The Kenwood Energy Sense kettle has a clear body and comes with either a polished metal or white base, handle and lid. It looks stylish and is lightweight. The Eco friendly design incorporates an improved element technology designed to improve the energy rating. I trialled this up against our regular kettle and found that it used around 10% less energy as measured by and boiled around 9 seconds quicker.

There are products that are born just to be looked at. Screwpull corkscrews are made to be used, caressed and admired adoringly. Screwpull manages to do for corkscrews what Alessi did for the humble lemon squeezer - it pulls us in with its luscious looks. I remember well the design class in which I first heard about Alessi and saw the truly iconic lemon squeezer.

Saving energy is important for both conservation issues and, especially with the ever-increasing spiral of rising costs, financial concerns.  Arriving with accreditation from the Energy Saving Trust, the Tefal Quick Cup product offers to help by delivering a significant reduction in energy consumption when compared against that of the average kettle.

Whether you favour tea, coffee or maybe a combination of the two (although not at the same time or in the same cup), a supply of hot water is essential to satisfy your choice of beverage.  One possible solution to supplying this hot water could be the Rowenta Prelude.  This stainless steel kettle has a capacity of 1.7 litres. Its description as a cordless kettle does raise the question of how the water is heated if there is no cord to connect to a power source.

First as the hand blender it is 36cm tall, holding it at the thickest part of the rubberised grip it is 15cm round just about comfortable for an adult hand. The top 19cm is the rubberised piece and this is where the powerful 700watt motor lives. There are two push buttons on/off and turbo but above these near the top is a control wheel with speeds from 1 to 5 for various tasks.

Whether it is breakfast, mid-morning or a late-evening snack, the thought of poached egg on toast can cause the gastric juices to begin flowing - at least that is probably the reasoning behind a new product from Tefal.  The product, as you might have guessed if you had read my earlier report, is the Tefal Toast n' Egg.  Tefal has taken a two slice toaster and attached a basic food preparer to one end.

The Solar Cube is 53x37x48cm you should also allow some clearance above and behind for heat dispersal. Its weight is 26kilos. Yes it does get hot when in use and if you touch it you would probably move your hand away quite quickly but I doubt you would be burnt. Around ten minutes after use it is only vaguely warm. This is a combination of Microwave, Grill, Convection Oven and Halogen source.

Situated in , within a stone's throw of Oxford Street and Bond Street, the Music Room is one of those locations that are often used by companies to show off their wares to the press and trade customers. My previous visit had been to check out new products from Sony Ericsson and now I was faced with various household gadgets bearing the , Krups and Rowenta brands.

"Bread and water can so easily be toast and tea." Anonymous When I suggested to my colleagues at Gadgetspeak that we should look at toasters and kettles, I didn't realise quite how much toast I would have to eat, nor how much tea would be involved!! But we do like to be thorough for you, dear reader. A piece of toast is not just a piece of toast to the British.

I've never met a Kenwood product I didn't like (not so far anyway).  The latest product we've tried is the Kenwood Smoothie 2Go. We've tried Kenwood smoothie makers before and this one is just as easy and effective to use.   So what is the difference?  Well mainly it's down to size and a few neat little features which make the smoothie easy to take out with you on picnics.

I was to say the least sceptical deep fried chips to be crispy require double frying and that requires them to be cooked at a lower temperature and then recooked at a higher temperature to crisp them. So following the instructions I picked a medium sized potato which if it is 250 grams is stated to be a single portion. I weighed a few and found one at 260 grams. 13x13mm and up to 9cm long.

It is 35x16x19cm. All the controls are on the front these consist of the normal vertical push arm to insert the toast and a horizontal slider to decide how dark you want your toast. To the right in a compass like arrangement are four push buttons. South is cancel, west is toast, north is toast and egg and east is egg. The power lead comes from under the unit it is a tab under one metre long and maybe it could be just that bit longer.

Initially it was hard to think of the LG unit as more than a microwave. I have friends who say they only have/use a microwave, I thought it was impossible but now I begin to see what they mean. It is 52x40x32cm and much to my surprise a large casserole dish I have at 33cm long works inside on the turntable, it does need to be precisely positioned but that would not even begin to fit inside my own unit.

Toastmate   I suspect most people will have at one time or other tried Bovril and or Marmite (it seems Paddington Bear is now a convert to the latter) well celebrity chef Antony Worrall Thompson has created a taste that is somewhere between the two. As it's name suggests it's great on toast but it can also make that great British meal essential, gravy. In fact it's superb in sandwiches and many other things.

The is a stylish brushed stainless steel and black plastic unit. The combination of espresso and filter means that it's physically bigger than other machines we've tested at 35x32x31cm (Width x Height x Depth) - my measurements from the actual unit and weighing in at 3Kg.

We've now covered a wide range of coffee machines - now is the turn of the FransisFrancis X6 Trio - designed by Italian architect Luca Trazzi for illy. This machine makes use of standard ESE coffee PODS. ESE standards for 'Easy Server Espresso'. Each pod is very similar to a tea-bag - except hard. Each pod contains compressed coffee between tow pieces of filter paper. Each pod is suitable for a single cup and are available from a number of companies.

Six pieces actually means 3 pans (wok, saucepan and frying pan), two lids and a handle which interchanges between the three pans. All the pieces slot nicely into like Russian dolls. Made by Tefal, they have a lovely non-stick surface and are very easy to use. Each pan has the Tefal thermostat red dot in the middle to tell you when they are hot enough to fry in.

Krups has a long history in the coffee business, being formed back in 1846 as (according to their web site) 'a brand dedicated to precision and technical perfection'. They moved into coffee in the 1960s, giving them over four decades in which to hone their craft. They should know a thing or two when it comes to coffee and in this case they have leant their name to this Nespresso machine.

The Moulinex Vitacompact is designed to take up minimum space in the kitchen and achieves this by incorporating the major functions you would expect - without all the frills. There are only two major units to store away from the countertop machine - the liquidiser and the citrus juicer. For practical people with little space, this is a major consideration.