Maya Collins

Maya spent nearly a decade as a recipe tester and food-magazine writer before moving into product research, so she reads a spec sheet the way she reads a recipe, looking for what actually matters at the hob. For PickShelf she compares kitchen and home appliances on capacity, wattage, materials, cleaning and running cost, cross-checking manufacturer specifications against live UK retail listings and thousands of verified owner reviews. She has a soft spot for anything that saves a busy household ten minutes and a low tolerance for gadgets that overpromise. She does not lab-test products; she researches them thoroughly.

How Maya Researches

Every recommendation on this page starts with a broad survey of the market: manufacturer specifications, independent expert coverage, and thousands of verified owner reviews on Amazon UK. PickShelf does not physically buy or lab-test the products; instead each pick is chosen by cross-referencing published specs against the live UK listing, the aggregated verified rating, and the recurring themes buyers raise in their reviews. Products with consistent quality complaints, misleading marketing, or poor value are filtered out.

You can read the full process on our How We Choose page.

Areas of Expertise

• Small kitchen appliances (air fryers, blenders, coffee machines, kettles, toasters, food processors)
• Cookware, knife sets and stand mixers
• Large appliances and cleaning (dishwashers, vacuum cleaners)
• Capacity, wattage and running-cost comparison
• Spec-versus-listing verification and review-theme analysis