Stainless Steel Food Dehydrator with 5 Stainless Steel Shelves

I wanted to rate this 4.5 stars but there wasn't that option. I rounded up. I did research on getting a dehydrator over the period of a couple years and I always came back to this dehydrator. I wanted something that didn't have plastic trays because I worried about plastic leaching into the foods being dehydrated. My mother had an Excalibur when I was growing up and I wasn't that impressed. It was loud, slow and the plastic mesh racks would turn brown and crack after time and the customer service was TERRIBLE at Excalibur. This review is after using the machine the first week. These are the things I like:It's made in the USA and the company is easy to reach and very helpful.It is well made and looks nice, very industrial looking, in a good way.It dried the fruit evenly and the bananas and apples ended up having the perfect soft crunch.The trays are sturdy and easy to clean.I like that it has a timer, not all machines do.The fan is not very loud at all. I have an open floor plan and we can watch a movie or do other things and the noise of the dehydrator doesn't interfere.Things I don't like:My biggest complaint is that the door sort of rattles from time to time as the heat kicks on and off. I found that if I just clipped the door to the frame at the bottom with two clothespins, that eliminated the excessive rattling noise.Temperature settings don't match up with the reading of the thermometer that you can get to insert into the hole in the door.Things I wish I'd known/had before or at the same time as getting the machine--the dehydrator was a gift and I wasn't able to use it right away because I needed the following things to get started:I HIGHLY recommend finding a thermometer that fits in the small hole. Though there is a guide on the machine showing which temperature to use for what you are trying to dehydrate, it's not very accurate and I had success my first time using it because I had a thermometer showing the interior temperature. I live in France and was able to find one online here, so I'm sure there are plenty of options in the States.I recommend getting a good Dehydrating book--I really like the Dehydrator Bible.I also recommend getting the sheets so that you can make fruit leather. The leather sheets can also be used for drying small things that would otherwise fall through the holes in the racks.I laid some parchment paper on the very bottom of the machine so that if anything falls or drips, clean up will be very easy. When I dried the fruit, I oiled the racks. I found that to be especially wise for the bananas as they would have stuck without it. I soaked the banana and apple slices in lemon juice for 10 minutes as directed in the book I got (1/4 cup lemon juice and 2 cups water). It worked very well to keep the fruit from turning very brown. I am sure I will figure out a lot more things as I use it more, but I feel like it was money well spent and it's been going non-stop every since I got all the things I needed to get it started. I'm very happy to be able to provide healthy snacks for my kids and do some food preserving and storage. It is definitely more expensive than a lot of the dehydrators out there but you get what you pay for. A good investment and was a great gift, thanks hubby!

UPDATE: 2021 -- ten years later and it's still giving outstanding performance. I see that the model currently listed has some updates: the back panel containing the temp/timer dials has been angled for easier viewing. That's an improvement. They also added a handle which is nice, I guess, but I never missed having one. The side edges of the front cover are thin and sharp, though. So...be careful.I have been reading some of the negative reviews with both bemusement and disbelief. Some people clearly don't know how to use a dehydrator or what its purpose is. My favorite reviewer was the person who left the door open for hours in order to "fix" the purported malfunctioning of the machine. (Insert dope slap.)As for the noise complaints -- I don't know what's causing that. I've never had that problem. In fact, sometimes I forget the thing is still running. Maybe that's because I elevated the unit a bit off the counter? (My cr*ppy counter collects water spray from the kitchen sink and pools on the counter. I didn't want the TSM unit to sit in standing water so I put bottle caps -- from my GT's kombucha bottles -- underneath each corner of the unit.) If noise is really such a problem, I would suggest calling the company and discussing it and see what they suggest. [You can't do that with stuff made in China! :-) ]Finally, over the past 10 years we have all experienced the decline in quality (and safety) of products churned out from China. The TSM unit is made in the U.S., by a U.S. company (and NOT by a foreign company that puts the name of its American distributor on the box...I am astounded at how many people fall for that bait & switch...), and you can actually call the company and speak to someone if you have questions or a problem. Is that going to cost more than mass-produced junk from overseas made by people paid slave wages -- if they're even paid at all? Of course. But if you want quality and safety, and want to support American manufacturing, then you have to invest in it.ORIGINAL REVIEW:Bought my TSM in January of 2011. I use it by putting cooking parchment on the steel shelves and then set my food on the cooking parchment to dry. Works great. I use the Taylor 5989 stick thermometer (fits into one of the small holes on the front cover), and it so far has been giving an accurate temperature reading. Actually, for the past few months, I've stopped fussing with the temperature setting and thermometer reading and just leave the dial at 115 degrees, using the constant-on setting, and that successfully dries all my food. Put the food in, flip the "on" switch, walk away. Couldn't be simpler.When I first got the machine, I did take some time to find out where, on the dial, the different temperatures were, and made my own markings, validated by the Taylor 5989 thermometer. If you need to change temperatures (which I've found out I don't), then it's worth taking some time to do this, and to get a reliable thermometer, such as the Taylor 5989.Noise has never been an issue. In fact, it's so quiet I sometimes forget I have food drying in it until I notice the gentle hum.Didn't know this until I started using the machine, but I easily fill up the 5 capacious racks and would love to have a larger model with more drying space (how do people get by with smaller Excalibur models??); but then I'd probably not be able to fit a larger size on my kitchen counter.All and all, the TSM is a simple, reliable, well-built dehydrator. It's my first one, and I'm very happy with it and expect to be using it for many years. Love the fact that it's stainless steel and not plastic. This would be a 5-star review if:(1) the controls were located on the *front* of the machine where they could be easily accessed and seen;(2) the side edges of the front cover were thicker or rounded off (thin metal poses a cutting risk)

I received the dehydrator and it looks great. We opened it, excited to use it and there are no hooks or anything at all for the trays to sit on. I also did not receive a manual for it. Am I just missing pieces? I don't know....Would have loved to have given this a good review. Hopefully, I can get this resolved and can update my review soon.

I bought this model because:- it is all stainless steel (I didn't want to dehydrate my food on heated plastic);- it is beautiful to look at;- it received multiple positive reviews on this site;- it has large stainless steel shelves with a 1/4 inch grid (not on all TSM models);- it has a timer.I would not buy it again because:- it is very noisy! The unit gives off a loud rattle periodically. As the supports for the shelves are free-standing, I padded them with silicone strips where they touch the metal case. That made little difference. I then tightened the screws in the back, which again made little difference. I have banished the unit to the laundry room, with the door closed. Its good looks are wasted there, but now I can live with it;- the temperature gauge ( it just has markers, no temperatures given) requires multiple calibrations every time I dehydrate. If I keep it at the setting that previously held 110 degrees, it doesn't achieve that temperature for the new batch, unless I start out higher, then lower it later. This may have to be repeated several times before it holds a steady temperature;- at $100 - $150 more than the top model Excalibur (depending on wether you buy it from TSM directly), I wonder if it was worth the price.