Amco Houseworks Enameled Citrus Squeezer

For those who only need to juice citrus fruits occasionally, reviewers recommend the Amco Houseworks Enameled Citrus Squeezer (*Est. $10). These colorful, enameled-aluminum tools come in different sizes for limes, lemons and oranges.

The bottom line

There's an almost-universal consensus that the Amco Houseworks Enameled Citrus Squeezer juices well (as long as the fruit is the right size), and that it's comfortable in your hand. The real question is whether the handle will hold together or not, given the recent negative feedback. The Oxo Good Grips Citrus Juicer (*Est. $15) is a manual reamer made of plastic, but gets significantly better feedback for its durability than this Amco squeezer. Those who plan to juice citrus fruits regularly might prefer an electric model, such as the Breville Die-Cast Citrus Press 800CPXL (*Est. $200) or the more modestly priced Black & Decker CitrusMate Plus CJ625 (*Est. $20).

Performance

This deceptively simple squeezer produces lots of juice. Users and experts alike love how much juice the Amco Houseworks Enameled Citrus Squeezer extracts. "There was no doubt that I was getting every bit of juice out," writes one reviewer on Amazon.com. The Amco enameled lemon squeezer was the most effective of the juice presses tested in one comparative review. We found a few comments that the thinner the fruit's skin, the more efficient the squeezer will be.

"The holes are large enough to let plenty of juice pass through, yet small enough to catch seeds and pulp," write the editors of BonAppetit.com, although they warn that large fruits won't fit into these juicers. Having to buy a separate squeezer for different-sized citrus (Amco sells three squeezers -- sized for limes, lemons and oranges) may be annoying to some, but larger fruits can always be cut into pieces to fit the squeezer. However, if the fruit is too small, reviewers say you're out of luck since there will be too much clearance between the juicer's two pieces.

Ease of use

Experts and owners agree Amco has created one of the most comfortable manual squeezers. There's no avoiding the fact that a manual, squeeze-style juicer like the Amco Houseworks Enameled Citrus Squeezer requires more effort than electric juicers. The good news is that both experts and users say this is one of the most comfortable squeeze-style juicers they've held; it even receives the highest score awarded for ease of use in one expert test. The squeezer does require some hand strength, but at least it won't hurt your hands.

Durability

The Amco Houseworks Enameled Citrus Squeezer's handles might be problematic. Although the manufacturer says these citrus squeezers are dishwasher-safe, experts and owners alike recommend hand washing to avoid chipping the enamel. More troubling than that, however, is a spate of reviews posted on Amazon.com from users saying their lemon squeezer broke the first time they used it, or after only a few uses. "The entire handle broke off and I'm not that strong," exclaims one reviewer.

Another common complaint is that the enamel flakes over time (in less than a year); it's unclear whether this is related to cleaning the juicer in the dishwasher, but a smattering of similar concerns surface every year. However, the vast majority of complaints about handles breaking are posted in 2012, so we wonder if there might be a recent quality-control issue.