Home soda maker recommendations/advice

[Anonymous]

I drink a ton of sparkling water and am looking into getting one of the home soda makers to support my habit. I really just drink sparkling water (it's a habit I picked up when I kicked the diet coke). Can anyone recommend their machine? Anything to stay away from? I see the SodaStream machines everywhere. Are there other good options? And what about their various carafes -- material, number, etc?

Thanks for the help!

[Anonymous]

We have the soda stream. Works fine! Get more than one bottle so you can have one in the fridge all the time.

[Anonymous]

Have a SodaStream at home and love it enough to get a 2nd one for my office cube.

as for model, one was a gift and the other I got on sale. In terms of carafes, my only recommendation is to get the ones that are dishwasher safe. Also worth purchasing 1 extra gas cylinder to start so that when it runs out you have a replacement on hand and can get around to taking the old one in as time allows.

[Anonymous]

We like soda stream quite a bit. I second getting extra bottles. I have 3 so I can bring 2 in for refills at a time.

I don't know if there is a lower cost option though. It would be interesting if someone has found a similar solution but cheaper. It's not a budget buster but you hate to pay $20 for air.

[Anonymous]

I couldn't live without my sodastream. If you bring the canisters back to a William Sonoma store, they only charge $15 for each replacement. I think Bed, Bath and Beyond has a similar deal.

[Anonymous]

Use Bed Bath and Beyon coupons for the machine and the cartridges. Costco sells the Sodastream now, but I didn't pay attention to the price since we already have one.

[Anonymous]

Also, if you want it to sit under a cabinet, measure to see if it will fit, they're pretty tall.

[Anonymous]

We have a soda stream penguin and it's perfect. We have two glass bottles but I wish we had three. I've never tried the soda syrups before, but Ikea sElla blueberry and lingonberry concentrate in little bottles and I love adding them to the sparkling water.

[Anonymous]

We have a SodaStream with the glass carafes. I think we have four carafes and they wash well in the dishwasher. When we got ours the only model with glass bottles was the Penguin, but they also have another model now that's a little less bulky, the Crystal, I think. We've had it for several years and use it a few times a day for plain seltzer. It has saved us the expense and energy of lugging home a couple of cases of mineral water each week.

[Anonymous]

I think sodastream has a license on the co2 technology so they are the only option, but they are a great one.

We have the one that takes a larger co2 canister, which is convenient-- only have to replace it every few months. It uses plastic bottles, but since we only use the bottles for water, not soda, I am not particularly concerned about having something that is dishwasher safe. (Once in a blue moon we make flavored soda, but just mix it in glasses).

[Anonymous]

I love my Soda Stream. Co2 refills at Sur la Table are $12-13, and a cannister lasts about 9 months, so not bad. We have the plastic bottles, but if you plan to use it for more than just water, I would recommend the glass bottles.

[Anonymous]

Have had a Soda Stream for years - bought it at a home show before they started showing up in the stores (they were calleld Soda Club back then). I'm a sparkling water addict and make 2 to 3 bottles a day. I have one at my office too.

My advice is to buy a machine that takes the larger size canisters - some of them only hold the small size. I turn them in at Stroesniders for new ones, but so many stores take them now that it's very easy to maintain.

I only make sparkling water, by the kids love making orange soda, Dr. Pepper, Root Beer - it's great for parties and when they have friends over.

Love it!!!!!

[Anonymous]

Kohl's usually sells several models, just google "30% off Kohl's" and should be able to find a code to make the machine a great price. We have 3 large bottles & two smaller bottles.