Tip of the Day: Shopping advice for gas grills

While many Americans with grills use their outdoor cooker year-round, with Memorial Day about a week away, high grilling season is about to start. If you're ready to buy a new gas grill, use our shopping tips below and buying advice and watch our video (right) before you head to the store.

Size it up. Match the grill's cooking area to the number of people generally around your table. Remember, manufacturers might include warming racks in their measurements of cooking area. Our measurements are based on the main cooking area and how much food it will hold. Next factor in how much space the grill will take up on your patio or deck. Some of the large grills we've tested are 6 feet wide.

Look over the menu. A basic grill is fine for cooking hamburgers, hot dogs, steaks, kabobs, chicken pieces, and vegetables, but if you regularly cook whole chickens, turkeys, or large roasts, look for a model with a rotisserie burner.

Bring a magnet. Many grills are made of a mix of grades of stainless steel. Our tests have found that 300-series stainless is less likely to rust than cheaper, 400-series stainless. Magnets will usually stick to cheaper grades, so bring a magnet with you to test the metal.

Think safety. The more stable the grill, the better. When shopping, gently push the grill from several angles to see if it tips. Check the cart, firebox, lid, and shelves for sharp corners and edges. Grip the handle. Your knuckles or fingers shouldn't be too close to the lid or your hand could get burned during use.

Essential information: Also read our June 2008 gas-grills report and visit our gas-grills product page. Then follow our expert advice to ensure you avoid common grilling mistakes and to keep your grill cooking better, longer as you make our delicious, easy-to-prepare dishes and use chef-restaurateur Bobby Flay’s recipes.

Buzzword: Life-Cycle Assessment

What it means. If you’re aware of the age-old plastic-versus-paper debate, then you’re at least indirectly familiar with the concept of life-cycle assessment, or LCA. An LCA is a technique used to analyze or compare products, processes, or services to identify ways to minimize human and environmental impacts. (The life-cycle graphic shown is from the Environment Protection Authority of Victoria, Australia.)

Often referred to as a cradle-to-grave approach, an LCA is typically carried out using software to analyze the cumulative environmental impacts from all stages of a product’s life cycle, including raw-material extraction, product transportation and use and, ultimately, its disposal, reuse, or recycling.

Why the buzz? Although the LCA technique dates back to the 1960s, when awareness of energy and natural-resources depletion was starting to grow, the concept is gaining new ground during these increasingly environmentally conscious times. But even so, don’t expect to see life-cycle assessments spelled out on too many products or services.

That’s because much of the work using LCA tools happens behind the scenes, often using confidential data sets and complex calculations to measure and compare things like greenhouse-gas emissions, natural-resource use, and solid- or hazardous-waste generation, Annual reports from companies like Unilever and Procter & Gamble tout the use of LCAs to evaluate and reduce the impacts of the products they make.

Another increasingly common use of LCAs is to measure and certify improvements in the green-building industry. The National Association of Home Builders and the U.S. Green Building Council are beginning to accept the use of LCAs to help determine whether certain building materials qualify for their certification programs. The U.S. Green Building Council expects to begin offering life-cycle credits toward its LEED certification beginning this summer.

The government is also taking an LCA approach to research products, prioritize, and create better environmental policies. For example, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency uses a “life-cycle perspective” to help identify products with minimal environmental impacts through its Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Program.

While LCA tools can offer valuable information, it’s important to note that the results are only as good as the data and analytical models they use, and their results may not be relevant for every situation.

As for that plastic-versus-paper issue? The Sierra Club, a nonprofit environmental organization, points out that the life cycle of each has pros and cons depending on where and how they are made. The better option, says the group, is to use reusable bags instead.—Kristi Wiedemann, Science and Policy Analyst, GreenerChoices.org

Q&A: What’s the best way to repair bare patches in my lawn?

My lawn has several small bare spots. What’s the best way to repair these bald patches?

You can easily revive your yard without starting from scratch. Since you’re dealing with small areas, the easiest fix is to patch the bare spots.

1. Dig up and remove the damaged section, plus 6 inches of surrounding, healthy lawn, cutting 2 inches deep.

2. Smooth and level the soil. Add a small amount of soil amendment and starter fertilizer, firm the soil, water, and level again if needed.

3. Replant with seed, sod, or sprigs. For seed, cover lightly, press into place, and keep moist until germination. For sod, cut a section to fit, press it into place to firm roots against soil, and water frequently until rooted. For sprigs or plugs, plant them a few inches apart, cover lightly and press into place, and water until rooted.

NOTE: Do not use a fertilizer with crabgrass or weed control in the area to be reseeded six weeks before seeding and until after the new grass seed has germinated. Otherwise the grass will not germinate.

Essential information: See our lawn and yard guide for more expert advice for your property, including details on planting the right grass.

GE Appliances unit up for sale

The ad shown here is obviously a spoof, but it appears that the venerable GE Appliances business is up for sale. Fairfield, Connecticut-based General Electric Co., is looking to offload the century-old appliances unit in a move to invigorate the parent company, which has more than $170 billion in annual revenue, according to news reports on May 14, 2008.

GE has hired investment bank Goldman Sachs to run the auction for the appliances group, which is based in Louisville, Kentucky. Possible buyers, according to The Wall Street Journal, include Germany’s BSH Bosch, Siemens Hausgeräte GmbH, Mexico’s Controladora Mabe SA (GE’s partner in that country), China’s Haier Group, and private-equity firms.

Whether you are on the short list of potential GE Appliances buyers or just in the market for new appliances for your kitchen or laundry room, read how GE products stack up against the competition in a few key appliance categories:

GE’s top-loading WJRE5500G[WW] washer earned a CR Best Buy in our latest report on washers and dryers, thanks to its performance and $480 price tag. But top-loaders from Maytag, Whirlpool, and Fisher & Paykel all ranked ahead of GE in the Ratings. GE does better in the dryer department. Its DBVH512EF[WW] and Profile DPSE810EG[WT] electric dryers are CR Best Buys, and only LG and Kenmore are ahead in the Ratings.

For gas ranges, four GE models cracked the top 10 in our current Ratings. In electric ranges, GE has five of the top 10 models, including a pair of innovative double ovens, the PB970SM[SS] and PB975SM[SS].

When it comes to refrigerators, the GE GSH25JFT[WW] side-by-side sits fourth in our latest Ratings and with a reasonable $1,000 sticker price is a CR Best Buy. Among bottom-freezers, GE slips to the fifth spot, with its Profile PFSF6PKW[WW].

A major concern with all appliances is reliability, and GE products tend to do well in our Brand Repair History assessments, which are based on thousands of responses to the Annual Product Reliability Survey conducted by the Consumer Reports National Research Center.

Here at the Home & Garden blog, one of our jobs is to help you find the best appliances for your home. As for whether it’s a smart move for a company to buy the GE appliances division, we’ll leave that decision to the titans of Wall Street.—Daniel DiClerico and Steven H. Saltzman

Q&A: Are prices for exterior paints going up?

We’re planning to paint our house in the coming weeks, and I’ve noticed that paint prices seem higher. Have they risen? If yes, why?

As we reported in our June 2008 report, rising petroleum prices could cause a jump of several dollars per gallon for exterior paints and stains. The higher prices might tempt you to pick a cheaper coating, but our tests show that penny-pinching by buying a lower-quality finish could cost you more money over time.

Our latest Ratings of more than 40 exterior paints and stains (available to subscribers) include results for major brands after one to three years of accelerated outdoor testing, equal to about three to nine years on a house. But as the scores show, some initially promising finishes look far less impressive when they're fully tested. (See “A Torture Test for Paints and Stains.”)

Get all the details on exterior paints and stains in “Scrimping Doesn’t Pay.”

Rebates and tax credits can lower appliance costs

While you might have back-burnered your plans for a kitchen remodel or a new laundry room, you can’t ignore an ailing dishwasher, a struggling refrigerator, or a washed-up clothes washer.

Fixing these appliances could be an option—see our repair-or-replace-it guide (available to subscribers)—but when you decide to replace appliances, consider more-energy-efficient models. This is one way to spend your federal economic-stimulus payment. And, as unlikely as it might seem, you can also turn to your utility company and the state and local government for some financial relief.

As of mid-May, the Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency, maintained by North Carolina State University’s Solar Center with funding from the U.S. Department of Energy, lists 732 utility rebate and loan programs for consumers who buy energy-efficient appliances or other home systems. (The DSIRE's map is shown.) The site also includes details on 35 state rebate and loan programs and 13 personal-income-tax-credit or tax-holiday plans.

You’ll also fund information on rebate and tax-credit programs from utilities, states, and partners at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Partner Activities search; if you don’t see a program listed for your area, look on your utility bill for more information or contact your state taxation office.

These programs can offset the short-term acquisition and long-term operating costs of new appliances. Here’s how to take advantage of these opportunities:

Plug into utility companies’ rebates. To benefit from rebates and tax credits, you have to buy an appliance that falls into either Tier 1 or Tier 2 of the federal government’s Energy Star standards. For example, a Tier 1 rated-dishwasher with an Energy Factor (the number of loads that can be washed per kilowatt-hour) of 0.65 will use 339 kWh per year, while a Tier 2 model will have an EF of 0.68 and use 325 kWh annually.

In California, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District is offering a $25 rebate on a Tier 1 dishwasher and $75 on a Tier 2 model, provided you’re using an electric water heater in your home. In Oregon, the Columbia River Public Utility District ups the ante to a $100 rebate for a Tier 2 clothes washer that uses water from an electric heater, and $50 for one with water heated by gas, oil, or propane.

Brian Lips, a policy analyst at the North Carolina Solar Center at North Carolina State, notes that even if they don’t offer a rebate, many utilities will offer free pickup of an old refrigerator, saving you the disposal fee. 

CPSC recall of Cabot deck cleaner

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission recently issued a recall of about 24,000 containers of Cabot Composite Deck Cleaner #3502 because of an inhalation and fire hazard.

The cleaner, made by Cabot Stains of Newburyport, Massachusetts, contains an ingredient that can react with metal foil residue on the packaging, releasing heat and chlorine gas, according to the CPSC.

If you bought any of the cleaner, which comes in a 2-pound plastic container (shown), do not use it and return the product to the store where you bought it for a refund. If the container appears misshapen or feels hot, call Cabot (877-755-3336, 24 hours a day) to arrange for the safe handling of the cleaner.

For more details on the recall, read the CPSC’s notice or download a PDF from the Cabot Web site.

Essential information: Look for our report on deck materials and deck stains in the July 2008 issue of Consumer Reports. And follow these tips to get a great-looking deck.

10 Questions for . . . Joan DesCombes, Certified Kitchen Designer

In this installment of 10 Questions for . . . , Senior Editor Daniel DiClerico speaks with Joan DesCombes, CKD, principal of Winter Park, Florida–based Architectural Artworks Incorporated. Here, DesCombes, who received the 2008 Pinnacle of Design award from the National Kitchen & Bath Association in April, talks about her winning project, where kitchen design stands today headed, and what her clients want in their new kitchens.

Q. Congratulations on winning the 2008 Pinnacle of Design award. What separates you from other designers?

A. I think I’m a little unique for a kitchen designer in that this isn’t my first career. I was trained as a designer but then I ended up working in the fashion industry for many years. So I approach a kitchen almost like I’m dressing somebody. I start by asking a lot of questions about the homeowners’ lifestyle. The more I know about them, the more I can create a room that suits their personality. Coming from the fashion industry, I strive to design rooms that are functional first but also that people look good in. If you’re a blue-eyed blond I’m going to design that room differently than if you have dark hair and dark eyes.

Q. How is that philosophy reflected in the award-winning kitchen?

A. This kitchen, in Winter Park, Florida (shown), is in keeping with who that homeowner is. He’s a creative person and he wanted a kitchen that’s innovative and uses rare materials. The combination of stainless steel and raw wood on the ceiling gives the space a loftlike feel that’s in keeping with the rest of the house. The stone floor is the same throughout, enhancing the Zen-inspired fluidity of the space. The same stone continues up the side of the island for a dramatic effect. The lighting is also very dramatic, combining cable lights with hanging pendants.

Q. What are your favorite features about the kitchen?

A. When you look at most kitchens, they tend to be traditional in look and layout. This one wasn’t traditional from any standpoint. We reused a lot of existing materials, so while it isn’t green in the conventional sense, it’s largely recycled. The purple-concrete countertop was left over from a project we worked on with designer Fu-Tung Cheng, from Berkeley, California. We also used some leftover cabinetry for the pantries that flank the refrigerator, a Sub-Zero with a paneled front that matches the cabinetry. The fully integrated refrigerator is something we do all the time. It goes along with my kitchen-as-furniture philosophy. Homeowners need to understand that furnishing a kitchen is no different than furnishing a living room. Except that they’re going to spend a lot more time in the kitchen.

Q. In general, how are people today interacting with their kitchens differently?

A. Everybody’s lifestyle is different, and so every kitchen needs to be different too. Take someone who’s big in the organic-food movement. They’re going to need more refrigerator than freezer space, and they’re going to need that refrigeration in several different places throughout the kitchen. For a recent client who’s vegetarian, we added a set of refrigerator drawers to her food prep island. That’s where she keeps the fresh vegetables for the salads she often makes. This split configuration is also popular with parents with small children. It means they can keep the juice and milk next to where the kids eat breakfast in the morning.

Tip of the Day: Don’t get ripped off by an alarm company

The scenario: A representative from a home-security company knocks on your door and offers you a free alarm system in exchange for displaying his company’s sign on your lawn. Swayed by the prospect of getting a security setup gratis, you sign a long-term monitoring contact and end up stuck with a shoddy installation and substandard equipment and service.

Learn more about this type of scam—and, more important, how to avoid it—by reading the Scam Alert in the June 2008 issue of Consumer Reports.

Inside Consumer Reports Test Labs: Kitchen-cabinet organizers

“Top drawer” took on a new meaning when Bob Karpel (right), a Tech/Appliance Program Leader for Consumer Reports, and his team put a wide array of pullout drawers, refuse/recycling containers, and rotating lazy Susans through a series of grueling tests as part of our August 2008 report on kitchen-cabinet organizers. At prices ranging from $20 to $220, these add-ons can be a cost-effective upgrade to kitchen cabinets.

Here’s how we tested the gear:

Ease of Installation
One of the heavily weighted factors in our Ratings is ease of installation. Each of the 28 organizers we tested was installed in a typical kitchen cabinet. Those models with clear instructions and modest tool requirements (typically a screwdriver, ruler, and cordless drill) earned higher marks.

In general, bottom-mounting slide-out drawers and refuse/recycling containers were easy to install, but those with side-mounting rails proved difficult as a one-person job. Three of the refuse/recycling containers mounted directly to a cabinet door, which entailed the extra step of shimming out the side-mounted rails with wood blocks.

With the lazy Susans, centering and leveling the center posts and fitting all the needed large parts into a restricted cabinet also proved difficult. Note that if you have stone or composite counters, you’ll need to add a spacing block inside the cabinet to attach the lazy Susan’s top spindle mount.

Pulling-Force and Spinning Usability Testing
Bob added weight to each drawer component, then measured the force needed to pull it open. An alarming surprise: After durability testing, the stop mechanism on one low-priced unit worked only when its front section was heavily weighted; otherwise it just slid free of the rails.

Bob loaded each lazy Susan with some common kitchen items and turned each unit a set number of times to test for smoothness, stability, and sagging. Considering the installation also, the least-expensive model was best overall. And one model had a nice feature: an internal spindle with special grooved threads to allow quick shelf-height adjustments.

Durability Testing
Bob’s “pièce de résistance” for this project was a “durability rig” (right) that used a pair of electric motors and a couple of crank arms to pull the drawer components in and out thousands of times; it also rotated the lazy Susans back and forth. Bob felt this setup would simulate five to 10 years of use, depending on a family’s size and lifestyle. The testing machine was set to push each drawer unit against its stop.

Home & Garden blog readers debate DirectBuy

Since mid-September, readers of the Home & Garden blog have been engaged in a heated debate about DirectBuy, specifically this buying club’s sales tactics, membership fees, and product prices.

The folks commenting—some of them DirectBuy members, many people who went to a DirectBuy open house, others who are just interested in the club—have flooded the blog with tales of their own experiences with and opinions of the direct-buying service with the ubiquitous TV and print ads.

Some commenters are fans of DirectBuy and view it favorably. Many have expressed adverse opinions about the club. Still others have taken a measured view and revealed their reasons for not joining or their experiences after paying the membership fee.

If you’re looking for more telling anecdotes about and user-generated analyses of buying clubs like DirectBuy and other retailers as well as general shopping tips, check out our Home Shopping forum.—Gian Trotta

Tip of the Day: Check your dryer vents

As the owner of a multiunit brownstone in Brooklyn, I’m used to troubleshooting problems and dealing with malfunctioning appliances. Recently one of my tenants e-mailed me, writing, “The dryer doesn’t seem to be working correctly; we have to run it for hours to dry a single load.”

Visions of dryer fires and carbon-monoxide poisoning sprang to mind, along with possible causes of and solutions for the problem. Did a clogged venting system need cleaning? Was the 12-year-old Maytag washer/dryer combo unit near the end of its service life? I asked the tenants not to use the unit until I could stop by over the weekend.

When I got to the building a couple of days later, I immediately checked the lint screen and the area below it on the dryer. Both checked out clear. (Being able to remove two screws and gain access to the area below the lint screen is a nice feature of some older washer-dryer units.) Pulling the dryer away from the wall revealed that the vinyl vent had sagged with age, and a fist-sized ball of lint had collected at the base of the U-shaped depression.

Installing new metal ductwork cured the problem, and I was spared the high expense of replacing the unit. While my building was completely up to code, I put the money I otherwise would have spent on a new washer-dryer on the following safety upgrades:

• I deployed new smoke and carbon-monoxide alarms throughout the building to provide the highest level of safety. (The existing alarms were due for replacement.)

• I replaced the original hoses on the washer with Floodchek hoses, which are supposed to be burst-proof and were recommended to me by other landlords and property managers in my area. (Consumer Reports has not tested these hoses.) I also ordered the Flo n Stop flood-prevention system, a product we covered at the 2008 International Builders’ Show.

• I added fire extinguishers in every hallway and in every apartment.

It turns out that my dryer has a built-in sensor that prevents the unit from working if it senses a blockage in the vent. To avoid late-night phone calls or endless e-mails, I now check the dryer vent every time I visit the building.—Gian Trotta

Vintage Consumer Reports: Appliance Woes

Most of you probably find Consumer Reports a pretty serious publication and ConsumerReports.org a fairly staid Web site. Both are certainly great sources of testing-based product reports, compelling investigative features, and expert advice for all aspects of your life. But beyond the entertaining Selling It column, neither the magazine nor the Web site has much of a reputation for humor.

At least that's what I thought. I recently was looking at issues from 1967 and came across the amusing cartoon shown here. We've reported on how appliance makers are shortening their warranties, and everyone's heard of planned obsolescence being a business model of some manufacturers. But I never imagined that these were concerns more than four decades ago. Call me naive, but I believed that companies were somehow more consumer friendly back then. As this cartoon from our March 1967 issue illustrates, that wasn't the case. (Click on the cartoon to enlarge it.)

Obviously appliance longevity and extended warranties remain issues today, and Consumer Reports regularly covers those topics. If you're looking for information on whether you should fix or nix an appliance, read "Repair or Replace It?" (available to subscribers). The article  includes  repair-or-replace timelines for many products, including appliances.

And before you buy an extended warranty for a refrigerator, washing machine, dishwasher, or other appliance, read "Why you don't need an extended warranty," which includes repair rates for a number of 3- to 4-year-old products.—Steven H. Saltzman

Essential information: As I mentioned in this recent post, I'm going to tap into our archives to bring you interesting articles and photographs from over the past 70-plus years. Click on my name above to let me know what interests you.

Q&A: Any tips for getting my propane-gas grill ready for outdoor-cooking season?

I haven’t used my gas grill since last fall—it’s been sitting covered on my deck. How can I be sure it’s in shape to cook this summer?

Memorial Day is just a few weeks away, and this unofficial start of summer also signals the kickoff of outdoor-cooking season. Before you start searing steaks, grilling vegetables, or flipping burgers, you need to make sure your gas grill is in shape. Remember, a clean, well-maintained grill will improve the flavor of all the food you cook and help prevent grease fires and other accidents.

Follow the steps in “Help Your Grill Cook Better, Longer” and you should be all set to fire up your grill—safely—this spring and summer.

Essential information: Before you buy a grill, read our June 2008 gas-grills report and visit our gas-grills product page. Be sure to try our delicious, easy-to-prepare dishes—with expert advice for cooking the perfect steak—and use chef-restaurateur Bobby Flay’s recipes.

As food prices rise, consider a stand-alone freezer

Interesting article in today’s edition of The Wall Street Journal on how rising food prices have prompted U.S. consumers to buy in bulk and stockpile food (“As Food Prices Rise, Shoppers Stock Up,” by Gary McWilliams and David Kesmodel).

A chart accompanying the article details a 6 percent jump in the overall cost of food for home consumption from 2005 through 2007, ranging from hikes of 3.1 percent for fats and oils and 3.3 percent for poultry to 9.5 percent for fish and seafood and 35.5 percent for eggs. The authors note that the U.S. Department of Agriculture is forecasting a 4 to 5 percent climb in food prices for 2008, double the level of 2005.

If you’re considering buying a separate freezer to store certain foods you buy in quantity, read our buyer’s guide to and review of freezers, which features Ratings (available to subscribers) of manual-defrost chest and upright models and self-defrost uprights.

Follow this advice when shopping for a stand-alone freezer:

Figure the capacity you need. The freezer size you need will depend on the size of your family and their fondness for frozen foods. Freezers are available in compact (5 cubic feet), small (6 to 9 cubic feet), medium (12 to 18 cubic feet), and large (more than 18 cubic feet) capacities. Except for their hanging baskets, chest freezers are wide open so that almost all of the claimed space is usable. Upright freezers have shelves and pullout bins, which make it easier to organize and reach contents but reduce usable space by up to 20 percent.

Weigh manual vs. self-defrost. Manual-defrost freezers, whether chest or upright, are generally quieter and more energy efficient than self-defrosting models of the same type. But manually defrosting a freezer can be a lot of work and take up to 24 hours.

Consider local power problems. If the area where you live is prone to brownouts or power failures, a chest freezer will be the better choice.

Check the controls and lights. Easy-to-reach controls make adjusting the temperature simple. An interior light makes it easier to find foods, especially if the freezer is in a dimly lighted area. A power-on light on the outside of the freezer lets you see at a glance that the freezer is on. That way you don't have to open the unit to check, letting cold air out. Most of the models we tested have that feature. We think all should have it.—Steven H. Saltzman

Essential information: Find out which warehouse shopping club is the best to join—and the best spot to save money.

Grilling America’s grillers

With 17,431,500 gas, charcoal, and electric grills shipped in North America in 2007, according to the Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association, it’s clear that Americans love to cook outdoors.

Indeed, 68 percent of U.S. consumers live in a household that grills outdoors, according to a recent nationwide survey* conducted by the Consumer Reports National Research Center. Their primary reasons for grilling? Survey respondents say they enjoy spending time outside (88 percent), prefer the taste of grilled food (86 percent), grill when entertaining (72 percent), and want to keep the kitchen cooler and lighten the clean-up load (both 62 percent). Here's what else the survey revealed:

Holidays like Memorial Day, Father’s Day, and the 4th of July are popular grilling events, but Americans who grill fire up their cookers on more than just those occasions. Forty-one percent grill year-round, half do so more than once a week during the grilling season, and a highly dedicated 15 percent grill four or more times per week.

Weather can’t deter these fire-cooking fiends. Sixty-eight have grilled while it was raining, 32 percent have grilled in temperatures below freezing, and 26 percent have used their outdoor cooker while it was snowing, sleeting, or hailing. (Do they still drink beer in that nasty weather?)

Given this propensity to flip burgers, sear fish, and grill vegetables, it stands to reason the biggest problem people face is running out of fuel (36 percent). Other issues they encounter are flare-ups (32 percent), losing food between grates (29 percent), overcooking/burning items (27 percent); only 11 percent deal with undercooked food or drop what they’re cooking on the ground (15 percent). I wonder if they eat it. . . .

Grilling safety is always a concern. (Just take a look at the Broil King Signet 90 grill we tested.) Fortunately only 9 percent of grillers admit to grilling in their garage, though we think that number should be 0. Twelve percent of consumers admit to having burned themselves and 2 percent indicate they have burned others. Two percent have started a fire in which they needed a fire extinguisher, and 1 percent caused a fire for which they had to call the fire department.

It’s likely that men are the ones dealing with grilling problems and safety matters. Among married households, 78 percent of men are the primary grillers—though less than a quarter of them handle the indoor cooking. Still, 40 percent of women say they are the person in their household responsible for the outdoor cooking.

Buzzword: Solid-State Lighting

What it means. Solid-state lighting, or SSL, could be the next big thing in residential lighting. SSL refers to a type of bulb—or lamp, in industry parlance—that uses the movement of electrons through a semiconductor material to generate light. The semiconductor is in a solid block form, hence “solid state.”

Because there’s no filament that heats up (and eventually burns out), SSL is up to 50 times more efficient than incandescent bulbs, claim manufacturers. SSL is also said to last as much as 10 times longer than compact fluorescent lighting and contains none of the potentially harmful mercury that has brought CFLs image down to earth and made recycling them a hassle.

Why the buzz? SSL has existed for decades under the name LED, short for light-emitting diode (the semiconductor material involved is a diode). But LEDs are not the only kinds of SSL. For example, laser technology is a form of SSL, and organic light-emitting diodes, or OLEDs, are on the horizon. As a result, the lighting industry is transitioning toward the more all-inclusive solid-state lighting moniker. “Within the broad category of TVs, you have several options, including LCD, plasma, and OLED. Similarly, solid-state lighting refers to anything that is not a conventional gas-based lighting technology,” says Govi Rao, chief executive officer of Lighting Science Group (LSG), a manufacturer of lighting equipment.

The switch to SSL might also have to do with the marketing of LEDs, which are still leading the way in this technology. For years, LEDs were limited to commercial use, for example in traffic signals and airport signage. The fact that they couldn’t generate pure white light kept them out of the residential market, except as the red indicator lights on electronic devices. But manufacturers are getting closer to a perfect white LED; LSG, for one, just launched a line of replacement LEDs (shown). Unfortunately, no matter how good the technology gets, some consumers will always associate LEDs with Lite-Brite. By giving the lights a different name, manufacturers can in a way reintroduce them to consumers.

Whatever its name, SSL is still years away from wide residential use. But it’s making steady inroads, including for undercabinet lighting. We’re currently testing these task-lighting fixtures for our August 2008 special kitchen section. Five years ago, we wouldn’t have covered SSL, but this year, it’s a theme in the story. Without giving too much away, we’ll just say that the purported efficiency of SSL is pretty solid.—Daniel DiClerico

Selections from Consumer Reports' Selling It

In each issue of Consumer Reports, the Selling It page covers the goofs, glitches, gotchas, and howlers that appear on product packaging, in advertising, and elsewhere. Below you’ll find a few recent Selling It entries that relate to the home. We’ll present these pieces on this blog from time to time. (Click on each image to enlarge it.)

Look for more Selling It items on our Web site—new ones are added monthly—and click here to submit ideas to this section.

Military mix-up
This offer for a door knocker (right) says, “Show your pride for our Armed Services.” Just don’t be picky about which service you support. As a Maryland reader pointed out, the knocker identified as “Army design” has the Navy design; “Navy” is Air Force, and “Air Force” is Army. The Marines design is correct. (From the December 2007 issue of Consumer Reports.)

Maybe you use scissors?   
Cuisinart’s Mini-Prep food processor (right) came with directions to heed before use: To get an even chop, “always cut large pieces of food into smaller pieces of even size—about 1/2 inch.” (From the January 2008 issue of Consumer Reports.)

A kinda sorta guarantee
The language on the package at right is common in lightbulb packaging (longevity depends on how bulbs are used), but those two tiny words—"up to"—still shed very little light. As a Georgia reader reasoned, “If it lasts one minute, one hour, or one day it fulfills the guarantee.” (From the February 2008 issue of Consumer Reports.)

Gee, no GE
This package for a replacement part (left) had a Massachusetts reader scratching her head. (From the March 2008 issue of Consumer Reports.)

Essential information: Learn more about entry doors and door locks. Find the best food processor. Consider replacing incandescent lightbulbs with compact fluorescent lightbulbs. Choose a new coffeemaker.

Kitchen remodeling remains a popular project

My 84-year-old father told us a joke at the dinner table last Sunday (remember, this is a joke): “A guy cutting down a tree with a chain saw accidentally severs his left pinkie. His wife rushes him to the local hospital, where the emergency-room doctor explains to him, ‘You have two choices. We can replace the finger using expensive experimental microsurgery—it’ll cost $75,000—or you can live a perfectly normal life without the digit. Which would you prefer?’

“The guy tells the doctor he needs to quickly talk it over with his wife. The wife comes in, and her husband asks her what he should do. She ponders the question for a moment and replies: ‘I’d rather have a new kitchen.’”

There’s a raunchy version of that joke, but its point is the same: People love to remodel their kitchens, and some are willing to give up a lot to do so. And even in the midst of the economic slump we’re in, kitchen remodeling remains popular in the United States. In fact, kitchen projects are estimated to be the biggest source of remodeling spending in 2008, garnering 18 percent of the total home- improvement dollars American consumers will shell out, according to the Home Improvement Research Institute’s 2007 Project Decision Study. (Adding a bathroom accounts for 7 percent of spending; replacing a roof, 8 percent.) The average kitchen remodel in 2007 cost $6,800, according to HIRI.

Some other interesting findings from the HIRI study:

• 46 percent of U.S. kitchen remodels were completely do-it-yourself, while 62 percent were at least partially DIY.

• “Buy-it-yourself,” or BIY, remodels—in which the consumer buys the products and has a contractor install them—account for 21 percent of kitchen remodels.

• Women initiate most kitchen-remodeling projects. Still, men initiated 31 percent of kitchen remodels, up from 18 percent in 2003.

• The use of built-in appliances in remodeled kitchens is growing. (Read our recent Q&A on the repair history of built-in refrigerators.)

• Average spending on kitchen remodeling projects has not increased much over the last two years.

With inflation on the rise, how have consumers managed not to spend more on their kitchen projects even as prices are increasing? The answer might lie in the BIY trend: Savvy homeowners who shop around for materials and appliances are making wise choices in the products they use and are getting good deals.—Karin Weisburgh, Senior Research Analyst

Essential information: Be a smart shopper yourself and read our report on where to buy appliances.

Consumer Reports' latest review of gas grills

Most of the grills we tested for our latest report on gas grills turned out juicy steaks and moist, tender chicken and fish. But not all the news is good. One grill, the medium-size Broil King Signet 90 986784LP was dangerous, and we judged it Not Acceptable.

The Signet 90, $650, is the first gas grill to receive that judgment from us since 1986. The firebox melted on two grills we tested. On a third grill, the firebox had started to crack and become deformed when the test ended. For more details on the Signet 90, read our safety alert and watch the video on this page.

The Broil King underscores the importance of considering safety when shopping for and using a grill. Plenty of grills in our Ratings (available to subscribers) combine safety with top-notch cooking and stylish looks. Read about them and get expert buying, maintenance, and cooking advice and tips in our June 2008 review of gas grills.

UPDATE: On April 30, 2008, Onward Manufacturing of Canada recalled three models of gas grills, including the Signet 90. Signet, Sovereign, and Sovereign XL grills whose model numbers start with 986, 987 or 988 and serial numbers start with X, Y, or Z are affected by the recall. The company's action is expected to be followed shortly by an announcement from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. For more information on the recall, read this item on our Safety blog.

And on May 5, 2008, the CPSC issued a recall of 4,800 Signet, Sovereign, and Sovereign XL series gas grills made by Onward Manufacturing. Read about the recall on our Safety blog.

Tip of the Day: Clean under your deck

Everyone marks the first warm days of spring differently. Some folks go for a long walk, many fire up the grill for the first of many meals they’ll prepare outdoors in the coming months, and some toss the ball around with their kids.

Many of you have also recently undertaken some spring cleaning, but I imagine that I’m in the minority of homeowners who spent the first mild spring evening this year crawling and toiling under a deck to clean out the mess there.

In years past, raking out leaves from beneath my 400-square-foot wood deck was invariably an hours-long ordeal. This time, however, it took only about 20 minutes, in part because the leaves were dry and easier to gather and also because I needed to complete the work before it got too dark.

When I was finished, my booty comprised a full bag of leaves, two stinging eyes, nine tennis balls and two Wiffle Balls—kids!—plus a balled-up woolly bear caterpillar. Oh, and enough dirt on my clothes and myself to merit instant banishment to the shower. (That’s me in the photo above.)

Why bother cleaning out under the deck? Leaves that collect there can harbor moisture and serve an inviting habitat for insects and fungi. They’re also a fire hazard. The chief reason I tackle this chore in spring is that the patio tiles and soil under the deck have lost most of winter’s chill. Even better, the ants, spiders, and assorted other cooties that might want at me have yet to emerge at my house.

At any time of the year, though, this underdeck cleanup would merit a spot on Dirty Jobs—presuming you could find someone to pay to do this work. And once I’ve tidied up, other deck-upkeep chores seem easy by comparison. These include an annual safety inspection; the North American Deck and Railing Association (NADRA) offers a handy checklist (PDF download) for the part of the deck you walk on. The NADRA also promotes Deck Safety Month in May.

While you’re working on your deck, check your deck stain or treatment for wear. Look for our upcoming report on deck stains and treatments in the June 2008 issue of Consumer Reports (on sale and online in early May). We’re covering volatile organic compounds among a number of other topics and will have testing information on a range of decking materials, including some of the newest composites.

Once someone manufactures a 20-foot telescopic rake, I suppose we’ll have to test that out, too. I have just the place to put it through its paces.—Ed Perratore

Essential information: Here’s how to prepare your deck for a new stain and tips on finding the best deck stain or treatment.

Bobby Flay’s tips for great burgers

With diverse restaurants like Southwestern-flavored Mesa Grill, Spanish-inspired Bolo, American brasserie Bar Americain, and Bobby Flay Steak to his credit, chef-restaurateur Bobby Flay might seem like someone with high-style tastes that veer toward the international. Yet the humble hamburger remains this longtime Food Network star’s favorite food to eat.

The 43-year-old Flay is so enamored of hamburgers that he’s planning to open Bobby’s Burger Palace, a chain of eateries with several locations in the greater New York City area.

If you share Flay’s passion for hamburgers but can’t make it to one of his restaurants, use his tips for making topnotch burgers at home. Add some flair to your standard grilling menu by making Flay’s tuna burgers (recipe follows after the hamburger tips).

Before you grill, follow our expert advice to ensure you avoid common grilling mistakes and to keep your grill cooking better, longer as you make Flay’s recipes as well as our delicious, easy-to-prepare dishes. And if you’re in the market for a new gas grill, read our June 2008 gas-grills report and visit our gas-grills product page.—Kimberly Janeway

Flay’s 4 Steps to a Great Hamburger
1. Skip beef that’s too lean. Flay suggests that you use ground chuck with a 20 percent fat content (80 percent lean). “A burger has to be juicy to be good and you can’t get juicy without fat,” Flay says, noting that a lot of the fat will drip off during the cooking process. If you use beef that’s too lean and you like your burgers cooked passed medium doneness, you’ll end up with a dry burger when the meat is too lean. “If you are watching your weight or are under the care of a physician, then use a leaner meat,” adds Flay.

2. Season the meat liberally. Flay recommends that you season the patties generously with salt and freshly ground pepper. Each patty should be about six ounces.

3. Turn up the heat. To get a nice char on the meat while keeping the inside juicy, cook over high heat, according to Flay, who cautions that you shouldn’t play with the meat while it’s on the grill: Place each patty on the grill (which you should have preheated for 15 to 20 minutes), let it get brown and slightly charred (this will take about 3 minutes), and then flip it. Flip each burger only once or they will start to fall apart. Don’t press on the burger either; this will cause juices to come out of the meat and will cause annoying flare-ups.

4. Break out the toppings. “My ideal burger contains two slices of aged cheddar cheese, two slices of ripe beefsteak tomato, grilled sweet onion, say Vidalia or Walla Walla, crisp romaine or iceberg lettuce, and a strong horseradish mustard,” Flays notes. He adds that the perfect burger calls for a soft, airy bun with sesame seeds.

Photo courtesy of Food Network

What are VOCs in paint, and is more or less of them better?

At my area home center I’m seeing more interior paints whose cans say the finishes have low or no VOCs. What are VOCs and what do the numbers mean?

The seal has definitely been broken on the issue of VOCs, or volatile organic compounds, in paint. You can expect to see more brands touting their virtuous VOC content.

VOCs are solvents that get released into the air as the paint dries. (Other products emit solvents, including adhesives, cleaning supplies, and even some home furnishings.) VOCs can cause acute symptoms, including headaches and dizziness. The long-term effects are less certain, but according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, some VOCs are suspected carcinogens.

The federal government caps the VOC content in paint at 250 grams per liter (g/l) for flat finishes and 380 g/l for other finishes (low-luster, semigloss, etc.). However, some manufacturers have opted to comply with more stringent limits—50 g/l for all finishes—set by California’s South Coast Air Quality Management District. These paints include such products as Benjamin Moore Aura, True Value Easy Care, and Glidden Evermore. In the past, low-VOC paints have performed poorly in our tests, but these products all got high marks in our latest tests of low-luster interior paints; see our Ratings (available to subscribers) for the full details.

(The Ozone Transport Commission, a multistate organization created under the Clean Air Act, also has a model rule that limits flat coatings to 100 g/l and non-flat coatings to 150 g/l. It has been adopted by the District of Columbia and the following states: Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Virginia. Any sold in these places must be OTC-compliant.)

A handful of paints whose manufacturers claim they contain zero VOCs are now on the market. One is Mythic, which sells for $35 to $45 per gallon at independent dealers nationwide. If you’re a reader of shelter magazines, you’ve probably seen the print ads for Mythic, including the one shown here. Another zero-VOC paint is Freshaire Choice, a Home Depot exclusive that sells for $35 to $38 a gallon. Freshaire has adopted a more wholesome marketing approach: “It’s good for your family, and better for our world.”

The base of other paints might also be free of VOCs, but when any pigment is added at the point of sale, the VOC level climbs as high as 150 g/l, according to ICI Paints, which manufacturers Freshaire Choice. But the makers of Mythic and Freshaire Choice both say that the color pigments used in their finishes contain no VOCs.

Mythic and Freshaire Choice use a VOC-free color additive that is supposed to eliminate not only harmful solvents but also the telltale odor of a freshly painted room, according to their manufacturers. Carl E. Smith, CEO of the Greenguard Environmental Institute, argues that measuring emissions is as important as identifying the VOC level in a paint. “You can have a low count on VOC, but still have high emissions,” says Smith. That’s why Greenguard, which describes itself as an “industry-independent, third-party testing” organization, makes emissions central to its certification process. Currently, Freshaire Choice earns the Greenguard seal, as does Benjamin Moore Aura, whose low-luster and flat paints scored an excellent and a very good overall score, respectively; Mythic has not yet been tested by Greenguard.

Consumer Reports has not yet tested Mythic or Freshaire Choice but both will be considered for our 2009 report of interior paints. We don’t know whether these finishes will endure our typical hiding, fading, and stain resistance tests.

Remember, even though a paint might have low or no VOCs, it doesn’t do you any good if it needs constant touch-ups or reapplying.—Daniel DiClerico

Essential information: If you’re about to tackle a painting project, see our buying guide to interior paint. Also, read this post on avoiding common painting mistakes.

Product certifications are meant to enlighten, not confuse

Ever wonder what the symbols, seals, or sets of letters like "UL" or "CSA" on the back of your smoke detector, microwave oven, hair dryer, or air conditioner mean? Known as certification marks, these logos and acronyms indicate that a consumer product has been tested by this third-party laboratory and that it is certified to meet nationally recognized standards for that type of product. Certification laboratories, like Underwriters Laboratories Inc. (UL, shown)) and the Canadian Standards Association (CSA), must prove that they have the technology and ability to test a product to the applicable standards.

Read "Product Certifications: On the Mark" and refer to the chart on that page to learn more about the certifying organizations and the certification marks for common household goods.

                                                                                                                                             

LawnBott LB3200 robotic mower recall

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission on April 25 announced the recall of the LawnBott LB2000, LB2100, LB3000, and LB3200 robotic lawn mowers, all made by Zucchetti Centro Sistemi S.p.A., of Italy.

Read more about the LB3200 Evolution mower in this story from the May 2008 issue of Consumer Reports, learn about the recall in this post from our Safety blog, and watch our video (right).