Household Recs and Reviews

[kemdupuis]

I thought the makeup thread was a neat idea- so maybe we can do this for household products too?

[kemdupuis]

We are in the market for a new mattress and we have no idea where to start. Willing to spend some $, but how do you pick one?! DH and I both have significant back issues- me especially- so we need to get this right. Laying on a bed for 20 minutes and picking it for the next 7 or so years seems crazy to me. Thoughts?

We are also in the market for a new knife set. Currently, we have a cheapo Chicago cutlery set that I bought in college and knives are breaking right and left. I would consider myself a bit of a home cook snob- I like high quality products and will spend the $ for them. Who has a set that they love?

[kemdupuis]

Jul 25, 2016 17:17:40 GMT -5 michyme123 said:

kemdupuis, do you have a Costco membership? I have nothing but good things to say about our experience with ordering our mattress online. Great price and comes with I think a 10 year warrenty? Great return policy, as they usually are. We had no issues with ours though and love it! Only thing with buying online is you can't go try them out. But you could always go to a store that carries the same and try one. We ended up with memory foam.

Yes, we do have a Costco membership. I hadn't even thought about looking there. What brand do you have? Do you find memory foam supportive enough? Or does it like, engulf you?

[beersandweirs]

I am pretty sure Sleep Train (formerly Sleep Country) is a national chain, I think you have something like 100 days to return a mattress if you don't like it.

For knives, we don't have a knife set, because we have found that you can buy 3 or 4 quality knives for the price of a set, and just pick the ones you are most likely to use. Like get a chef's knife, a paring knife, maybe a santoku and possibly some more specialized ones like a bread knife or boning (filet) knife. The sets tend to have extras you don't really need. As far as brand, I think if you went to a kitchen store that lets you try out their knives, you can find ones that you like the feel of in your hand, which I find to be important.

[sabrinaml]

My in laws use Cutco knives. They love them. Pretty pricey but worth the price since you can send them in to be sharpened the right way.

[jessila]

kemdupuis, if you're willing to spend the money I cannot day enough amazing things about our Tempurpedic mattress. We've had it for 2 1/2 years and it's as amazing as when we got it. I was much more comfortable on it pregnant than I was on a regular mattress. We viewed it as an investment because it comes with a long warranty either 20 or 25 years. My ILs have had theirs for at least 10 years and still love it.
We have the cloud version and it's great but does hold heat during the summer. It did suck post c-section because it absorbs all motion so sitting up was hard.

Also, we got a Calphalon set for our wedding. It's still in pretty great condition 7+ years later. I think they were $200 for the block with 8 steak knives and a chef, santoku, bread, parer, and a slicer. There were 2 extra slots and we got another santoku and a tomato/bagel knife.

I know dmoney got a pressure cooker recently. Any one else have experience yet? And dmoney-how do you like yours?

[kemdupuis]

Jul 25, 2016 17:37:19 GMT -5 jessila said:

kemdupuis, if you're willing to spend the money I cannot day enough amazing things about our Tempurpedic mattress. We've had it for 2 1/2 years and it's as amazing as when we got it. I was much more comfortable on it pregnant than I was on a regular mattress. We viewed it as an investment because it comes with a long warranty either 20 or 25 years. My ILs have had theirs for at least 10 years and still love it.
We have the cloud version and it's great but does hold heat during the summer. It did suck post c-section because it absorbs all motion so sitting up was hard.

Also, we got a Calphalon set for our wedding. It's still in pretty great condition 7+ years later. I think they were $200 for the block with 8 steak knives and a chef, santoku, bread, parer, and a slicer. There were 2 extra slots and we got another santoku and a tomato/bagel knife.

I know dmoney got a pressure cooker recently. Any one else have experience yet? And dmoney-how do you like yours?

We were talking about getting a tempurpedic- glad to know someone that has one and loves it. My parents have a water bed and DH's parents buy cheap, so we really have no one to give us advice on this topic. I think they came out with a cooler tempurpedic recently? Will have to look into it further

[kemdupuis]

Jul 25, 2016 17:32:11 GMT -5 sabrinaml said:

My in laws use Cutco knives. They love them. Pretty pricey but worth the price since you can send them in to be sharpened the right way.

Love Cutco knives. Costco had them a few months ago and we toyed with buying some, but didn't pull the trigger. I wish we had. Don't know where to buy them other than from a salesman

[billyhorrible]

Mattress: Westin Heavenly Bed
Knives: Shun

[jillywilly]

Love our Wustoff knives. I thought H was crazy when we registered for them four years ago, because they're crazy expensive. We wound up with three main knives, and they're fabulous. We will probably have them forever.

[dmoney]

I love my hinkle knives. We got them as an engagement gift and they are fantastic. Had to sharpen them for the first time this winter and we have had them for almost 6 years. They are VERY pricy but I love them.

jessila I love the pressure cooker. Now that I know how to use it in might start using it weekly. We also have slow cooker that isn't anything fancy but in the winter does the job.

[heartofglass]

+whatever to a Tempurpedic mattress. I've had mine for years and it seems to have kept its firmness. We used to have a memory foam topper on it, but that had to go while I was pregnant.

No idea about knives. We got our set at the thrift store.

[holliberry28]

We also have a Westin heavenly bed, but I find that it's a bit on the softer side if you like firm.

[Bluedaisy]

Is it weird that I have no idea what our mattress is and that every knife we own my DH has picked out? We do have some Cutco ones and we have some Henckels ones which are pretty nice.

[sugarkissed]

FIL is a former chef, so we got knives as a wedding gift. Expensive knives. but they are awesome! Some of them are Henkels and some are Victorinox.

[wegrowsheep]

Knives: Calphalon Katana
Mattress: need a new one.

[Widget123]

I don't have any clue what kind of mattress we have and we have several knife sets at home, but I don't know the brands. Clearly I am no help.

[sabrinaml]

Jul 25, 2016 22:20:49 GMT -5 @imapenguin said:

Jul 25, 2016 18:08:23 GMT -5 kemdupuis said:

Love Cutco knives. Costco had them a few months ago and we toyed with buying some, but didn't pull the trigger. I wish we had. Don't know where to buy them other than from a salesman

Theres almost always someone set up at our mall and I think you may be able to order online now.

You can order them from their website now.

[mrsmonogrammed]

SQ- how long are you supposed to keep a mattress?

[mrsdee1982]

For those of you with laminate wood flooring, what do you use to clean it? I haven't found anything that I like in the 3 years we've had it, and now that baby is super mobile, I'd really like it to be clean and sanitary.

[kemdupuis]

Jul 26, 2016 10:35:47 GMT -5 mrsdee1982 said:

For those of you with laminate wood flooring, what do you use to clean it? I haven't found anything that I like in the 3 years we've had it, and now that baby is super mobile, I'd really like it to be clean and sanitary.

We have engineered hardwood- so not the same, BUT, I really like the bona line of floor cleaners. We have the tile spray too, and I think it does a good job

[mrsdee1982]

I wasn't sure if I could use a steam mop on laminate floors. If so, that's a game changer. I'd love to be able to do so! Off to google.

[turtle]

Jul 26, 2016 12:21:44 GMT -5 mrsdee1982 said:

I wasn't sure if I could use a steam mop on laminate floors. If so, that's a game changer. I'd love to be able to do so! Off to google.

I have Pergo laminate floors. They specifically say not to steam mop. I'm not sure what other manufacturers say. I really want to do it anyway, but I can't bring myself to do it. I'm afraid of warping.

[turtle]

How do all of you sharpen your knives? Bring them somewhere? Electric sharpener? Hand sharpen? We got the knives for a wedding present and nine years later, they've never been sharpened. Oops.

[jillywilly]

Jul 26, 2016 12:16:47 GMT -5 @akwild said:

Jul 26, 2016 10:35:47 GMT -5 mrsdee1982 said:

For those of you with laminate wood flooring, what do you use to clean it? I haven't found anything that I like in the 3 years we've had it, and now that baby is super mobile, I'd really like it to be clean and sanitary.

We have a shark steam mop. It does a really nice job, I just need to use it more. I usually vacuum the kitchen first then use the steam mop.

I've been wanting the shark steam mop, was thinking about putting it on my Christmas list this year. My, how gifts change over the years. 

[jessila]

I had a shark steam mop and the piece between the water tank and head melted. The company sent me a new one and the same thing happened. While I loved how well it worked, I'm not going to recommend it.

[baytosa2013]

We need new knives too so I'm totally following this.

We bought a new sealy in January and I like it but it has a hump in the middle where we don't sleep so it's not wearing the same already. I'm thinking we are going to tell them we don't like it and want to exchange it.

As for the floors I just use hot water and some mr clean. I mop small areas at a time and the go back over and dry it immediately so I won't get streaks.

[veggiemo]

I use Wusthof knives too. I have a chef's knife, 4 steak knives and a paring knife. The only time I use the paring knife is when all the steak knives are dirty. I wouldn't get a whole knife block set if I were you, you just don't use all of them.

I really prefer the "classic" Wusthof because the handle is lightweight. My mom has the "Ikon" and the handle is so heavy, it makes the chopping more difficult (I think).

[belle0720]

mrsdee1982 I use the Shark Steam Mop too. Major WHOOPS if you aren't supposed to, but it hasn't ruined our floors yet!

[Flick]

Jul 25, 2016 17:13:22 GMT -5 kemdupuis said:

We are in the market for a new mattress and we have no idea where to start. Willing to spend some $, but how do you pick one?! DH and I both have significant back issues- me especially- so we need to get this right. Laying on a bed for 20 minutes and picking it for the next 7 or so years seems crazy to me. Thoughts?

We are also in the market for a new knife set. Currently, we have a cheapo Chicago cutlery set that I bought in college and knives are breaking right and left. I would consider myself a bit of a home cook snob- I like high quality products and will spend the $ for them. Who has a set that they love?

Buy a Purple matress! Then you can come back and tell me if I should buy.