Essential Tools to Ride Out a Winter Storm

Winter storms often possess a mesmerizing beauty, but can do plenty of harm via extended power outages, icy roads, and frozen pipes, which can severely damage a home. To get through an extreme whiteout unscathed, you need to be prepared.

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13 Valentine’s Day Gifts for a New Relationship

Conventional wisdom says you should give a romantic gift for Valentine’s Day. But that’s tricky if you’re in a new relationship—especially if you don’t want to appear overly ooey-gooey in love. Sometimes it’s better to give something that shows you’ve picked up on your new partner’s interests or recognized something they actually need. The gifts here will show your special someone that you’ve been paying attention.

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Ask Wirecutter: How Should I Clear the Piles of Dangerous Snow Off My Car?

Ask Wirecutter, an advice column written by Annemarie Conte, explores the best approaches to buying, using, and maintaining stuff. Email your biggest product-related problems to askwirecutter@wirecutter.com.

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The Best Platform Bed Frames Under $600

You don’t have to spend big bucks to boost the ambiance in your bedroom—adding a simple platform bed frame can be a game changer. It’s an easy and affordable way to support your mattress, and it will make your bed comfier to climb into and prevent mold from forming underneath. We spent weeks researching and testing bed frames to find our three favorites—each is easy to assemble, sturdy, stylish, and costs less than $600.

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The Best Cheap Mattresses (Under $500)

Sometimes, splurging on a mattress just doesn’t make sense. Most foam, innerspring, and hybrid mattresses (part coil and part foam) cost more than $1,000, which is out of reach for a lot of people. If you’re furnishing a child’s room or a guest bedroom, moving frequently, or simply working with a tight budget, a decent cheap mattress can be a good compromise that doesn’t hurt your wallet—or your back. But wading through the abundance of cheap mattresses online can be intimidating. Many are uncomfortable and saggy, and they could wind up being a waste of money and effort in the end.

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The Best USB-C Laptop and Tablet Chargers

There was once a time when buying a new laptop charger was difficult and expensive, but computers with USB-C charging have made replacements easier to get and more affordable than ever. The best choice for almost any modern tablet or laptop is Nekteck’s 60W USB-C GaN Charger. This adapter is just as powerful and reliable as a replacement from your laptop’s manufacturer, and it’s smaller than almost any other we’ve seen. It’s safety-tested and certified, and it comes with its own USB-C charging cable, making it a particularly great value at its very low price.

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Ask Wirecutter: My Family Uses Scratched Nonstick Pans. Is That Bad?

Ask Wirecutter, an advice column written by Annemarie Conte, explores the best approaches to buying, using, and maintaining stuff. Email your biggest product-related problems to askwirecutter@wirecutter.com.

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The Best Hybrid Mattresses

Mattress companies pitch hybrids (which are part coil and part foam) as being the Goldilocks of beds: not too springy, not too foamy. But that middle range is vast. A few coils sandwiched between thick cuts of foam won’t add much resilience. A sliver of memory foam deep below the surface can’t tame the jiggle of a thousand springs.

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Most Gift Baskets Are Terrible. These Are Great.

Gift baskets get a bad rap, and many deserve it for their uninspired or mismatched components: stale crackers, gritty chocolate, Red Delicious apples that are anything but. We wanted to find the standout choices, gift baskets that would be delicious, beautiful, delightful, and comforting any time of year.

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Sofa Buying Guide

When you buy something online, sight unseen, you’re taking a leap of faith. And this is especially true with sofas, which often cost hundreds or thousands of your hard-earned dollars and can be a hassle to return. There are so many styles, types, and sizes of sofa—from buttoned-up Chesterfields to the Dalì-inspired Bocca—that “best” is often a matter of personal taste. After years of research and testing, we’re ready to admit that we can’t tell you which sofa model is the best one for you. But we can walk you through the process and help you balance quality, budget, and space constraints with your unique needs and tastes.

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The 31 Best Gifts for Girlfriends (That Are Great for Anyone)

Whether the person you’re shopping for is an established bae or a recent fling, a long-distance lover or a live-in partner, finding a gift that expresses the right level of intimacy within an appropriate budget poses a unique challenge. So we’ve pulled from the very best of our staff’s testing and our own favorite things—ranging from silly to sweet to serious—to ensure there’s something here to delight your girlfriend or any other special someone.

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The Best Food Processor

If you’re a cook who needs to get dinner on the table quickly, a food processor can feel like an additional pair of hands in the kitchen. It will allow you to prep a range of food—whether you’re grating cheese, chopping nuts, slicing vegetables, or kneading dough—at lightning speed. We’ve been testing food processors since 2013, and we remain convinced that the simple, sturdy, and powerful Cuisinart Custom 14-Cup Food Processor is the best choice for most home cooks.

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The Best Portable Power Station

If you’re going off the grid or prepping for an emergency, the Jackery Explorer 1000 can keep your electronic gear running for hours—or even days—at a time. It’s roughly the same size and weight as a small microwave, and it provides a steady stream of power without the noise or exhaust of a gas-powered portable generator. After 73 hours spent testing 16 portable power stations, we found that the Explorer 1000’s impressive max output, wide array of ports, easy-to-use interface, and rugged exterior helped it stand out from the competition.

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The Best Chef’s Knife

A great chef’s knife can revolutionize your daily meal prep. If your knife is comfortable to use and razor sharp, you can chop ingredients faster and with more control (and therefore more safely). Even for those who find cooking to be a chore, a quality chef’s knife might make the task feel easier. After putting in over 150 hours of research—and chopping more than 70 pounds of produce with 23 knives—we recommend the Mac Mighty MTH-80. It’s been our pick since 2013, and over the years it has proved to be dependable, sharp, comfortable to use, and a crowd favorite in our tests.

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I Paid Less Than $50 Total for My 57 Houseplants. Here’s How.

Taking care of houseplants is my favorite pastime; my second favorite is not spending my hard-earned cash when I don’t absolutely have to. Fortunately, I’ve discovered that it’s almost ridiculously easy to cultivate a huge population of houseplants for virtually no money.

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The Best Laser Printer

Printers are annoying. All of them. But if you want to keep your annoyance to a minimum, we recommend a laser printer: Not only do laser models print sharp text and crisp graphics, but they also run more reliably than inkjets and won’t clog if they sit unused for weeks between jobs. The best laser printer is the powerful, versatile HP Color LaserJet Pro M255dw. It’s easy to set up and simple to use, and it produces great-looking results, both in color and in black and white.

Global supply chain issues have made it more difficult to find some of our printer picks, and have caused the price of others to jump. If you’re considering other printers in this series, just be aware that the letters after the number indicate key features: D for duplex printing, F for faxing, and W for wireless printing. Some models drop one or the other, so be sure to check before buying.

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Now’s a Great Time to Score Some Super Bowl TV Deals Ahead of Your Watch Party

Wings? Check. Chips? Check. Ample (and comfortable) seating? Check. But we all know the true MVP of any Super Bowl viewing party: a quality TV to huddle around. If you want to witness every pass and fumble and never miss a ref’s call, a decent setup is imperative. No matter what team you’re rooting for, these Super Bowl TV deals will make you feel like you’re right there in the stadium—without having to pay stadium-seating prices.

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There’s a Best Time of Day to Try On Hiking Boots (And More Boot-Buying Advice)

Ill-fitting boots can ruin an otherwise great hike. Boots that fit properly protect your feet, stabilize your ankles, and minimize the chance of blisters—not to mention prevent injury and unsightly bruised toenails. If you’re shopping for your first pair of boots (or if it’s been a while since you last took a spin through an outdoor retailer’s footwear section), these tips can help you get the perfect fit.

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The Best Portable Mini Projector for Movies

A portable movie projector combines the convenience of a phone or tablet with the big-screen appeal of a TV. None of these small, portable projectors rival a good TV or traditional home-theater projector in performance, but the Xgimi MoGo Pro comes the closest of any we’ve tested so far. Plus, the MoGo Pro has Android TV built right in, so you can access a ton of movies without having to connect an external media player.

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The Best Rechargeable Battery Charger (for AA and AAA Batteries)

Today’s rechargeable AA and AAA batteries are much more efficient and reliable than those you may remember from years past. If you’re making the switch to rechargeables, you’ll need a charger to keep them powered. We spent 11 hours researching and 45 hours testing AA and AAA battery chargers, and we found that the Panasonic Eneloop BQ-CC55 is the best for most people. It’s compact, has a fold-out AC plug, and charges up to four batteries at a time. And it has lights to tell you when each battery is dead, half-full, or fully charged.

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The 24 Best Valentine’s Day Gifts for Her

Whatever you celebrate on February 14th—Valentine’s Day, Galentine’s Day, or illustrious suffragette Anna Howard Shaw’s birthday—it’s an opportunity to show the lady in your life some love. We’ve gathered our favorite gifts for women here, so you can focus less on shopping and more on celebrating your relationship, whether it’s romantic, platonic, or something in between.

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How to Clean Stainless Steel Appliances

Even stainless steel appliances that are treated to prevent smudges should be cleaned periodically to maintain that buffed, industrial sheen. If you’ve washed stainless steel before (or attempted to), you may have had the annoying experience of the surface looking sloppier than when you started. That’s because not all cleaning products perform well on it, whether they streak, emit strong chemical odors—or clean other surfaces perfectly fine but leave stainless steel a mess. We studied manuals and spoke with experts to find the most efficient and effective method for cleaning stainless steel appliances. Here’s how to do it.

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The Best Sleep Headphones (But We Hoped for Better)

Unless you are a motionless back-sleeper, most earbuds and headphones are far too bulky to wear comfortably overnight. Even the smallest pair of true wireless earbuds can fall out, become lost, or cause other problems. Sleep headphones are supposed to be the solution for people who want to block out sounds, fall asleep to music, or mask issues such as tinnitus—but when we set out to find the best sleep headphones, our dreams were dashed. Every pair we tested let us down in some way. We still have recommendations to address specific needs, but you should be prepared to accept a number of compromises.

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The Best Portable Chargers and Power Banks for Phones and Tablets

Whether you’re a glued-to-your-screen smartphone owner who can never make it through a day on a full charge, or someone who just needs an occasional battery boost, USB power banks are a panacea for low-battery anxiety. After putting in 21 hours of research and 55 hours of testing, we’ve found that the Zendure SuperMini 20W is the best power bank to charge a phone, tablet, or another small, handheld device. It’s an all-around great portable charger that can offer you peace of mind whenever wall outlets are out of reach.

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Beat the Winter Woes With These Home Essentials Deals—Including Over 20% Off a Brooklinen Comforter

Shorter days, blustery winds, dry, frigid air—maybe bears get it right when they hunker down until the spring thaw. Thankfully, with a little effort you can find some opulent, but not overpriced, creature comforts to render braving the elements unnecessary. They include deals on cozy mug warmers and bedding to help ease your winter woes, as well as a wireless smart doorbell camera that will let you stay snug and check your phone to see who’s darkening your icy doorstep.

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The Best Space Heaters

To offset the chill in a drafty room or to give your home’s heating system a little boost, you may need a space heater. We’ve researched more than 100 models and tested 75 since 2011, and the Vornado VH200 is the best space heater for most people. A lot of space heaters can make you feel like you’re sitting in front of a hair dryer, but our picks can warm an entire room faster and more comfortably than other models while still offering plenty of reliable safety features, just in case.

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The Best Clothing Steamers

If pulling out the iron feels like a slog or you want to give your hand-washed delicates a professional finish, a wrinkle-busting steamer can polish your look in minutes. And because they smooth without scorching, steamers are better for delicates like silk and wool. We’ve tested dozens of steamers since 2016, and our current favorite is the Conair Turbo ExtremeSteam Garment Steamer. Its powerful blasts of steam, comfortable grip, and smart features make it the one we grab over and over.

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The 40 Best Valentine’s Day Gifts for Kids

Valentine’s Day is all about celebrating love. For many kids, exchanging cards with friends and family is a treasured tradition. For others, baking cookies or preparing a special breakfast may be the highlight of the day. And gifts—though totally optional—can make the holiday especially fun. Whether you’re a grandparent (or other relative) who wants to send a little joy from afar or a parent seeking a small token for your kids to open on February 14, we hope these Valentine’s Day gift ideas will capture your little one’s heart.

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The Best PC Gaming Controller

When you’re playing fast-paced first-person shooters and complex strategy games on your PC, you can’t beat the accuracy of a keyboard and mouse. But a gamepad is still a great addition to any gaming PC if you play platforming, puzzle, or retro games, or if you’re more comfortable with a controller. Microsoft’s latest Xbox Wireless Controller—the same one you’d buy for an Xbox Series X or S—is the best controller you can buy for PC gaming because it’s comfortable and supported by most games.

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The 29 Best Valentine’s Day Gifts for Him

Whether you’re celebrating a long-term romance, a treasured friendship, or just a flirtation with the new barista at your usual café, Valentine’s Day is the occasion to treat the special guy—or guys, if you’re lucky—in your life. We’ve pulled together the best Valentine’s Day gifts to show your father, brother, boyfriend, husband, or a promising Hinge swipe just how much you care. And of course, any valentine would appreciate these gifts.

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