This Mini Juicer Barely Takes Up Any Space in My Kitchen (I Use It Every Day!)

As much as I love living on my own, there were some perks of living with my parents that I still reminisce about. I enjoyed going grocery shopping with another person (so they could push the cart), for example. I also miss getting free car rides to wherever I needed to go. But one of the things I miss most is my dad’s juicer. He has one of those big machines that takes up half of the countertop where he liquifies carrots, pineapples, and other fresh produce every morning. When I moved to my tiny NYC apartment, I barely had space for the basics, like a coffee machine and toaster, let alone something fancy like a juicer. But when spring rolled around and I started craving fresh fruit juice in the warmer weather, I started looking for something that my tiny kitchen could accommodate. Enter the DASH Deluxe compact juicer, which I came across on Amazon. I was immediately down to try it because so many of my colleagues here at The Kitchn love DASH products. So, where does the brand’s juicer rank? I’ll tell you.

Immediately upon unboxing my new juicer, I was impressed with its small size. The 13” by 4” machine doesn’t take up too much space on my counter, and I can store it in my kitchen cart when I’m done with it. Using it is also pretty easy. Just pop your produce in the chute, push down, and the appliance does all the work of separating the pulp from the juice to create a nutrient-rich drink. You just want to make sure you cut your fruit or veggies into small enough pieces so they fit down the chute. What’s more, an included attachment for frozen foods allows you to whip up sorbets and frozen cocktails. DASH also says you can use the juicer to make nut-based milks, though I just buy almond milk from the store and therefore haven’t tried this. The machine is available in a light blue-green color, which is the one I got, but you can also get it in plain black or gray if that matches your kitchen aesthetic better.

There are certain fruits I enjoy the taste of, but I don’t like eating them in solid form. Oranges, for instance, have those stringy white bits on the inside that I find kind of gross. But ever since I got the DASH juicer, I’ve been juicing oranges every other week, and it’s so refreshing! I also love juicing pineapples, which can prove too acidic whole, and I’ll pop in a couple of regular apples into the mix if I’m trying to use them up before they go bad. The juice always comes out tasting sweet and delicious, but without all the additives, preservatives, and extra sugar you find in store-bought juices. I will say, the juicer has a fairly small pulp spout. This is good because it prevents the final product from being too pulpy, but it also means that some fibrous fruits and vegetables block it up. Whereas strawberries, spinach, and apples come out of the pulp spout easily, I’ve had some trouble with pineapple. In such cases, I remove the blending part of the juicer from its base and use the tip of the included cleaning brush to push out the bits causing the jam. It’s not ideal, but it gets the machine working again.

I’ve had similar issues the one time I tried to use the juicer’s frozen attachment. I cut up and froze a box of strawberries. With this attachment, the sorbet is meant to come out of the pulp spout. But even though the berries were cut into quarters, the spout still got jammed. I was still able to get through half the box, though, and the resulting sorbet was perfect in terms of both flavor and texture.

I find the juicer easy to take apart and clean; the skinny brush it came with is especially helpful for getting every last fruit remnant out. Overall, I would recommend this juicer for people working in small kitchens like me, but I’d be mindful of the fact that it’s not the most powerful device. Just make sure to cut up your fruit properly and keep an eye out for jams. But for your run-of-the-mill green juice or apple/orange/kiwi concoction, it’s great.

Buy: DASH Deluxe Compact Juicer, $79.99 (normally $99.99)