Check out my list of the best and worst juicers on the market and save yourself a lot of money and heartache. Find out which models sent me running the other way.
I’ve found a lot of really excellent models across all juicer categories, from centrifugal juicers to masticating juicers. Unfortunately I’ve also found some real lemons. And I’m not talking about lemons to make lemonade; I’m talking about juicers that can’t juice lemons. I’m talking about juicers that break down after just a couple of uses – smoking engines and all.
Juicers that are so weak they can’t even handle a juicy tomato. Juicers that spit out pulp that is so wet that you can squeeze out the left over, wasted, juice with your hand. These are models that you should not just stay away from; you should run away from, because they may just squirt juice in your face.
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3 Best and Worst Citrus Juicers of 2021
Citrus juicers are used to extract juice solely from citrus fruits like oranges, grapefruits, lemons, and limes. You can’t juice any other fruits or vegetables with them. To juice an orange for example, just cut it in half and press one half onto the cone of the juicer. The cone will then spin on its own if the model is electric, and squeeze out the juice. The juice falls through a screen and collects in a container under the juicing cone. The pulp and seeds are caught by the screen where you can dump them into the trash later. For manual citrus juicers you’ll need to push and twist the fruit half on the cone; it won’t spin for you.
All in all, the juice extraction process for the typical citrus juicer sounds pretty easy right? Well, there are at least three models that have a really hard time doing this.
Note: We don’t use any of the the low selling or Worst Citrus Juicers bellow, the reviews info or experiences collected from buyer’s reviews on different markets.
Sharper 8144SI Juicer
The Sharper Image 8144SI Citrus Juicer gets horrible ratings. Looking at a dozen reviews on Amazon.com this machine has a dismal 1.7 out of five star rating. Over 83% of the reviewers gave this model only one star. There are a number of stories about this juicer breaking after just a few uses. The record for fastest breakage was an incredible two spins and then the owner reported that a fuse blew and his juicer was done. There are even reports of the engine smoking. And speaking of lemons, one owner was trying to juice a lemon and the machine broke on him.
With the Sharper Image Citrus Juicer you simply cut the fruit in half and place it on to the reamer. According to Sharper Image you can use any size citrus fruit, including grapefruits. The cone spends in one direction and then spins in the other direction to extract the most pulp that it can. The pulp collector has three settings so you can adjust it so that it produces heavy or light pulp in the juice. All parts are dishwasher safe and the juice pitcher holds 5 cups of juice. That all sounds good right? However when you look at customer reviews the real story comes out.
Don’t be like one owner who bought two of these machines, using each only about six times before they both burned out. All in all it seems that the Sharper Image got it wrong with this juicer.
Proctor Silex Juicer
The Proctor Silex Juicit Juicer will break on you faster than any other model.
You really can’t expect much for $12. And that’s what the Proctor Silex Juicit delivers – not much. You get a 34 ounce electric juicer with an auto reverse function in a compact package. It also has a removable strainer that you can use to control the amount of pulp you want in your juice. But the problem with this juicer is that it’s so cheaply made that it can’t stand any type of hard pressure on the juicing cone without breaking. And it seems that it breaks not just in one place but in multiple areas – the reamer, gear box, and motor.
With nearly 60% of owners giving their Proctor Silex juicers a dismal 1 star out of 5, this juicer clearly has problems. The funny thing is that several users report having older versions of the Juicit juicer that work great. One owner reported having this older model for 20 years. I guess certain manufacturers feel that they don’t make much money on products that don’t need to be replaced for 20 years. As a result they have to downgrade the quality of newer products so that when they break you come back and buy another. Of course that’s a whole other topic for discussion. The bottom line with this juicer is save your $12.
Cuisinart Pro Juicer
The Cuisinart CCJ-100 will twist and spill juice all over the place.
On the surface the Cuisinart CCJ-100 seems to be made of high quality parts with a brushed stainless steel housing. It works by pressing the fruit half onto the auto reamer which will spin clockwise and counterclockwise to extract the most juice. It also has a nice anti-drip spout that you close up so the juice won’t leak on your counter. When you’re ready to drink just open the spout and the juice will pour into your glass.
Looking closer at some of these features though, I started to see a lot of problems. First, the spout where the juice pours out only sticks out about a quarter of an inch from the side of the machine. Because of the shape of the juicer this makes it hard to get larger glasses under the spout without the juice spilling all over your counter. I guess they want us to use Dixie cups.
The second major problem with the Cuisinart is with stability. It has a tendency to twist when you apply pressure to the fruit on the reamer. This means that the base will turn instead of the reamer. Not a good situation. When the auto reverse function kicks it the whole machine then violently jerks causing even more confusion. If you have the spout open while you’re juicing, the juicer will spin and throw juice all over your kitchen. Other issues have to do with the weak motor being too slow and the juice container in the machine being too small and getting clogged.
The CCJ-100 gets only 2.3 out 5 stars out of over 170 reviews on Amazon.com. Over half of these are 1 star ratings. There is one video review that a very dissatisfied owner posted showing his juicer spinning around and spitting juice all over his kitchen counter.
What Should You Buy Instead?
Don’t worry, there are some really outstanding citrus juicers out there that do a great job. One model that I highly recommend is the Breville Citrus Press 800CPXL. If you want a top of the line citrus juicer then the 800CPXL is the way to go. It has a rating of 4.3 out of 5 stars with over 185 customer reviews. You can read more in my Breville Citrus Press 800CPXL review.
The Two Worst Juicers (Centrifugal)
I didn’t find quiet as many duds in the centrifugal juicer category as I did in the citrus juicer category. Generally as you move up to this category of juicer, the price tag goes up and, usually, the quality does as well. With a centrifugal juicer you can juice just about any fruit or vegetable, although they are not as efficient as masticating juicers with leafy greens like spinach, and tougher ingredients like wheatgrass.
The main advantage of using centrifugal juicers is that they juice things really fast. In just a few seconds after throwing in a fruit or vegetable you will get some juice. You also don’t need to do a lot of preparation of the ingredients. With many models you can just toss in whole apples and the juicer will be serving up apple juice in no time at all.
The main problems that seem to crop up with centrifugal juicers are weak motors and engine failures. You also see a lot of issues with juicing efficiency. The pulp that comes out of your juicer should be very dry. Some high-end masticating juicers produce pulp that is almost like sawdust. If the pulp is wet, that means the juicer is inefficient. It’s basically leaving juice in the pulp and not in your glass where it should be.
As you’ll see when I talk about the two worst juicers, a centrifugal juicer can have one of these problems, or several. They can also have a host of other issues that you don’t want to deal with.
Hamilton Beach 67800H Juicer
Expect a lot of wasted juice left in the pulp with the Hamilton Beach 67800H.
This Hamilton Beach model is probably one of the cheapest centrifugal juicer models on the market, costing less than $30. But, as we’ve seen, you get what you pay for. With this machine apparently you get a ton of pulp in your juice and soaking wet pulp coming out of the other end. This means that the 67800H is very inefficient. One user talked about how he would get one ounce of juice from about four apples with his old juicer, but with the Hamilton Beach he had to juice 10 large apples to get the same ounce of juice. That means a lot of juice is getting wasted and left in the pulp.
Not only are there reports of this juicer not being efficient, it is also surprisingly slow. Not what you’d expect from a centrifugal juicer that is supposed to be lightening fast. The 67800H’s small feed chute also adds to juicing time because you have to cut all of the fruits and vegetables into such small pieces to get them to fit down the chute. Surprisingly even medium sized strawberries have to be cut to fit down the chute.
With a very low 2.3 rating, half of which are one star, other owners talk about this machine leaking juice all over the place. They also say that it is very difficult to clean, and noisy to boot. So if you want juice all over your counter, left wasted in the fruit and vegetable pulp, and very little in your glass to drink, then this is the juicer for you.
Sharper 8021SI Juicer
The Sharper Image Super Juicer is not so super when the engine breaks and starts smoking.
Despite the name, this Sharper Image juicer is not “Super.” The second Sharper Image model to make this worst list, the 8021SI has a stainless steel blade and parts along with a 700 watt motor. The 8021SI also has a large food chute so you won’t have to cut ingredients up into smaller pieces as much. Sounds good right?
Well the problems start to pop up in the same areas that I saw with the Hamilton Beach centrifugal juicer. The pulp seems to be very wet which means you are wasting a lot of fruits and vegetables when you use the Sharper Image Super Juicer. Also the spout is in an awkward position, too low for most standard sized cups, which means you will have a generally hard time collecting the juice as it comes out. This usually results in a big mess.
There were also reports from owners of the machine breaking after just a few uses, in some cases with a smoking engine. There were also a number of owners that talked about the engine breaking just after the one year warranty expired – how ironic. And clean up seems to be a real hassle with the Super Juicer as well, taking much longer than the average centrifugal juicer. Overall the Super Juicer gets a low 2.5 out of 5 stars with over 40% of the reviews coming in at 1 star.
What Should You Buy?
My top choice for the best centrifugal juicer is the Breville 800JEXL Juice Fountain Elite Juicer. This is a fantastic machine that is highly rated, made of high quality parts, and will efficiently extract a very high concentration of nutritious juice super fast. I have a full Breville 800JEXL Juice Fountain Elite Juicer review on this site if you want to find out more.
A Note On Masticating Juicers
Surprisingly I didn’t find any masticating wheatgrass type juicers that performed horribly and had really low ratings. There are a few machines that get average ratings, but nowhere near the low ratings that I saw with the other machines on this list. For the most part masticating juicers rate very highly, with some getting outstanding ratings and offering 5, 10, and even 15 year warranties as a testament to their high quality. You can find out more about the best masticating juicers on this site.
Masticating juicers are generally more expensive than citrus or centrifugal juicers and use a different mechanical process to extract juice. They work by crushing and grinding food instead of shredding it like centrifugal juicers. The result is more juice is extracted and the juice is not as warm or foamy as is the juice from a centrifugal juicer. Warm and foamy juice does not retain as many nutrients and enzymes.
The drawback to masticating juicers is that they take longer to juice and clean than centrifugal juicers. However if you want the best juice yield and the most nutritious juice, then they are the way to go.
Conclusion
The bottom line when you are out shopping for a juicer is to find a high quality model that best matches your needs. If you just like a fresh glass of OJ in the morning, then a citrus juicer is all you need. If you want to juice wheatgrass or sugarcane, then you’ll need to upgrade to a high quality masticating juicer. And always check owner reviews and ratings and expert juicer reviews like you’ll find on this site to see what issues are popping up.
If you see a lot of break downs and other problems, like with the juicers listed in this article, then stay away. However if you find a ton of glowing reviews and recommendations, then that juicer is one you should take a closer look at. You can find out which are the best juicer models in another article I have on this site. Happy juicer hunting!
If you’ve had a horrible experience with a juicer tell us about it below. Hopefully you can give us a heads up and we’ll be able to avoid your problems in the future.