Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I ended up returning this item. Bottom line: if you buy this item, try running it through to cook pure water only (no food), then taste and smell the water. It should be hot water right? The resulting clear hot water I got smelled heavily of plastic and worse tasted like poison and was shockingly bitter. If you decide to ignore this review and buy a new unit based on all the other positive reviews, just try running it with water yourself, and taste the hot water yourself. I too wanted to like this product. After all most of the reviews are good and the product is so cute I wanted to like it very much, and the idea of making your own food seems healthier than buying prepackaged. After purchase, I was thrilled and ready to go, and nearly made a batch of food for baby immediately. I'm glad I didn't. The instruction booklet had an odd suggestion that the user should cycle water only through the machine at least three times with a brand new unit, so I did so: The first time (filled water to the 3 cup line, poured it in, closed the lid, and turned it on), I had a deep plastic smell in the steam. Still wanted to like it, and figured some smell was unavoidable. (I don't know if the smell came from the boiler, its plastic lid, the plastic steamer tray, or the clear container). I ended up running it about 6 or 7 times (again water only) and I convinced myself the smell decreased somewhat. I still wanted to like the product. That's when I thought I should taste the water. It was unbelievably bitter. It was so intense I couldn't even hold it in my mouth for more than a fraction of a second. I ended up running the machine about 12 times with just water, and the taste was still just as bad. Had I run the new Beaba with food and given it to my baby (like I almost did), I would've chalked it up to the baby hating broccoli. In the end I figured I could run it a hundred times, and even if the smell and taste eventually faded away until I couldn't detect it, I'd still be risking giving chemicals to my baby. After all, you can't taste all chemicals, and there might be other chemicals than BPA in (heated) plastics to be worried about. I went back to steaming in my metal saucepan and whipping up the result in the Cuisinart for baby. It is possible I had a defective lot or something, so if you do end up buying this product, I recommend running it with water only and tasting it for yourself. Trust yourself, not me. ****If you try running water in a new Beaba machine, please comment to my review and indicate whether you do, or do not, taste the bitterness**** If you find this useful, please click that you've found this review useful, so the review rises higher in visibility for more parents.