Decide what to buy | the Reevoo.com blog, featuring news on TVs, cameras, laptops, mp3 players & other gadgets, shopping tips and deals, reviews and more

No one plans on spending much time in the kitchen at uni - unless it’s where everyone plays ring of fire and watches Diagnosis Murder re-runs - so you’ll be needing some kitchen basics which won’t put a dent in your loan and which will survive daily abuse.

We’ve come up with some best value appliances which will ensure that you can live off the three student staples: toast, tea and beans…and a little something to make sure no one makes off with your beer.

Tesco have a great range of value products and we’ve found a Kettle, toaster and sandwich toaster all for under £30.

kettle - Tesco Value JK07 - £10

toaster - Tesco Value 2T07 - £9

sandwich toaster - Tesco Value Sandwich Toaster - £10

With a microwave, you can pretty much live pan-free. Take a look at the 20 litre Daewoo KOR6L15. It’s a bargain at £38 with five power steps and auto-cook function.

This final item may not be seen as an essential but you’ll soon realise that beers in the fridge disappear quickly. Keep them safe by investing in this Matsui MTT507WW mini fridge which can live in the safety of your room. It’s £72 plus delivery and has a 60 litre capacity…that’s a lot of beer!

Yesterday we looked at how to recycle old electronic goods.  Before you rush off to the local recycling facility with your old freezers, CD players or CRT TVs, take a minute to think if anyone else could still get some use out of them.

Three million children live in UK households that cannot afford to replace broken electrical items. If your electrical goods haven’t reached the end of their useful life, but you don’t fancy the effort involved in putting them up on ebay, here are some alternative ways to get them to people who really need them.

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The only problem with buying yourself a great new gadget, or fitting out your kitchen with up-to-the minute appliances is what to do with the things they replace. Disposing of old electricals can be a bit of a headache and they often end up gathering dust at the back of a cupboard or in the attic.

At the moment, over 75% of old electricals end up in landfills, polluting the soil. Every year Britain produces enough electrical waste to fill Wembley Stadium 6 times over. And this mountain of junk is growing - Britain produces 5% more electrical waste every year.

The irony is that over 85% of the materials that make up electrical goods are recyclable, and recycling them has never been easier. Here’s our quick guide to the right way to get rid of old TVs, kitchen appliances, gadgets and mobile phones.

What can I recycle?

If your product has a plug or a battery it can probably be recycled.  Double check by looking for the crossed-out wheely bin symbol somewhere on the product case or manual.

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It’s not a particularly great time to be moving house at the moment so for those of you who just want to spruce things up a bit, you can do so for less than you think.

The kitchen is where all the action happens, food action, that is. It’s also one of the most expensive rooms to totally redo because of all the appliances that have to go in it. But there are some great bargains to be had in the appliances department. We’ve been through all the reviews to pick out a load of cheap appliances that have great reviews from their owners.

We’ve even managed to find a fridge-freezer, washing machine, oven, hob, dishwasher and microwave all for under £800!

We’ve also included some smaller items like kettles and toasters. Check them out:

Best cheap appliances

Washing machine - Indesit WIB111 - £175

Oven - Indesit FI21KB - £135

Hob - New World NWGHU60Ss - £78

Fridge-freezer - Hotpoint RFA52 - £209

Microwave - Russell Hobbs SMS21 - £40

Dishwasher - Beko DWD4310 - £160

All the above for under £800!

Kettle - Kenwood Mona Kettle - £15

Toaster - Kenwood TTP103 - £18

Food processor - Kenwood Delia’s Cheat Gadget - £17

Some real bargains there. I can’t believe that food processor is only £17! It’s been reviewed by 333 people and has a score of 9.1/10 so it’s definitely a little gem. It was also recommended by TV chef extraordinaire, Delia Smith, so it must be good.

There are plenty more bargains to be had too but just make sure you read the reviews first to ensure the product is actually any good.

In light of the credit crunch, you would have thought that we’d all be being a little more careful over our spending but new research from Reevoo has found that we not only still spend a fortune on electrical devices but we are also still shopping for middle of the range brands, rather than cheaper ones. But it must be said that we are at least reading more reviews so that we can be sure we’re spending our money on worthy goods.

The poll of 3,000 households revealed that 77% of Brits are now opting to read customer reviews before selecting items such as televisions, washing machines and dishwashers. And 69% of people are taking more time over choosing electrical products.” – very wise.

The research also showed that over our working lives, we will spend a massive £48,940 on electrical devices alone. And what is the item we’ll have to replace the most? The humble kettle. We will buy one every three years, costing us £1000 over our lifetime.

But that’s small fry compared to the amount we’ll spend on PCs, TVs and ovens over the years. The table below shows how often we’ll replace items and how much they’re likely to cost us.

Spending patterns differ in different regions. Click on the map below to see how much you’re likely to spend in your area:

www.reevoo.com/pink

If you’re a girl who needs everything to be pink; if you’re a guy who’s struggling to find a gift for his girlfriend or if you’re a man who just likes a bit of pink, it turns out you’re not alone.

Research by consumer review website, Reevoo.com, looked at how popular pink products were across its own website and those of its partners. Websites such as Dixons, The Carphone Warehouse and Currys were analysed to find out how pink products shaped up compared to their duller counterparts.

In the last 3 months, the pink JVC Everio GZ-MG330 camcorder has been one of the most popular models on the market and one of the most popular pink products.  One in twenty camcorder visits has been to look at this pink camcorder.

To continue the success of pink products, the pink Motorola ROKR U9 has been a great example to all pink mobile phones. Out of all 22,000 products, from TVs to MP3 players and washing machines, it was the 21st most popular product.

And it wasn’t just mobile phones bringing down the big guys, the Medion Celeron Processor Pink Laptop beat the mighty 17 inch MacBook Pro in the popularity stakes.

A Decide What to Buy favourite, Hetty, also did well to be the 16th most popular vacuum cleaner. There are over 375 vacuums so Hetty did pretty well.

You can see the top 10 pink products below, how popular they are in their categories and how popular they are compared to all the other 22,000 products.

Click on table above to enlarge.

To celebrate all this pinkness, Reevoo has created a page full of the pinkest products around. Fom pink MP3 players and pink laptops to pink irons and pink beanbags, they’re all there. You can find them at www.reevoo.com/pink.

Back in the day, our kitchens were filled with mug trees, chip pans and egg slicers. Well a lot has happened since then and we now go home to plasma TVs, grilling machines and bread makers. Making meals from scratch has given way to microwaves, ready meals and expensive gadgets that cut down the time and effort we have to put into cooking. In fact, a survey conducted by Reevoo showed that in the 1970s, we cooked seven meals a week from scratch compared to only four today. We also spent 116 minutes a day in the kitchen whereas we only spend around 74 minutes nowadays.

Check out the stats below that show how our kitchens have changed in the last 30 odd years.

The survey also looked at regional changes and found that those in the North East were more likely to own chip pans in the 70s and in the North West and Northern Ireland, kitchens are more likely to come complete with games consoles, HiFis and plasma TVs today. However, gadgets aren’t as important in the North East – they are the least likely to have a dishwasher.

People in the East Midlands spend the least time in the kitchen with those in Northern Ireland spending the most.

Interesting stuff. Although, I do think that the culture of cooking from scratch is on its way back in. With more and more scare stories about packaged food, problems with our diets and the guilt factor pushed onto parents, I think that we are cooking a lot more than we did 10 years ago. It is a little worrying that more people have coffee machines than scales but here’s hoping that we all start putting a bit more effort into cooking healthy meals. The big issue is time but with all these gadgets, it has made things a little quicker than they would have been in the 70s.

Top seventies kitchen items

1.     Teapot and cosy (63%)
2.     Kitchen scales (61 %)
3.     Tupperware (59%)
4.     Chip pan (58%)
5.     Salt and pepper shakers (57%)
6.     Bread bin (56%)
7.     Hand-held whisk (52%)
8.     Casserole dish (49%)
9.     Spice rack (44%)
10.   Pressure cooker (43%)
11.   Tea strainer (42%)
12.   Mug tree (41%)
13.   Toasted sandwich maker (38%)
14.   Souvenir tea towels (37%)
15.   Shaped jelly mould (36%)
16.   Egg slicer (36%)
17.   Lolly makers (35%)
18.   Food mixer (35%)
19.   Soda stream (34%)
20.   Electric carving knife (33%)

Top items found in today’s kitchens

1.     Microwave (70%)
2.     Electric kettle (69%)
3.     Toaster (68%)
4.     Saucepan set (57%)
5.     Knife set (55%)
6.     Automatic washing machine (53%)
7.     Wok (49%)
8.     Sandwich maker (40%)
9.     Blender (38%)
10.   Hand held blender (37%)
11.   Tumble dryer (36%)
12.   Steamer (35%)
13.   Dishwasher (32%)
14.   Grilling machine (31%)
15.   Coffee machine (26%)
16.   Grill pan (26%)
17.   Slow cooker (26%)
18.   Electric scales (24%)
19.   Water filter (23%)
20.   Bread maker (22%)

We’ve talked about eco kettles in the past so we thought it fair to offer up an alternative to the somewhat disappointing offering we’ve had already.  This Eco Kettle helps with the problem of not knowing how much water to put in your kettle every time you boil it. Most people end up boiling far too much and wasting a whole heap of electricity. In fact, the folks over at The Big Green Shop claim that on average, we boil twice the volume of water needed. This means twice as much energy and twice as much time. With a 3kW kettle that’s the same as wasting the energy of around 50 light bulbs!

So why is this kettle different? Well, it’s got two water chambers. A central reservoir can be filled up and then a button allows a certain amount of water to move into the second chamber, which will then get heated. You can decide how much water you send through from one cup to full capacity, so that you know exactly how much you’re boiling (rather than standing at the sink, trying to estimate, filling it too much, having to empty some out, emptying too much out, having to fill up again – I think you get the point). Apparently, the Energy Saving Trust did some consumer trials and found that the kettle used 31% less energy than standard kettles, on average. There’s a complicated sum that measures how much we could save a year here too. These kettles are £29.99. For those of you in the US, you can pick one up from the Enviro Centre. They’re a little more expensive but they ship globally.

But before you rush off and buy one, we checked out some of the reviews. There are people who are very happy with their purchase, however, a few others aren’t. Check out the eco kettle reviews for yourselves.

We thought it was about time we carried on our rooms on a budget theme. This week, we’re looking at kitchens on a budget.

We’ve looked at everything you’d need for a kitchen – minus the cabinets themselves – and our budget kitchen comes in at £1114.

Obviously everybody’s kitchen will be different colours so we’ve gone for standard, yet sleek, black and stainless steel.

First up are the essentials, sink, oven, hob and fridge-freezer. 

We’ve gone for the attractive Astracast KO10RS sink. It’s £150, 98 cm wide and has a bowl size of 43 x 50 cm.

Everyone knows that if you want the best control over your cooking, the only way to go is gas. We’ve found this great stainless steel hob and oven pack from Baumatic. It’s £200 and has been rated 9.1/10 on Reevoo.

The top rated and best value for money fridge freezer we could find was the Indesit TA5S. It’s £240, has more fridge room than the large American-style fridges and it’s got some great reviews. Lots of owners are very impressed with its capacity, quality and value for money.

Ok, so far we’ve covered the essentials and we’re up to £590. Not bad for a fridge-freezer, oven, hob and sink?

Let’s move on to appliances.

The Breville JK123 kettle is simple to use and great value for money at £16. The matching Breville TT48 toaster is only £19. It has independent controls for each slice and a digital display.

This £51 Kenwood SJSS25 microwave has been rated 8.5/10 by the people who have bought it. Its capacity is 25 litres and it also has a grill function. One review reads “Easy to use, attractive, cost effective, efficient, fast, easy to wipe clean and maintain”.

For a dishwasher, we’ve gone for the Hotpoint FDL570. It’s £215 and it’s only 49 decibels so you won’t annoy the neighbours.

And finally, the washing machine. The A-rated Hotpoint WF321 is £223 and it has a larger than average load capacity of 6kg. Pam  from  Salisbury says “It is easy to use, not too noisy, nice big door and nice looking”.

So there you have it, a stylish kitchen for a little over £1000. Job done.

It’s spring time and lots of people are having improvements made to their houses. If you’re looking to get a new kitchen, we’ve put together all the top kitchen appliances, rated by people who’ ve bought and used them, so that you can be sure you’re spending your money wisely.

We’ve concentrated on products with 30 reviews or more and have included even the little essentials like the all important kettle and food processor.

Let’s start off with the big stuff:

You can’t have a kitchen without an oven. We’ve gone for the top freestanding one which happens to be the Cannon C60DHK with 9.1/10. Purchasers love its value for money and performance. Richard from Surrey keeps things concise when he says: “Dual fuel, easy to keep clean, well built, quality materials, efficient.”

Reviewers name the Beko AB910s the best fridge/freezer. It gets 9.1/10 and a load of very positive comments. One review reads, “Excellent capacity. Very quiet. Attractive and functional.”

Miele have done pretty well with reviewers, they get top spots in the washing machine and dishwasher categories. Their W 3922 WPS SOFTRONIC washing machine not only scores an A-rating for energy efficiency, it also scores highly with consumers, one of whom says it “delivers the best wash I have ever seen.” Other purchasers hardly have a bad word to say about it and as a result, its overall score is 9.5/10.

With positive comments like “This is a high quality machine and is built to last”, and very few negative comments, Miele can also be proud of the G1222SC dishwasher’s 9/10 score.

As temperatures are getting hotter, you want to spend less time labouring over a hot stove, nuke your grub instead with the Panasonic NNCT766M BPQ. It apparently “has everything you could want from a multi-function microwave”, according to Alan in Whitley Bay. It scores 8.8/10 with particularly high scores in the performance category.

Treat your rosey lea to some top quality treatment with the Breville JK121 kettle. It gets 8.7/10 from its fans.

Mixing stuff has never been so fun and reliable…if you use the Kenwood FP 920, that is. With 8.9/10 and attachments and gadgets aplenty, you’ll ask yourself why you never invested in one before.

Hope you got all that. If you didn’t, here’s a recap:

Freestanding Oven – Cannon C60DHK
Fridge/freezer – Beko AB910s
Washing machine - Miele W 3922 WPS SOFTRONIC
Dishwasher – Miele G1222SC
Microwave – Panasonic NNCT766M BPQ
Kettle – Breville JK121
Food processor – Kenwood FP 920