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1 month ago | 
nytimes.com | Sabine Heinlein
If you deal with frequent small messes, or you hate lugging out your full-size, plug-in vacuum cleaner, a cordless stick vacuum could be your dream cleaning partner. But like a good marriage, a cordless stick vacuum requires some compromises. We’ve tested dozens of models, and the perfect one just doesn’t exist.
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2 months ago | 
mrbellersneighborhood.com | Lily Lopate |Lori Jakiela |Kevin Nolan |Sabine Heinlein
6:50 am Standing in a help-desk line at JFK airport seems as good a moment as any to analyze the catastrophe of my life. Everyone in this line is embarrassed to be here, and I’m no exception. We’re misfits, absent-minded millennials and oldsters who can’t get technology to work, and we have formed an instant community as airport rejects. Before joining this exclusive club, I had to share my reason for being here. “What do you need help with?” the guard asked.
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Nov 26, 2024 | 
nytimes.com | Sabine Heinlein
Dyson’s WashG1 wet cleaner promises to deliver sparkling floors with minimal effort. We tested it out on a variety of messes.
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Nov 5, 2024 | 
nytimes.com | Sabine Heinlein
Handheld vacs ferret out crumbs from cushions, dirt from car seats, and fur from sofas. We recommend the Ryobi 18V One+ Performance Hand Vacuum Kit.
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Nov 4, 2024 | 
nytimes.com | Sabine Heinlein
Fur, cereal, coffee grounds, mites, sand, glitter, dust, pollutants, hair, dander, booklice, kitty litter—there’s a whole underworld of grossness hiding on your floors and deep inside your carpets and rugs. Only a powerful plug-in upright or canister vacuum can take on all of the above, making your home sweet home cleaner and less crawly. The best ones work on different types of floors, filter allergens and pollutants, and last for years. After testing dozens of models, we have four to recommend.
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Nov 4, 2024 | 
nytimes.com | Sabine Heinlein
A small apartment with a few area rugs has very different vacuum needs than a 2,000-square-foot house with wall-to-wall carpeting. The right vacuum for you also depends on your physical strength, ergonomic preferences, and cleaning standards and habits. And it matters if you have delicate hardwood floors, clean up after kids or shedding pets, or suffer from indoor allergies. No one vacuum can do it all.
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Nov 3, 2024 | 
nytimes.com | Sabine Heinlein
Carpets are a blessing and a curse. They keep your feet comfortable, beautify your home, provide noise reduction, and give toddlers a soft place to land. But they also harbor dirt, dander, mold, pollen, and pollutants that hide deep inside their fibers. If your home has lots of rugs and carpets of different piles and textures, you need a powerful, well-balanced vacuum with a light touch to tackle all of that grossness without damaging your rugs.
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Nov 3, 2024 | 
nytimes.com | Sabine Heinlein
Any vacuum can suck dust, hair, and crumbs off your hardwood, tile, or vinyl floors—but some models do it better than others. To avoid scattering debris or possibly damaging delicate flooring, look for a vacuum that either lets you switch off the spinning brush roll or has a special cleaner head with soft bristles. After testing dozens of vacuums, we have three models to recommend that gently and effectively clean hardwood floors.
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Oct 31, 2024 | 
nytimes.com | Sabine Heinlein
Turning your everyday food scraps into garden gold is an appealing concept: Spend between $180 and $1,000, plug in your food recycler, dump in your leftovers, and press a button. Voilà, you’ve got compost—or fertilizer—for your garden. Look at you, doing your part for a greener and better world!If only it were that simple. These food recyclers—often referred to as countertop composters—don’t actually produce compost. Yet the companies behind these machines have some awfully big marketing boasts.
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Oct 31, 2024 | 
nytimes.com | Sabine Heinlein
If I told you that, in the name of journalistic rigor, I raised dozens of worms in my New York City living room to harvest their poop, would you believe me? Well, I did. And I swear, it will all make sense when I explain. Let me tell you about my worm farm. I recently spent half a year testing food recyclers–often erroneously referred to as countertop composters—to see if the machines live up to their makers’ claims of turning you into an eco-savior with the push of a button.
