To decide which dining tables to test, I started by surveying the current low- and midpriced dining-table landscape across styles, retailers, and materials, both online and in stores. I evaluated dozens of retailers, including Amazon, Anthropologie, IKEA, Article, Castlery, West Elm, Room & Board, CB2, World Market, Soho Home, DWR, Wayfair, and Pottery Barn, among…

For over seven years now, my kids have been helping me test smartwatches, phones, and parental controls for Wirecutter’s guides. I’ve reached a point where I know it’s time to let go. That is, it’s time for my teens (one of whom is in her last year of high school) to learn to set their…

We were mixed over New York City–based Chocolat Moderne’s Mixe Moderne Box, a selection of dark and milk chocolates packed in a luxurious brown quilted box. The main critiques were of the chocolate shells (too thick) and the centers (too sweet). But we do enthusiastically recommend its vegan selection and its vegan gift basket. The…

In this edition of The Gift, we’re covering the best gifts for a smoother, more beautiful 2026, including a lovely set of watercolors and a romantic, old-fashioned nightgown. Many of us, myself included, start the new year with a resolve to buy less, to waste less, to simply want less. But in my years working…

Marki Williams/NYT Wirecutter We looked for kettlebells that first-timers would find easy to use but that would also please goblet-squat masters. With that in mind, we did simple grip tests (holding a kettlebell with one or two hands for a minute, to see how comfortable it felt and whether it slipped), and we did more-advanced…

The Philips kit provided the best experience, but for a dramatically higher price — and the base model doesn’t even include lighting. Arthur Gies/NYT Wirecutter If you’ve got money to spare, or if you’re already invested in the Hue ecosystem, this HDMI-based option offers the smoothest, most nuanced lighting effects we’ve seen. If you’ve already…

Blue Apron Top pick This popular service offers well-tested meals with broad appeal. The recipes are consistent and simple to follow, with the most accurate time estimates we’ve seen. And it uses transparently sourced, good-quality ingredients. Blue Apron is one of the longest-running and most popular meal kits services in the US, and it shows….

While we’re confident in Force of Nature as a disinfectant swap, we’re less enthused about it as a replacement for multipurpose cleaning spray. Supposedly, according to the company, the tiny amount of sodium hydroxide in the solution can dissolve grease, grime, and soap scum. But we found that Force of Nature wasn’t especially impressive at…

We tested four on-robot mop types (clockwise from bottom left): roller mop, mop pad, spinning mop pad, and roller track pad (a twist on the roller mop). Michael Murtaugh/NYT Wirecutter The vast majority of new robot vacuums now feature some kind of mopping component, but many are little more than glorified Swiffer pads. For this…

Some of my fondest childhood memories took place in the bathroom. When we were growing up, my sister and I shared a bathroom. It’s where we’d bookend our days together, laughing through foamy, toothpaste-laden mouths and scrubbing our way through our skin-care routines. Our sink was always littered with cleansers, serums, and moisturizers, but our…