Breville Juice Fountain Plus, Silver

I have only been using this for just over a month and I am not certain yet if I am really enjoying the machine or if I just missed having a juicer so much that having a new one feels like the greatest gift I have given myself.

First, it is a good machine: my old machine was much more industrial and was very heavy and sturdy while this machine is extremely lightweight and far easier to clean. In fairness to my old machine, it was purchased a so so long ago and things have change. The lightweight aspect of the Brevillenis one of the reasons I hesitated to purchase it, when you are used to a more industrial machine there might be a slight bias against anything else for fear that there wouldn’t be enough power to consistently process things like beets everyday but, thus far, the Breville has powered through near daily use for two people without a hiccup.

I was also hesitant because of my fears that this type of machine would overheat the nutrients rendering them nonexistent but I did my due diligence and did some research and the Jet factor seems to be minimal for the most part. The juice produced has also never been noticeable warmed that the temperature of the fruit at introduction.

And, the Breville is shocking quick to clean. Won’t lie, I still complain about cleaning it but it does not take long and the included brush does speed the cleaning of the blades (and keeps you from doing something stupid like thoughtlessly using a cloth and slicing your fingers).

Some people have complained it is loud but the higher power setting is not any louder than any other juicer I have had to use in the last couple of decades. It’s actually quieter than many but if you are not used to just how loud a juicer can be or did not appreciate how loud they actually are until you had one in your much-quieter-than-a-juice-bar home, I understand that the sound might be surprising. It is also the reason I do not make juice for my breakfast (I am often up at 4 am for work) and I will not run the juicer after 9:30/10pm.

At any rate, so happy to finally have the Breville in my home and, hopefully, I will have it for years to come.

EDIT 11/13/2013: I just wanted to note that we’ve been using this juicer literally every day for the last eight months and it has worked flawlessly! We still love it… We’ve had a great experience with it and use it on a daily basis. If you have a baby or toddler, this is a fabulous way to introduce a unique fruit and vegetable flavor base to your child’s tongue. If they learn this flavor early in life, it’ll become part of their flavor palette for life. Many babies learn only different sweet flavors from processed food. Fresh fruit juice is very sweet, but vegetables are not typically sweet and have a particular flavor not all like. Our toddler LOVES the juices we make. We found combining apples, oranges, pears, celery, carrots, with half a lemon makes a frothy, milkshake-like juice that’s both delicious and nutritious. Give it a try and experiment. Best of all, have fun with it!

The following is my original review from last March 2013. I have nothing to correct or add to it, other than the above. Read on…

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I had the most amazing juice I’ve ever tasted in my life the other day. I love pineapple and have always enjoyed pineapple juice. It’s my favorite of all fruit juices. After buying the Breville Juice Fountain Plus juicer, I picked up a whole pineapple and my wife juiced it up. WOW… I couldn’t believe what I tasted. I’ve never tasted anything like it and it’s very different than store-bought pineapple juice. It’s so milky and creamy and rich and perfectly balanced. We’ve been making juice with the Breville for a few weeks now, but this absolutely knocked me out and made me a huge fan of the Breville juicer.

I’ve read just about every review on Amazon about this product and our experience with this juicer is close to what others have said. I’ve found what we differ on is our experience with cleaning, leaking issues, and motor malfunctions.

We found cleaning to be very simple. There are only six or eight parts that need cleaning, and if you clean them immediately after juicing, cleanup takes about three to five minutes. It’s important not to let the material dry on any component, especially the filter assembly. After juicing, the material on the filter washes off easily with the aid of the supplied brush. Use warm water and soap to scrub the material out of the fine filter mesh. If you let the material dry on the mesh filter, it will be much more difficult to clean. The order of operations should be 1) juice, 2) clean, and 3) enjoy!

The filter assembly is part of the blade assembly as one entire unit. This is different than some other juicers that have these parts separate. This makes juicing and cleaning easier. The other parts are simply plastic and wash off quickly and easily with warm water and soap.

We find the process of juicing to be fun! Our toddler loves to run in the room and watch the juicer consume material and regurgitate fresh, delicious juice into the serving carafe. The Breville Juice Fountain Plus has two speeds: low and high. Low is used for softer material, like oranges and kiwi. High is used for harder material, like apples, carrots, and pears. Not all fruits and vegetables need to be cut into smaller pieces in order to be properly juiced. Many items can be tossed in whole, as long as they fit into the 3″ diameter hopper throat. Oranges, carrots, celery, cucumbers, and many other fruits and vegetables work great with little or no preparation. Just drop them in, push them down, and watch the juice begin to flow.

We’ve noticed, on occasion, material gets stuck in the hopper and does not juice. During those times, we stop the unit, take the top off, and reinsert the material in a different position. We’ve found most of the time this happens when the skin becomes an obstacle to the blades or we try to juice by inserting the material before starting the juicer. Always start the juicer first and then insert the material. This is where using the juicer takes a little getting used to. We’ve learned how to insert each type of fruit and vegetable. For instance, kale is best juiced between other items. We may put some apples in and then add a wadded-up amount of kale in, followed by a number of carrots inserted lengthwise to push the kale down. You’ll learn how to juice each item in the Breville and the instances where material gets stuck will happen less often.

Most juice is dispensed into the carafe with some amount of foam. The Breville carafe comes with a foam skimmer built into the top of the carafe assembly that helps stop foam from being poured into glasses. This is a very nice feature. If you like the foam, you can take the top off the carafe and pour the juice directly into a glass, foam and all.

Unlike some other reviewers, we haven’t noticed any problems with leaking, overflowing, clogging, or motor malfunction. It has worked flawlessly and extracts a nice quantity of juice. Material dispenses into the waste dispenser consistently dry with only a small amount of moisture.

One tip regarding the waste: if you’re into gardening, save all the waste material for the compost. Just be careful of the seeds. Make sure it’s fully composted, otherwise you might end up with surprise fruits and vegetables growing in your garden. 🙂

The Breville Juice Fountain Plus is an excellent juicer with a powerful enough motor to negotiate a large variety of fruits and vegetables. Whether you’re juicing soft fruits, hard vegetables, or leafy greens, this juicer will perform well and produce numerous gallons of fresh, nutritious juice for your entire family.

Es un extractor con gran potencia, fácil y sencillo de usar. El lavado de sus piezas es muy rápido. Extrae hasta la última gota de frutas y verduras. Sin duda fue una excelente compra. Recomiendo ampliamente esta marca, buen precio por un gran producto.

probé a penas el extractor y realmente me gustó, exprime muy bien las frutas. También me gusta que tiene un contenedor externo a donde se va lo restante de la fruta, puedes usarlo para todo tipo de fruta pero no para aquellos como las hojitas del apio. eso no se licuar, hay que usar licuadora para ellas.
la parte en donde se van agregando las frutas es muy amplio, eso también es bueno porque puedes meter no sólo zanahorias, sino manzanas y frutas más grandes.
es fácil de lavar aunque sí trae muchas piezas.
en general lo recomiendo mucho.