Pages

Showing posts with label product review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label product review. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Beautiful AND Functional

Remember when I was talking about doing a review for CSN stores, and I rattled off all sorts of options that I might order? Wanna know what I got? None of the above! Ha! I didn’t order any of the things I was considering, but I certainly found something I love.

I ended up getting the All-Clad Stainless Steel Canister Set, and here’s why. For all our married years, I have kept my flour and sugar in plastic, tupperware-like containers in the cupboard. I have often browsed canisters at the store, but I never found any that were just what I wanted. And after years of use, the little tabs on the lids of my plastic containers were starting to crack. So I’ve had my eye out for a solution for a long time. My main criteria: something nice looking that’s big enough that I can scoop a measuring cup into it. I did not want to be stuck trying to pour out flour and sugar from canisters that were too small for me to scoop into them! And then I found these:110227_0002-1a

Here’s what I love about them:

  • They’re thick, sturdy stainless steel.
  • They have a clean, classic look about them that won’t go out of style with changing fads.
  • The lids are air tight. Almost too tight. I actually don’t push them completely shut every time so I don’t have to struggle to open them. At least I know I can trust them on a car ride to my mother-in-law’s to can peaches.
  • They are nice and big! They have enough space that I can reach a 1cup measurer in there and get a good scoop, but they actually don’t take up a ton of room on my counter.
  • Now that I have canisters that actually look good on the counter, I have free cupboard space where I kept the old ones!110227_0004-1a

See? That’s a 1cup scoop. Plenty of room!

I think the only thing I don’t like about the canisters so far is how much they cost. I didn’t think I’d have to spend so much to find canisters I like. I did compare a few sites, and CSN stores had the lower price. I think the high price was mainly for the brand (and hopefully a certain level of quality can be expected along with that brand). But in the end, I’d probably do it again just to finally have what I’ve been looking for all this time.

Oh, and I guess the other downfall is that I haven’t thought of what to put in the third canister yet. I told my hubby we should keep hot chocolate in it, but he just laughed. He’s not ready to admit that these are our staples in life: flour, sugar, and hot chocolate. So maybe I’ll just keep something boring in there like pasta or rice. What do you keep in your countertop canisters?

Something else I loved was free shipping on my order, and I got an e-mail saying they upgraded my order to ship to me sooner—free of charge! My shipping estimate was moved up a whole 2 weeks!

Special thanks to CSN stores for the opportunity to review this product and for helping with some of the cost! Oh, and stay tuned . . . I just might be doing a CSN stores giveaway in the next few months.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Coming Soon . . .

CSN_Stores_Logo_gif

The wonderful people at CSN stores –a woman named Jocelyn, to be precise—have offered me the opportunity to review a product from one of their many (over 200!) online stores. I haven’t decided yet what I’ll choose to review. There are SO many options! They have furniture, lighting, kitchen gadgets, and so much more. Will we finally decide on a nice lamp for our living room and replace the one that broke during our move 2 years ago? Will I get myself a nice crock pot with a removable lining so I can stop griping about mine which has no removable lining and is a huge pain to clean? Will I pamper my husband with a sleek leather briefcase? Will I get my oldest a pair of wee squeaks shoes for her growing feet (and undoubtedly have to get a pair for my youngest because of the certain coveting that will occur)? I just don’t know. But look forward to a review here as soon as I figure it out!

On a side note, I am amazed at all the Jocelyns I’ve encountered online lately. When I was growing up, my name was so rare. I had to pronounce it for people 4 or 5 times, and it still got butchered. I don’t think I met anyone named Jocelyn until I was pregnant with my first baby, and she was in our birthing class. But now, Jocelyns are just popping out of the woodworks left and right. It’s kind of fun, because I’m sure they’ve experienced the same feeling of rarity, and now it’s like we have an automatic rapport. Plus, all the other Jocelyns I’ve met so far are awesome :)