Luckily this has been discontinued! – We bought a house with this installed. It sort of works. Doesn't rinse fully at times, and leaves specks of dirt inside dishes. Won't work with some dishwasher tablets or…

powders - trial and error sorting those out. Cutlery drawer squashes other spaces, so we ditched that and bought a cutlery basket instead, which did reduce the space in the bottom basket. Cheap basket materials, where the tines are far too close together and bend. I've swapped this for our Asko, from our holiday house, and are so much happier. Other reviews are fairly accurate!

Good prompt service – I've bought two lots of bedroom furniture from Snooze Launceston this year. It was a pleasure dealing with Marita, especially when I changed my orders several times! She also…

advised on the best mattress to suit us. The goods were delivered on time, as promised and in perfect condition. Furniture was flat packed, but instructions were clear and no problems assembling them. I'd certainly buy from Snooze again.

Compact easy to use machine – I've had my machine a couple of years now and use it maybe twice a month. It's not too big, so storage is easier than with a big model. I've made rich custardy icecreams, yogurt…

based ones and all sorts of mixes. It works well, and because I leave the bowl permanently in the freezer it's always ready to use. My overriding complaint, like others here, is that it instantly forms a hard layer of icecream lining the outside and bottom of the bowl. There's just no removing it until it softens enough to break off the bits into shards. Sure they're interesting to eat - sort of like wafers, but they're not nice soft icecream. And a goodly proportion of the mix that ends up this way. I'm at the point of looking for a more expensive, but better machine. It is quite noisy, but like someone else, I put it in the laundry to run. If you want a cheap machine (I got it on special), then this is good, bearing in mind its annoying faults.

A good basic oven – We bought this oven as a temporary one about 2 months ago, until we can afford to renovate our kitchen. It replaces an old Ariston, which I have never been happy about. So far so…

good. A roomy interior to take bakeware that wouldn't fit my old stingy Ariston. I've used most of the features and been very pleased. A good bright light and large clear door to easily see baking. It's quicker to cook than my old oven, and I can cook at lower temperatures because the fan options do work. It still takes some time to heat up to temp (but so did my old one). It has 6 shelves, so a few options to place dishes etc. I haven't found the shelving unsafe, but I am careful when I pull them out to remove dishes. I like the idea of being able to remove the glass for cleaning.

Gripes: no grill tray included. I knew this when I bought it, but really, why provide a grill and no trays? It did come with a large baking tray and a flat piece of aluminium, which I suppose could be a biscuit tray? Unnecessary. It does have a cooling fan that runs for up to 15 mins after most baking/grilling. This wasn't really mentioned upfront, but isn't an issue as it it quite quiet anyway. The labeling of the dials is trendily grey and almost impossible to read unless there is good kitchen lighting. Again, doesn't affect its performance, but is annoying. Backlighting of the dials may have been a smarter design? But overall, I'm very pleased with this one, and it might even go into my new kitchen in due course!