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A quick guide to Kitchen Dimes, how its two categories are organized and how to read its advice and buying guides.

Kitchen Dimes is for home cooks who want a straight answer about the appliances and cookware in front of them. Maybe you are comparing ranges, wondering what is safe to put in the microwave, or standing over a dishwasher full of dirty water. This page will help you find the right part of the site and understand how its advice works.

Find your way by category

The site is organized into two categories, and each one opens with a plain overview of its subject.

Cooking Appliances is the place to go for stoves, ranges, cooktops, wall ovens, microwaves and range hoods. Its main sub-topics include microwave safety, induction cooking, oven and stove types, microwave repair and ovens that will not heat.

Major Appliances covers refrigerators, freezers, ice makers, dishwashers, garbage disposals and whole-kitchen brands and packages. Its main sub-topic is dishwasher troubleshooting, and its overview also walks through refrigerator temperatures, disposal basics and the repair-or-replace decision.

Cookware, knives, coffee gear and countertop tools are part of the Kitchen Dimes beat as well, because no appliance does much without the things you use with it.

How to use what you read

Start with your own situation, including your hookups, your available space, your budget and the way you actually cook. A product that suits one kitchen can be a poor fit for another, so the reasoning matters more than any single verdict. When an answer depends on your model, keep your owner’s manual close and write down the full model number.

Kitchen Dimes is not a test lab, and a review or buying guide here should be read as reasoned research rather than a laboratory report. The About page explains how the work gets done and where its limits are.

Know when to stop

Some kitchen problems are good do-it-yourself projects, and some are not. If you smell gas, leave the house and call your gas utility or 911 from outside. Cut the power before you reach into a disposal or work on any appliance. Leave gas lines, sealed refrigerant systems and the inside of a microwave to a qualified professional.

How the site makes money

Kitchen Dimes carries no display ads, and its product roundups link to Amazon with the site’s Associates tag. The Disclosure page explains how that works.