We just received our Breville 800CPXL Citrus Press after the holidays and have used it several times since. Compared to the low-end (and much less expensive) plastic Krupps version we replaced (which kept tripping our GFCI), I rate this product 4.5 stars out of 5. It falls just short of perfection, but is nonetheless the most elegant and functional citrus juicer I’ve been able to find at this price point.
LIKES:
1) Beautiful die-cast design feels substantial and stays put when pressing citrus. Kudos to the industrial design team for turning a juicer into a work of art. This is by far the best looking electric citrus press on the market.
2) Brushed stainless exterior goes with any decor and looks great on countertop. No reason to store it away.
3) Removable strainer and juice basin are easy to handwash (I recommend using a small brush or toothbrush to help clean out the pulp).
4) Can press an 8-oz glass of orange juice in less than a minute and works with lemons, mandarins, oranges, and grapefruits without changing elements.
AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT:
This juicer works well and beats others I’ve tried. However, there are a few areas that Breville engineers could improve in their next model. None of these recommendations should cause you to avoid purchasing this unit, but I list them here nonetheless since there’s always room to improve most products:
1) Doesn’t handle large grapefruit as well as I’d like. Still left some juice/pulp in the skin, which I squeezed out by hand. Breville could consider offering a larger snap-on attachment more suitably sized for pressing grapefruit.
2) Sometimes the skin of the orange remains stuck inside the top of the press, requiring manual extraction. Maybe I’m pressing too hard, but this still seems to happen from time to time. On a few occasions, I stalled the motor completely which surprised me. However, stalling the motor didn’t cause the GFCI to keep tripping like the Krupps model we replaced.
3) The electrical cord is nicely designed, but a little too short. I’d prefer to see a 6′ cord to reach to the nearest outlet while allowing flexibility in where to place the juicer on the countertop.
4) If you leave the juicer out on the countertop where there’s a cabinet above, the handle (press) bangs against the top of the cabinet and requires a little finesse to pull it towards the edge of the countertop when you’re ready to use it. The typical height between the countertop and bottom of a cabinet is 18″ +/- 1″ and often the face frame of the cabinet protrudes about 1/2″ or so below the bottom of the cabinet underside. If Breville offered a locking position with the handle down, this wouldn’t be a problem and it would be easier to slide out the juicer into position from the back of the counter.
5) The handle itself seems a little flimsy when compared to the rest of the die-cast machine. While it’s functional and certainly strong enough, I would prefer a solid convex die-cast handle arm (oval cross section) versus the inverted “U” type cross section of the current design. Although the current arm does appear to be die cast, during the extraction process, juice and pulp tend to splatter on the concave underside of the handle. This makes cleaning the handle a little harder than it should if the handle cross section were convex on top and bottom.
Overall, this is an excellent product with bold design and good looks. I recommend this model to anyone who wants to add freshly squeezed citrus to your daily or weekly regimen. I can’t comment on the long-term reliability of the motor since we’ve only had the unit for a few weeks. But so far so good.
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