Linda Thomson

The Bass Pro Shops Stainless Steel Turkey Fryer with Spigot is a durable stainless steel cooker that works outdoors and is fueled by propane. It can fry an 18-pound turkey to perfection and can also cook fish, chicken, vegetables or any other food that can be deep fried.

REVIEW The modestly priced Hamilton Beach 6-Speed Stand Mixer is a good general use electric mixer that can handle most kitchen tasks.

The Whirlpool WEE510S0FS electric slide-in range includes a ceramic cooktop with four heating areas and a 4.8-cubic-foot oven that gives you several meal preparation functions.

The Bosch HEIPO54U is an attractive electric slide-in range that provides helpful and versatile cooktop functions as well as useful oven capabilities.

The reasonably priced, energy efficient Danby DAR017A2BDD mini fridge has a small, 1.7-cubic-foot capacity. Because of its size, it can sit on a counter or fit in a dorm room or den. On the inside of the door, there’s a spot for a 2-liter bottle as well as dispenser that fits six soda cans.

The EdgeStar CRF321SS’s fridge and freezer have a combined 3.1 cubic feet of space.

The OXO Good Grips Food Scale combines a practical design with a reasonable price. The food scale includes a handy display that tucks neatly below the platform and can be pulled out on a retractable cord.

The American Weigh Blade is the smallest, most portable food scale we evaluated. In fact, it’s small enough to fit in a purse.

The Maytag MTUC7500AFM is a 1.4-cubic-foot trash compactor that our research shows works well. Further, in addition to the industry-standard one-year appliance warranty, Maytag includes an exceptional 10-year warranty on parts. No other trash compactor we reviewed has as long of a warranty.

The Kenmore Elite 14733 trash compactor has a compaction ratio of 5-to-1, so it can make five bags of trash the size of just one. This can reduce your home’s trash volume by up to 80 percent.

The budget-friendly Kenmore 14729 trash compactor does everything expensive garbage compactors do and includes most of the same features, though it doesn’t have an air freshening system.

Review This Hamilton Beach 68880 machine makes ice cream with a consistency similar to soft-serve but without the preservatives or mystery ingredients.

Review The Cuisinart ICE-21P1 is fully automatic, runs on electricity and doesn't require rock salt or ice.

The Nostalgia Electrics 4-Quart Ice Cream Maker makes a gallon of ice cream, and for an ice cream maker its size, it is rather quiet. In fact, during testing, we were surprised at how much quieter it was than other ice cream makers we reviewed.

The attractive Aroma 4-Quart ice cream maker is charmingly old fashioned, with its appealing fir wood bucket and die-cast hand crank. If you get tired, you can switch to its electric motor.

Unlike old-fashioned machines, the Hamilton Beach 68320 ice cream maker uses a modern freezer bowl, which makes it faster and easier to use. All it takes is a flip of the switch to get going, and our testing showed it can make ice cream in about 40 minutes.

Review The budget-friendly Hamilton Beach 68330N Ice Cream Maker has a classic bucket design and a high-power motor instead of a hand crank.

The minimal-fuss Cuisinart ICE-30BC Pure Indulgence is one of the best ice cream makers we tested. It takes only a little foresight to prepare ingredients and the freezer bowl to make fresh desserts, and we liked the machine’s large, sturdy base and non-slip feet.

The Oster FRSTIC-WDB-001's wooden bucket design makes it look like an old-fashioned ice cream maker, but it uses electricity. That way, you can enjoy the nostalgia without muscle strain from turning a hand crank.

Review The affordable Hamilton Beach 49980A 2-Way Brewer is a programmable coffee maker that offers dual capabilities.

With only two exceptions, our taste test panelists liked the coffee brewed by the affordable and basic Black & Decker CM2035B 12-Cup Thermal Coffeemaker.

The Braun BrewSense manages to pack a lot of convenient features into its compact size, and it got great reviews for coffee quality in our testing. The majority of our panelists said they liked its taste, strength and aroma. It also performed well in our temperature tests.

The Mr. Coffee Simple Brew 4-Cup Programmable Coffee Maker is one step up from a bare-bones coffee maker. You can program it the night before so you can wake up to already brewed java.

Mr. Coffee has been a staple in American households since the 1970s and has an extensive market of loyal customers, although coffee gourmets contend this lower-priced line makes weak coffee.

The Cuisinart 14-Cup Programmable Coffeemaker makes good coffee and offers convenient features to make your morning routine go smoothly. In general, our taste testers liked this brew, although a few panelists found it too weak for their palates and scored it a little below the best coffee makers.