Appliances

While today's carpets resist stains and soiling better than ever, no carpet is fully stain-proof. Professional cleaning, recommended every 12 to 18 months, does the best job, but can be expensive. Rental machines are also available. If you want to buy your own, use this carpet cleaner guide.

Carpets are still Job One when it comes to vacuuming, at least according to more than 5,000 subscribers in a recent survey by the Consumer Reports National Research Center. Our latest tests include vacuums that breezed through both carpet and floor cleaning, and aced our tougher new pet-hair tests.

A few hundred dollars buys a good, basic sewing machine that can handle most clothing and crafts projects. More money buys you more automated functions, and a top-of-the-line machine can run into thousands of dollars. It will produce professional-quality designs and you don’t even need to know how to sew.

Provided there's room in your budget and kitchen, Consumer Reports recommends owning a toaster and a toaster oven. Toasters pop out the fastest, most consistent toast, while toaster ovens add a versatile second oven for heating pizzas and roasting chickens. And some toaster ovens toast nearly as well as a toaster.

All the air conditioners in our latest tests do an excellent job of cooling and come with such convenient features as a digital display, a built-in timer, a remote control, or touchpad controls. But some models are noisy and others struggled to cool during brownouts. Find out which to buy for your home.