This guest review was written by Kelli who lives in Collingwood, Ontario. She grew up in Thornhill/Richmond Hill and spent her adult life living in North York before moving to Collingwood with her husband in the fall of 2010, just before our her first daughter was born. Kelli thinks her daughters, Romy (two and a half years old) and Lola (four months old), are the most amazing little girls! She’s a stay-at-home mom who loves Collingwood’s exciting outdoor lifestyle. Her family’s favorite activities are swimming (at the pool and beach), snowboarding, hiking and biking.
Kelli received a Playtex SmartSpace Bottle Drying Rack in exchange for her honest review.
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When Romy was born, not only did our adult lifestyle change, but so did our adult house and décor – baby things (toys, clothes, gear, bottles, etc.) took over our house. I didn’t mind at first, but I remember when she turned one that I was glad to have at least my kitchen back, without thousands of bottles, nipples, spoons, bibs, baby cups and bowls taking over anymore. I vowed that with the next child I would at least make an attempt to make the baby clutter look nice in the kitchen instead of looking like a tornado ripped right through our house. This is where the bottle drying rack came in – one place to store all bottles and bottle accessories, that doesn’t take up the whole kitchen counter and doesn’t look messy.
THE GOOD
The Playtex SmartSpace Bottle Drying Rack is small and decent to look at. It’s white with some blue and grey parts so it doesn’t stand out too much and doesn’t look childish.
The best part about it is its size and configuration. It’s called the “SmartSpace” because you can either use it as one bigger drying rack or divide it into two separate racks, which is great if you only have a few things to wash and dry or if you have limited space.
Another awesome thing about this drying rack is that it comes with two mini microfibre drying mats that go under the drying rack. There are lots of options for hanging any type/brand of bottle, nipple, pacifier and so on. The bonus? The mats are machine washable!
It’s ideal if you have a few things to clean up quickly.
THE GAFFE
When I first took this product out of the box, I looked at it and then left it in one corner of the kitchen for a few days, going back to it every once in a while and then leaving it again. There were soooooo many parts to put together that I was discouraged. In the end it really didn’t take that long to put it together but I definitely prefer a quick and easy set-up.
There are two units that either attach or separate to save space but I found that they didn’t stay attached, which was really annoying and the microfibre mats underneath the rack kept moving around because they were two separate pieces. If the drying mat was one larger piece instead of two separate pieces I think it would have worked a lot better.
I use Avent bottles and bottle accessories and I found that although there are lots of hooks and stands and sticks, the bottle parts were all over the place and it seemed disorganized.
There’s a little container that clips onto one of the racks that’s supposed to be for a bottle brush, but it’s too small, so when I put the bottle brush in it, the whole container fell over.
It would be nicer for most kitchens in black or stainless steel, I think.
THE GEARS
3.5/5
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