About
Alma Konstantinou reviews kitchen and home appliances for The Review Bench. She is a former cookbook author and recipe developer who shifted into appliance testing in 2019. Her testing methodology emphasises long sessions of real cooking, not benchmarked single-task tests.
Areas of expertise
- Small kitchen appliances
- Coffee and tea equipment
- Long-form cooking testing
- Recipe-driven appliance evaluation
Bylines at
- Serious Eats (contributor)
- America's Test Kitchen (freelance)
- Wirecutter (occasional)
Recent reviews
Ninja Creami Deluxe (2026) review: a clever machine that asks for more freezer space than your kitchen has
The 2026 Ninja Creami Deluxe is a real improvement over the 2022-era originals — quieter, faster, and with a redesigned lid that finally seals reliably. The texture it produces is genuinely impressive: closer to a small-batch ice cream shop than to a home churn. But the workflow remains awkward. Each pint requires 18-24 hours of freezer pre-freeze, and the nine pints we keep in rotation occupy a noticeable chunk of a standard household freezer. We recommend it for serious dessert hobbyists and people on restricted-ingredient diets, not for casual buyers.
Breville Barista Touch Impress 2 review: the prosumer espresso machine that finally tames the grind
The Barista Touch Impress 2 is Breville's most polished prosumer machine to date. After four months of daily use we believe the assisted-tamp mechanism, not the redesigned touchscreen, is what makes the difference for a home barista. It is not a flawless machine — the puck-prep step still occasionally over-doses, and Breville's choice to keep a single boiler limits back-to-back milk drinks — but it is the one we'd put in a kitchen with both a serious enthusiast and a partner who just wants a flat white before work.
Instant Pot Pro Plus (2026) review: a refined multi-cooker in a category that has run out of ideas
The Instant Pot Pro Plus is a competent, slightly improved electric multi-cooker from a brand that emerged from bankruptcy in 2023 and has spent three years stabilising rather than innovating. The 2026 model adds a brighter display, sous-vide accuracy improvements, and Wi-Fi connectivity that finally works without the company's much-criticised app — but the cooking results are barely distinguishable from the 2020 Pro. We recommend it for buyers replacing a dead older Instant Pot, and we recommend against it for buyers entering the category fresh.
Reach Alma via editorial@thereviewbench.com with the subject line "Attn: Alma".