Appliances

Dry, hot air can irritate the respiratory system and make a child's cough or cold even worse. A humidifier can help make your baby more comfortable--as long as you keep the unit clean.

A humidifier can relieve itchy eyes, sore throat, and cracked skin by adding moisture to dried-out air. In addition to these health benefits, a humidifier can also reduce static electricity, peeling wallpaper, and cracks in paint and furniture.

More blenders are adding chopping, juicing, food-processing, and even soup-making to their usual menu of margaritas and smoothies. You'll even find hand-held blenders you can put right in a drink or a pot. But our tests show that not all of these multitaskers are winners.

The best dishwashers powered away peanut butter, egg yolks and other gooey foods in our tests. Tougher federal efficiency rules have also helped all new machines save water and energy over those built only a few years ago. But as we found, you can still get soaked on big names and fancy features.

Americans spend more than $500 million each year on room and whole-house air purifiers--also known as air cleaners--mostly in the hope that they'll ease the symptoms of asthma and allergies. But there's little medical evidence that any air cleaner alone can do that effectively.