Product review: best electric juicers

As it’s January, and we all might have indulged in one too many mince pies over the festive period, we thought we’d test out some juicers to start off our New Year’s health kick.

Juicing is a great way to get some of your five a day, but another positive is you know what’s going into your glass. So we tried out some of the juicers on the market to find out which were worth using, and which weren’t.

To keep the results fair, I used the same ingredients for each juicer to ensure it was comparable:

• Half a cucumber;
• Three apples;
• Thumb of ginger;
• Two stalks of celery;
• Half a lemon (squeezed).

Different juicers

In a centrifugal juicer, there are fast-rotating metal baskets with a blade in the bottom used to cut and slice the fruit, with small holes in the side to allow the juice to escape and ensure the pulp stays in the waste compartment.

Whereas a masticating juicer will chew up the fruit, squeeze the juice out and discard the remaining pulp into a separate container.

In theory, either machine should make the whole juicing process easier for us at home.

We put three different juicers at three different price points to the test: the L’equip 215 XL Juicer, Philips Avance Collection Masticating Juicer and the Novis Vita Juicer.

L’Equip 215 XL Juicer: £99

The L’Equip juicer was the cheapest juicer we tried out. The machine itself is quite bulky and requires a lot of worktop space, so that’s worth taking into account. I found it quite difficult when I was trying to attach the slits to the body of the machine, and I also found that there was quite a bit of waste, with lots of excess pulp left behind. However, the juice was very smooth and clear.

It wasn't necessary to cut the fruit up (I did half the apples for ease, but it isn't strictly necessary), and most other fruit and vegetables would need no chopping at all thanks to the spacious 75mm feed-chute.

I found the pulp left behind was quite wet, which means quite a lot of juice may not have made its way through the machine. I also found that there was the least amount of juice, but this can be down to the centrifugal design. 

Philips Avance Collection Masticating Juicer: £250

Similarly, I found the Philips juicer also needed quite a bit of worktop space in the kitchen. When it came down to the actual juicing, I found there wasn’t as much pulp left behind as the L’Equip. It was very easy to set up (once I figured out the plunger was already connected to the fruit/veg drop). Although the juice was smooth, I found it separated a little once in the glass, and had quite a frothy top.

I found the motor quiet, with minimal vibrations from the machine itself, which is a common aesthetic design in a masticating juicer.

Novis Vita Juicer: £269

In comparison to the other juicers, the Vita Juicer was much more streamlined and didn’t take up as much space on the worktop.

Although it isn’t hard to put together, it’s worth noting that the juicer is multifunctional (it has four functions to be exact), and so it’ll be useful to keep the instructions for future reference as there are different pieces of equipment you might need depending on what you’d like to use the juicer for.

I thought I’d go for the centrifuge function as this wouldn’t need any pressure from the pusher to create the juice.

By adding the mix of ingredients bit by bit into the wide feed chute, each fruit was processed by the spinning disc and pulp-free juice poured into the glass with some foam, but gave a full glass of juice.

The juicer’s operation is quiet, with feet that absorb vibrations, and clean-up is very easy.

Which would I buy?

If juicing is new to you, and if you don’t think you’ll be into the whole wheatgrass or leafy green juice type of drink, a centrifugal juicer like the L’Equip will do the trick. They’ll give you good juice and they don't cost a fortune.

In comparison, if you’re going to be a serious juicer it’d be a better choice to head down the masticating juicer route. These are the perfect machines for those of you who want to ensure minimal nutrients are lost when juicing. And you can also process leafy greens and herbs alongside veg and fruit.

All three juicers proved very, very easy to clean after use and I'd say they're all on a par for cleaning speed. Which, after all the pulp and mess, is a real selling point for me. 

If I had to choose, I'd pick the Nova Vita. The juice was the best and I like the possibility of being able to change the functionality of the machine. 

But I'd very happily own any one of them in my kitchen. 

Do you juice? Do you have any juicer recommendations? Let us know in the Comments section below.

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