Home, Hearth, Harmony

★★★★★

"Bought the Le Creuset after my mother's finally gave out (40 years later, mind you). Ember & Oak had it in the discontinued Marseille blue I wanted, and it arrived in three days with hand-written packing. I made cassoulet the first night and cried a little. The lid is heavier than I remembered from my mom's, which I think is a good thing."

★★★★★

"We got the Roomba j9+ for our two-cat, one-shedding-dog household and honestly I was skeptical it would handle the fur. It does. It's mapped our weird L-shaped apartment perfectly after a few days. Only gripe is the base station is bigger than I expected — we had to rearrange the entryway closet to hide it. Worth it though."

★★★★

"The Breville with the auto-tamper has saved my marriage (mostly kidding). My husband and I used to fight about whose espresso shot was 'right' — now the machine does the hard part. Pulls are consistent, milk steaming has a small learning curve but I figured it out in a week. Wish it came in a matte finish, but the stainless looks fine."