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What we bought: Cuisinart’s ice cream maker wasn’t my first choice
Cuisinart's ICE-30BCP1 ice cream maker didn't impress upon first use, but it has helped me make numerous batches of soft, delicious ice cream at home.
The gear you need for your dorm room
Our back-to-school guide wouldn't be complete without a section on dorm living. After all, you're going to be spending a lot of the year there (though hopefully not too much time). To really trick out a dorm room in 2019, we needed to focus on both comfort and convenience. Oh, and space savings, too. We think smart displays make a lot of sense, given how versatile they are. In particular, we opted for products that use Google Assistant over Amazon's Alexa because we think most people already tend to use Google for most services. We also suggested cooking gear that would be allowed in most dorms, including an electric kettle and the multifunctional Instant Pot. And to brighten up your new place a bit, we've also listed a couple different lighting options. From a high-tech smart clock to a basic coffee dripper, we think this is a solid shortlist for making your tiny abode feel like home away from home.
The best toaster oven
By Michael Sullivan and Brendan Nystedt This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter. When readers choose to buy Wirecutter's independently chosen editorial picks, Wirecutter and Engadget may earn affiliate commission. Read the full toaster oven guide here. After more than 90 hours of research and testing—and making stacks and stacks of toast, mini pizza bagels, and cookies—we think the small Panasonic FlashXpress toaster oven and the large Cuisinart TOB-260N1 Chef's Convection Toaster Oven are the best for most people. We recommend the compact Panasonic toaster oven only for small jobs like making frozen snacks, and the sizable Cuisinart toaster oven for everything, including bigger tasks, like baking a pizza or roasting a whole chicken. Both models consistently produced almost perfectly browned toast and evenly baked cookies. They performed as well as (or better than) toaster ovens costing two or three times as much. The reasonably priced Panasonic FlashXpress excels at making toast, cookies, and frozen snacks. In our tests, it cooked food evenly and didn't generate any hot spots that would otherwise cause inconsistent toasting. Impressively, it made toast faster than most of the other models we tried. At around 1 cubic foot in volume, it takes up very little space on a counter, but it's still large enough to fit four pieces of bread or two slices of leftover pizza. We think the Panasonic is best for people who just want to use a toaster oven for toast or other small jobs, like preparing a handful of frozen snacks. For accomplishing bigger tasks, consider getting our other picks, the Cuisinart TOB-260N1 Chef's Convection Toaster Oven or the Breville BOV800XL Smart Oven, which hold nine and six pieces of bread, respectively. The large Cuisinart TOB-260N1 offers nearly all of the capabilities of a full-size oven. It delivers even heat to up to nine slices of bread and can easily handle a 13-inch frozen pizza or a whole roast chicken (whereas our other pick, the Panasonic FlashXpress, can fit only a handful of frozen snacks). The Cuisinart's three-year warranty is outstanding, as are its impressive accessories, which include a pizza stone. Like the Panasonic, this toaster oven was one of the fastest at preheating to 350 °F in our tests. Since it's so large (it measures roughly 20.5 by 13.25 by 11.25 inches), we recommend this model for bigger households that have ample space for a sizeable countertop oven. The Breville Smart Oven BOV800XL, a 1,800-watt convection toaster with the company's Element IQ technology, is a great medium-size model that's more compact than our Cuisinart pick but bigger than the Panasonic FlashXpress. We were impressed by its ability to maintain a set temperature better than most of its competition. It doesn't toast quite as evenly as the Cuisinart, but it bakes cookies and melts cheese well. Compared with the Panasonic, the Breville has a more modern, intuitive interface. However, it is more expensive, lacks an oven light, and doesn't offer a pizza stone like the Cuisinart. The inexpensive Hamilton Beach 31401 toasted bread better than any other toaster oven less than $100. This no-frills model lacks many of the features included in our other picks, such as digital controls and preset cooking features, but it heats evenly. Its humble size makes it ideal for kitchens with limited counter space, but its oven cavity is still large enough to fit four slices of bread. The Hamilton Beach runs cooler than other models we tested, so you'll need to increase the temperature by about 25 degrees when baking or roasting. However, we think this is a forgivable drawback considering its low price.
The best electric kettle
By Michael Sullivan, Winnie Yang and Tim Barribeau This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter. When readers choose to buy Wirecutter's independently chosen editorial picks, Wirecutter and Engadget may earn affiliate commission. Read the full electric kettle guide here. We've spent dozens of hours researching and long-term testing electric kettles. For the fifth year in a row, we think the Cuisinart CPK-17 PerfecTemp Cordless Electric Kettle is the best electric kettle for most people. It's a high-end, variable-temperature model that's ideal for brewing myriad teas, making pour-over coffee, or simply boiling water for instant oatmeal. Thanks to its winning combination of speed, accuracy, and ease of use, it bested all the other electric kettles we tested. The Cuisinart CPK-17 won us over with its consistent performance and easy-to-use interface. In our tests, we found very little variation in the amount of time it took to bring water to a boil, and we were also impressed with its accuracy in holding water at a set temperature. It has six preset temperature choices, each with a dedicated button, as well as buttons to start boiling and to activate the Keep Warm feature. It emits alerts when you press a button and when the water reaches its target temperature, but unlike with some of the other models we tested, those beeps aren't too obnoxious or annoying. The three-year warranty is also quite a bit more generous than the coverage for similarly priced electric kettles. Pour-over coffee lovers will appreciate the precise aim of the Bonavita BV382510V 1.0L Digital Variable Temperature Gooseneck Kettle. This smaller, 1-liter model is lightweight and easy to hold, so your hands won't tire while pouring. Tea lovers will also like its spot-on temperature accuracy: You can set the Bonavita to any temperature between 140 degrees Fahrenheit and 212 °F, so it's ideal for brewing all varieties of tea. This model even has the ability to hold a set temperature for up to an hour, 30 minutes longer than our main pick. For larger households, we recommend the 1.7-liter version of this kettle. We recommend the inexpensive Hamilton Beach 40880 Stainless Steel 1.7 Liter Electric Kettle for anyone who doesn't want to break the bank but still wants a decent kettle. Using this stainless steel model is very straightforward: You switch the tab up on the kettle to boil water, and it shuts off automatically as soon as the cycle is complete. In our tests, the Hamilton Beach 40880 had one of the fastest boil times; the handle also stayed cool after boiling, and the spout didn't dribble when pouring. This kettle has all of the features we look for in a basic model at a bargain price.
The best drip coffee maker
By Cale Guthrie Weissman and Liz Clayton This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter. When readers choose to buy Wirecutter's independently chosen editorial picks, it may earn affiliate commissions that support its work. Read the full article here. Since 2014, we've spent 71 hours brewing in 19 coffee makers to find our top home brewer. After tasting hundreds of pots of coffee, we think the OXO On 9-Cup Coffee Maker is the best automatic drip coffee maker for most people. It's fast and convenient, with a programmable start time and a well-insulated carafe, and it makes a good pot of coffee. We love the features of the OXO On 9-Cup Coffee Maker, like its timer function and automatic pre-infusion cycle (which briefly wets the coffee before brewing for better extraction). The machine has a handsome design, with a well-made thermal carafe that pours easily and keeps coffee hot for hours. We found the coffee from the OXO a little less reliably nuanced than brews from our runner-up, the Bonavita Connoisseur. But it still makes coffee far better than the average machine, and unlike the Connoisseur, allows you to wake up to a fresh pot in the morning or pour yourself a cup while the machine is still brewing. The Bonavita BV1901TS Connoisseur brewed the best-tasting coffee of any machine we tried, with minimal (read: zero) bells and whistles and an uber-simple interface. Like the OXO, it has a pre-infusion cycle (though it's not automatic) and can still brew fast, making a six-cup pot in less than 5 minutes. It also has an improved design over older Bonavitas, with a brew basket that slides right into the machine instead of resting awkwardly on top of the carafe. As a bonus, it sits on the low end of the price spectrum for the high-end coffee makers, costing about $160. We love the simplicity of the Bonavita and think it's a great choice if flavor is your number one priority. But unlike our top pick, it has only an on/off switch, so you can't program it to brew at a set time. And the carafe is clunky: You have to brew into it with the lid off, but can pour only with the lid on. It also didn't keep coffee hot for as long as the OXO did.
The best food processor
By Christine Cyr Clisset and Michael Sullivan This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter. When readers choose to buy Wirecutter's independently chosen editorial picks, it may earn affiliate commissions that support its work. Read the full article here. After spending 50 hours researching food processors, interviewing experts, and conducting nearly four years of long-term testing, we still think the Cuisinart Custom 14-Cup Food Processor is the best choice for most home cooks. Its simple, pared-down design makes it easier to use and clean than models with more settings or multiple bowls, and we found it to be built more solidly than other processors in this price range. In our tests, the Cuisinart Custom 14-Cup Food Processor tackled a multitude of chopping and shredding tasks exceptionally well.
Encrypted Text: Macros and you
To be honest with you all, there are precisely two macros that I use with any regularlity. Now this isn't to say that there aren't some really creative macros out there. There are no less than three monstrous threads on the US Rogue forums full of all manner of macro you could ever want. (While we're on the topic, Blue, could you sticky the most recent one please? Thanks!) But to be honest, a lot of it is, from personal experience -- really superfluous. Sure. I could set up a macro that would throw five Sinister Strikes and then an Eviscerate:/startattack/castsequence Sinister Strike, Sinister Strike, Sinister Strike, Sinister Strike, Sinister Strike, Evisceratebut to be blunt, looking at the above makes me a sad panda. It takes all of the challenge and fun out of playing a Rogue to me. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure there's a place for macros that are pages long. But I'm not certain that automating everything via an enormous compendium of macros will honestly ever take the place of a smart Rogue who pays attention and can tell "useful" macros from "overkill."Now, before everyone sends me tons of hatemail about how I'm 'teh worst Rogue evar' bear with me. I'll try to explain why I'm pointing fingers at some of the Rogue macros out there, and why I feel they are more of a hinderance than a help. And just to prove I'm not totally anti-macro -- I'll share the two that are staples in my bar and I admit I'd hate to play without.
