Monday 27 March 2017

Appliance Insurance

You may probably be wondering if you should add some appliance insurance to your monthly mortgage payments. This is understandable when you consider that if your heating and conditioning equipment breaks, this can bite a large chunk out of your savings which you may probably have reserved for other things like the automobile or a vacation. Actually, the real challenge is not so much whether to get an appliance insurance or not, but rather, which of the two to go for; a savings account or an insurance.


Fortunately, there are no hard rules to the whole thing. You can either decide for the savings account, if you feel up to it or go for the insurance, if you feel this sounds better. Some people reason that since modern appliance are built to last, it makes little sense to pay monthly or yearly premiums to cover them. However, it is also good to look at the other side of the coin; most appliance break down during their warranty period. This ëinfant mortalityí, as it is commonly called will usually be covered by the appliance guarantee or the store from where it was bought. But as it nears the end of its life span and eventually outlives its warranty it will increasingly fail more.

Thus, some people have opted to have appliance insurance to avoid paying for routine maintenance and repairs and instead save that dollar for other needs. While this may prove to be less cheaper than doing the regular repairs, it also has the advantage of one not having to worry about repairing and replacements. appliance insurance will usually cover all the repairs and maintenance issues. Sometimes, when several uninsured appliance break down at once, it can prove almost impossible to replace them all at once. However, with insurance, all you have to do is make a call and explain your problem and sit back and wait to either get the equipment fixed or replaced, all without paying a dime. In such situations, it is usually way cheaper to have the insurance company cover the expenses.

Companies have varying policies when it comes to appliance insurance. Some will demand an annual premium fee while others a monthly fee. Some companies will do repairs when the need arises while others will come to fix and replace appliance within certain time periods. Depending on your need, it is thus important to carefully read the contract in its entirety. In this way, you will be able to make an informed decision.
 

Sunday 5 March 2017

Cuisinart SM-70 7-Quart Stand Mixers

Upon receiving the Cuisinart Mixer I was surprised by its weight and size. This one is definitely bound for a permanent home on my work surface with its  selection of attachments to suit the needs of bakers, pastry chefs, biscuit and juice fanatics. After some pretty basic experience with other mixers which primarily fulfilled two functions, blend and grate, I decided to expand our horizons in the blender world and arrived here and have never looked back. I wanted it to fulfill certain tasks such as making dough, pastry and smoothies but the culinary creativity has grown in search of learning  about subtle differences the appliances can make and testing them out.

 The Bread Hook

I am an aspiring home baker and struggled before with differing dough’s for different styles of bread. The bread making dough hook amazing for making a variety of dough’s from scratch Due to the large variety of flours and grains the creation of the dough is the key to success. The dough hook gets stuck right in and breaks down the gluten chains lead to the bread rising perfectly. It is extremely easy as I can pretty much leave the machine to make the dough leave it rise, whack it into the bread machine, set a timer for the morning and wake up to the smell of a fresh loaf. It can also deal with larger amounts of dough so I am not restricted to a 2Ib loaf tin but can experiment with baguettes, foccacias and bigger 4Ib loaves. The Cuisinart Food Processordough hook also makes the perfect pizza dough a favorite at our house at Weekends, it creates a thin stretchy Italian like pizza base that continues to impress.

Product Features

1,000-watt stand mixer housed in durable die-cast metal
Brushed Chrome
12 speeds; 7-quart stainless-steel bowl; slow-start and gentle-fold functions
15-minute countdown timer; 3 power outlets; auto shutoff; tilt-back head
Chef’s whisk, flat mixing paddle, dough hook, and splashguard included
Measures 15-1/2 by 11 by 14-1/2 inches; 3-year warranty; 5-year motor warranty
Wattage is a measure of power consumed by the mixer, not put out as torque (ability to slog through heavy doughs). A poorly designed motor will use lots of watts, but will not deliver it to you in increased power. This mixer happens to have 1000 watts of power – sounds like a lot. This mixer is well designed. It has a mixing timer, a pulse button, both of which are useful. It also has a FIVE year motor warranty, and a three year product warranty overall.

Fruit Press and Ice Cream Attachments

I tailored the order to suit my families favorite cooking styles. The fruit press is amazing I spent an afternoon cleaning and pulping fresh apples and pears to make juice which tasted amazing and after pasteurization lasted weeks and weeks in the fridge. The range of extra attachments is amazing the juicer is a favourite of the kids, fresh smoothies and juice in minutes, this makes my life easier in the mornings as the fruit can be prepared the night before so I can send them off to school full of vitamins and minerals and ready to start the day. Then after school comes and the ice cream maker makes its way to the table multiple flavours, fruits and chocolates have been used, I even crafted a dairy free vegan ice cream for a friends birthday.

Functionality of the Appliances

To many some of the attachments may seem useless but for the die hard cooks each one really functions very differently. For the texture of certain cakes and desserts they really show their use although coming from a two attachment mixer the Ialth of attachments seems daunting but pushes creativity within the kitchen. The machines of other leading brands I have previously used have sounded like an aeroplane taking off. I was pleasantly surprised to not be shaken out of the room or wake the whole house up. The multi speed outlet function impressed as Ill and makes a notable difference in the end results of temperature sensitive foods like meringue and particular cakes.

Pasta Attachment

The pasta attachment and shaper for the Cuisinart  Food Mixer  is another definite favorite in the kitchen. It is able make different styles of pasta dough to play around with which tends to result in some fairly peculiar shapes of pasta. I have been able to experiment making noodles and pastas of differing thicknesses a quality very important for stir fry’s and oriental cooking such as the extra fine and crispy noodles in spring rolls.

Size of Appliance and Practicalities

The size of the bowls is optimum for having friends over as it is big enough to only make for example one batch of coleslaw rather than repeatedly filling the bowl to mix. Saves a lot of space in the kitchen, I now have one appliance instead of a kitchen full of pasta machines, juicers and pestle and mortars. I use it for everything making cakes, curry pastes, pasta, biscuits, bread, juice and unique herb blends and marinades.

Cleaning and Ease of Use

I have found that the machine is incredibly easy to clean, that goes for the attachments too. The titanium finish is user friendly and remains gleaming with every clean. Overall I am very happy with this purchase and intend to get to know each part of the appliance well.


In retrospect and an ideal world one could only wish they had added a coffee grinder :) I would probably say that this machine would mostly be suited to serious cooks or professional kitchens due to A- the price and B- the unbelievable potential of its attachments. Unlike many modern appliances this one seems built to last and that I hope it will.

Thank you for taking the time to read our Cuisinart Mixer Review and we hope it was helpful,  we check prices regularly and have always found the best price the Cuisinart  Food Processor here. They often sell out as quickly as the T-Fal Actifry Low-Fat Multi-Cooker and Fryer as it  is a popular product. So if you see it in stock on Amazon and at a good price it is worth grabbing, because they are generally the cheapest, so don’t think about it for too long if you see they have some in stock.