Checking out with a literal grocery cart full of citrus got me a few side eyes from Trader Joe’s employees. “It’s for a review,” I whisper-shouted at the cashier, who looked at me a little strangely and then said, “I asked if you wanted the grapefruits in a bag.”But, I will suffer for my work, the work being: testing electric citrus juicers.
These pressure-activated reamers required more hand/wrist strength than the lever-style ones, as you had to continually press/hold the citrus down. Besides the Smeg, these juicers were also much smaller and lighter, which was a boon for storage but meant it was tougher to keep stable while working. They also tended to be much louder.
The one cleanup difference to note was with the reamers that had adjustable strainer plates meant to control pulp levels via a slider near the handle . These plates were dual-layered and most of them did not easily come apart, trapping pulp and juice and, generally, being tougher to get clean. Our favorite electric citrus juicers juiced citrus of various sizes well, were easy to use, and had removable, dishwasher-safe parts.
This retro-looking juicer is pretty snazzy and eye-appealing, like all of Smeg’s appliances. However, I also found it worked well—especially with larger oranges and grapefruits, where I could really wrap my hands around the citrus and help the rather blunt reamer juice it. It was one of the quietest pressure-activated electric juicers I tested . Most of its removable parts are dishwasher-safe, and it’s an overall more compact option.