At Good Housekeeping, our cookery team works hard to create tasty recipes everyone loves – but they can’t do that without the right kit. So we’re sharing their insider knowledge, from the five kitchen utensils every home needs in its drawer, to an inexpensive milk frother that far outranks the pricey ones, to the store cupboard essentials you shouldn’t be without. Here, the team has tried four different lemon squeezers to find the best of the bunch – and the winner is a purse-friendly £8.99!
In their test, cookery team Grace and Georgie pitted four of the most common lemon squeezers against each other, including a Mexican elbow press (£8.99), an industrial juicer (£37), a tabletop squeezer (£6.99), a wooden reamer (£3.50) and, of course, their hands. The winner would be the model that extracted the most juice with minimum mess, with marks lost for rogue pith and pips in the liquid.
After giving some lemons a good squeeze with each machine, it was clearly the Mexican elbow that came out on top. It was easy to use, made no mess and extracted the most juice of all those tried. It also separated the pips and leftover pith from the liquid, for maximum results with minimum effort.
Kitchen Craft Lemon Squeezer
Joseph Joseph Dual-Action Citrus Press
Lemon Squeezer
Saying that – and unlike the results of trying out milk frothers – a couple of others also fared well. If you like the idea of a freshly squeezed OJ with your breakfast every morning, you might be tempted by the industrial juicer, which speedily created a generous amount of juice with zero faff. Just bear in mind that it’s rather hefty, so might not be one for smaller kitchens.
Vintage Style Heavy Duty Fruit Juicer
Artisan Citrus Juicer
Citrus Juicer and Lemon Squeezer
The tabletop squeezer also performed decently, being let down only for allowing a few precious drops to escape onto the worktop. Still, there was no pith or pips in the resulting juice, and it’s small enough to keep in your drawer.
Lemon Squeezer
Lemon Squeezer
You can pick up the winning Mexican elbow press from the Sous Chef website here.
Lauren was Hearst UK’s Homes and Garden writer, covering the latest trends, sales and product launches for Good Housekeeping, Country Living and House Beautiful, and previously for Cosmopolitan, Red, ELLE, Prima and Harper’s Bazaar. Lauren’s specialism is interiors – whether it’s offering tips on how to perfect a seasonal tablescape or trying out viral kitchenware. She is committed to finding the best-value deals during Black Friday and Amazon Prime Day too, so readers can buy with confidence and save money.
Lauren graduated with a BA in English Literature and Journalism in 2013 and has worked in various editorial roles across the UK, Southeast Asia and North America since 2015. She previously wrote for a local London newspaper, covering everything from entertainment and lifestyle to politics and wellness. When not writing, Lauren can be found bargain hunting for pre-loved trinkets and clothes at various car boot sales across the capital.
Follow Lauren on instagram @laurenkatehannah
