The box arrived by courier. I carefully sliced open the tape and took each piece out, laying it all in front of me. For the first time, looking at an instruction manual, wished my kids were here to help me! I can do this I thought, it’s what Chefs do, – I’m trained, older, seasoned as they say. I’ve put together many an Ikea product when we first got married – they always came with extra parts, this couldn’t be much different. But enough thinking, let’s get to the machine.
All the parts were there. As I read the instructions, as a typical user, I can say they are as boring as the next instruction guide. I finally got to an interesting part, the removal of the blade accessory. The picture in the guide showed the bottom of the jug but was dark and made it difficult to understand the instructions, but it could just have been my copy. The explanation wasn’t very enlightening, so I flipped the jug over. Tried to unscrew the bolt there – only by hand, it wouldn’t budge. Then I saw it, the lever. It easily slid it across the base. There was a towel trick, thank heavens I read this part, for as I slid the lever, I heard a thud – the blade dropped onto the towel. After a little while of playing with it – it’s what guys do when they get a new toy, I could actually hold the blade in one hand with the jug and slide the lever with the other hand to release the blade. Note, they do warn against this as the blade itself is sharp, so don’t do this.
Everything snaps in place. Safety mechanisms of note, no snap – no power. I liked that. Over all it wasn’t much bigger than my Kitchen Aid Mixer. I also liked that. I like clean counters and only bring my appliances out of the cabinet when I want to use them. Although it looked good on the counter, I preferred it tucked away in the cabinet below my stovetop. The display on the machine was also nice and bright, easy to read. It would be nice if it would tilt up so you didn’t have to get close to it to read it – now this may just be my eyesight/age. I have seen other appliances that when you pressed the bottom of the display, the display tilted up for easier reading – maybe in BKM 2 – The Sequel, the designers might put this feature in.
The steamer basket is big. there is a deep attachment and a shallower attachment, deep for veggies; the shallow basket could easily accommodate a 9 – 10″ fish fillet. Steaming is so much healthier than frying. I can’t wait to try out this feature. I found a place for this with my pots and pans, it won’t fit with my appliances. That’s okay though, it’s still all accessible and one less thing to bring up to the counter when I want to use it. It also held all the extra parts. So, it is a nice looking machine, good safety features. The right amount of doodah’s to remove the steaming basket etc. All in all, I like what I see.
Next BKM blog, tested recipes.