The Best Patio Furniture, Electric Kettle, and More

The best portable jump starter, bike racks for small homes and apartments, and more, in this week’s Sweethome newsletter. [View this email in your browser]( How do you test [a patio furniture set]( for general wear-and-tear, sun damage, and general weather-resistance? You can’t do it in a lab. You can’t even do it over a month in a backyard. What you can do is to talk to long-term owners and pore over customer reviews from people across the nation to get the dirt on how these patio sets fare over time. (We’ll long-term test them, too, though.) We’re recommending a wood set for most people, because designers tell us that’s what their clients usually want, but we’ll also offer this small piece of advice—it’s easier to get bird poop off of a glass tabletop (as seen on steel and rattan sets) than off of a wooden one. —Ganda Suthivarakom [The Best Patio Furniture]( [After doing 18 hours of research]( and considering 20 patio dining sets, we recommend the acacia-wood [IKEA Äpplarö Table and 4 Armchairs](. It looks great, owners say it lasts a long time, and it costs a fraction of most wood sets. [The Best Portable Jump Starter]( After researching 40 portable jump starters and testing 10 models, we recommend the [PowerAll Deluxe PBJS12000-R]( as [the best]( for most drivers. [The Best Bike Racks for Small Homes and Apartments]( After more than 30 hours of research and testing, we recommend the [Delta Cycle Michelangelo Gravity Stand]( as the [best bike rack]( for people who want to store their bikes in homes with limited space. [The Best Electric Kettle]( After dozens of hours researching and long-term testing electric kettles, we think the [Cuisinart CPK-17]( is the [best electric kettle]( for most people. [Practical Presents for Mom]( This year for Mother’s/Father’s Day, we’re skipping the clichéd presents to give our parents [practical advice and equipment]( they actually need. [Mother’s Day Gift Ideas]( For anyone stressing over Mother’s Day, [here are the gifts you should pin for later]( (next Sunday, May 14th, to be exact). [The Best Deals We Can Find]( Because we think we can make a small difference by being picky, here are [some great deals]( on solid pieces of gear. One of our favorite deals from this week: [Breville BOV800XL Smart Oven 1800-Watt Convection Toaster Oven with Element IQ](. We’ve seen this toaster oven hit this deal price a few times before, but it’s still the best price we’ve seen. For those who love a great deal, we’ve started sending out a daily newsletter of [the best deals we find]( each weekday. If we don’t find a deal worth sharing, we won’t send an email that day. Updates and Other Stuff - We’ve made our AC picks for summer 2017. The [LG LW8016ER]( remains our top pick, and the [Frigidaire FFRE0833S1]( is still our runner-up. Our new upgrade pick is the [Frigidaire Gallery FGRQ08L3T1]( which is the quietest air conditioner we’ve ever tested. Our full update will be up in a few weeks. [[Best Air Conditioner]( - Dual-hose portable ACs are much more efficient than single-hose models in very hot weather, so our new pick will be the dual-hose [Whynter Elite ARC-122DS]( and the [Whynter ARC-14S]( is our new runner-up. If you live in milder climates with modest, occasional heat waves, our previous pick, the single-hose [Haier HPN12XCM]( is a good option. We’ll post our fully updated guide in a few weeks. [[Best Portable Air Conditioner]( - The [iRobot Roomba 690]( is our new [runner-up]( for the best robot vacuum. It’s essentially the same robot as the old [Roomba 650]( for the same list price, but with the same connectivity features as some higher-end bots. [[Best Robot Vacuum]( - Our new pick for the [best budget-friendly electric range]( is the [Amana AER6603SFB](. Like our previous recommendation, the now-discontinued Amana AER5630BAS, the AER6603SFB is an effective, affordable electric range with one of the strongest power burners for its price. [[Best Electric and Gas Ranges]( - Our new favorite solar panels, the [SolarWorld Monocrystalline Panels]( replaces our prior pick from Suniva. Though still operating, Suniva recently declared bankruptcy, and the future of the business is unclear. [[How to Shop for Solar Power]( Let’s be friends... [Like us on Facebook ]( [Follow us on Twitter]( [Follow us on Pinterest]( [Follow us on Instagram]( [Subscribe to our YouTube channel]( Getting this email for the first time? Subscribe to receive it weekly [here](. Copyright © 2017 The Sweethome (part of The New York Times Company), All rights reserved. You're receiving this email because you signed up for Sweethome's weekly newsletter. Wait, you don't remember? Our mailing address is: The Sweethome (part of The New York Times Company) 142 Henry Street, 1WNew York, NY 10002 [Add us to your address book]( [unsubscribe from this list]( | [update subscription preferences](