Looking for a new juicer, but don’t know what is the best juicer? Need not worry, we’ve put together this simple guide which talks about all the aspects of choosing the best juicer for your kitchen.
Defining your needs
There are dozens of brands and hundreds of models of different top juicers available on the market. To narrow down your choice, figure out your needs and expectations from the juicer. Here are some questions you can ask yourself before placing your order:
Why are you buying the juicer? (to improve your health, fight common ailments, or just to enjoy the fresh juices)
What type of produce you’ll be juicing most often? (greens, veggies, fruits, citruses, harder items like roots and beets etc.)
How easy should the juicer be to assemble, disassemble and clean?
How easy should the juicer be to operate?
How long would you ideally want the motor and other parts to last?
How efficient should the juicer be? (in terms of yield)
Last but by no means the least, how much can you afford to spend – there are juicers as cheap as $25 and as expensive as $2500
Now based on the answers to the above questions, you can choose any of the following three main types of juicers: though you can also buy a citrus juicer (e.g. Sunkist Commercial Citrus Juicer, KRUPS ZX800 Silver Art Collection Citrus Press, or the most cherished Tribest CS-1000 Citristar Citrus Juicer etc.) or a wheatgrass juicer.
Centrifugal juicers
The most common type and usually the most affordable are centrifugal juicers. They spin the produce at a great speed to separate juice from the pulp. These juicers are usually compact and lightweight. They are difficult to clean and don’t preserve much of the necessary nutrients. You should consume the juice produced by these juicers quickly or it might change taste/color.
These juicers are ideal for home use, especially for people who can’t afford to spend too much money, and usually juice harder produce. Arguably, Breville makes the best centrifugal juicers and the Breville 800JEXL Juice Fountain Elite 1000-Watt Juice Extractor is the bestselling and top rated centrifugal juicer on Amazon. But if you are looking for a more affordable option, the Hamilton Beach Big Mouth Juice Extractor is also one of the most popular models, yet reasonably priced. Juice Master Pro, Waring Pro JEX328 Health Juice Extractor, Cuisinart CJE-500 Compact Juice Extractor and L’Equip 306601 XL Juicer are also very efficient and popular models.
Masticating juicers
These juicers are made for people who don’t want to compromise on the quality of their juice, and are willing to pay some extra money. Masticating juicer, also known as single auger juicers, are slow, preserve most of the enzymes, have a higher yield and are easier to clean.
Omega’s masticating juicers are the best on the market, especially Omega J8004 Nutrition Center Commercial Masticating Juicer is the bestseller in all the categories of juicers on Amazon – the largest online retailer. Some other good options are Hurom Slow Juicer Model HU-100S New Silver, Kuvings NS-950 Silent Upright Masticating Juicer and Omega VRT350S Heavy Duty Dual-Stage Vertical Single Auger Low Speed Juicer.
Twin-gear juicers
Unlike the masticating juicer, these juicers have two gears that rotate at slow speed and crush the produce to extract the sap. They are the most efficient, most durable and most expensive juicer machines. They are usually big in size and ideal for commercial use or for raw food enthusiasts who want to use their juicer as a food processor, homogenize, nut butter maker etc.
In the category of the twin-gear juicers (aka triturating juicers) Super Angel All Stainless Steel Twin Gear Juicer- 5500 is the model with highest ratings. Its entire body is made of stainless steel, which is virtually unbreakable. The juicer promises maximum yield from all type of produces, however, you have to pay big bucks if you want to bring this beauty home. A more affordable alternate can be the Green Star GSE-5000 Elite Jumbo Twin Gear Juice Extractor – which isn’t made of steel but is just as efficient.
Hopefully, this discussion will help you identify what is the best juicer for your kitchen.