Making coffee has become an art, science and form of witchcraft, and this fascination with the perfect beverage doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. As well as independent coffee shops springing up around every major and minor city, people are looking to recreate the same experience at home. You’ve probably seen mechanical personal barista set-ups, but ROK’s products provide ways to do the same steps by hand.

For those of us who have ever felt overwhelmed by the variety of buttons and functions on a coffee machine, the all-new Avanza from Melitta is here to save the day. The Avanza is undoubtedly one of the smallest and slimmest fully-functional coffee machines on the market - it’s only 20cm wide! Striking in its compact simplicity, the coffee machine boasts a newly developed control panel that’s remarkably easy to use. Perfect for when you’ve just rolled out of bed!

When winter comes around, it soon becomes tough to rise and shine – because there is no shine! The long dark mornings make waking up early and getting ready for the day an arduous task. But fear not, the Wake-Up Light Alarm Clock with Radio from Groov-e can help you. Groov-e has crafted a sleek and modern looking alarm clock that looks designer. It has a digital interface that is easily navigated with touch control. Fundamentally, it tells the time and it wakes you up, whilst coming with traditional digital alarm clock features such as an FM radio.

The Cubix Ceramic Heater is a small heater that makes a huge impact. It’s quite a slick-looking thing that makes a more attractive addition to your office than a chunky white fan heater, which is what I was using before. Measuring at 26cm H x 14cm D x 22cm W, whilst it isn’t the most discreet, it’s pretty small, and incredibly powerful for it! It has two power settings, 900W or 1800W, with an adjustable thermostat that tells the fan how hot you’d like the room to be.

Blaze Wear specialises in heat-based products: heated gloves, heated jackets, even heated socks! However, they don’t just produce clothing, as we found when we received one of their ‘Hot Dog’ range of heated dog beds.

I would like to say I own two dogs and two cats but in reality, I own two dogs and I am the butler to two cats.  One of the cats is 14 years old and all she does all day is wait to be fed and if left alone with her - and the other cat’s - food, she would gorge herself until she were fit to burst.

Not everyone has a garden, and yet many of us need somewhere to dry our laundry. If you live in a flat or apartment, would struggle to get outside, or just want to be able to dry your laundry on a rainy day, the pull-out clothes line from Brabantia is a discrete and space-saving alternative to a dry rack.

We have recently moved from a house with a “garden” that consisted solely of gravel, concrete and the neighbours’ cat’s poop to a proper garden that is made up of a front and back lawn and what I can only assume to be poop from a pterodactyl that lives in the tree above our patio. Having never used a lawnmower before (and that gory scene from the Happening fresh in my mind) I was a little apprehensive about both assembling and using the new Gtech Cordless Lawnmower 2.0.

We can all agree that vacuuming is up there with washing up and ironing in the list of things we would rather not be doing, however any chore can be vastly improved with the right tools, the Rechargeable Vacuum Cleaner from Bosch gives you the possibility of continuous runtime due to the exchangeable battery pack and quick charger. The battery (interchangeable with all Bosch Home and Garden Cordless Systems) provides you with 18v of power and it comes with a range of accessories to allow you to tackle all types of areas including your stairs, ceiling and c

When someone pops round for coffee I don’t just ask if they want milk or sugar; with a collection of gadgets I can do espresso (manually), French press, instant, pod-style lattes and even serve you hot milk on the side. What I am still unable to do is create a decent cappuccino, so I was more than willing to put the Ariete Vintage Espresso Machine through its paces. At just over £100 it isn’t the cheapest machine out there, but it certainly sits in the lower range of the market.