Final month I used to be in New York Metropolis, so I made a decision to drop and go to the Good Housekeeping Institute. I went to go to Nicole Papantoniou, the director of the Kitchen Home equipment Lab at Good Housekeeping, who had promised to provide me a tour of the place.
Should you haven’t visited Good Housekeeping Institute, it’s nice as a result of – except for having top-of-the-line potential views of Midtown Manhattan perched from its location on the twenty ninth ground of the Hearst Constructing – it’s a cool hybrid of a newsroom meets testing lab, with home equipment like air fryers, espresso makers, induction tops and ice cream makers piled excessive on surfaces all over the place.
“We’re utilizing these things principally the best way somebody would use them of their dwelling,” Nicole advised me on the newest episode of The Spoon Podcast. “With the ability to evaluate issues facet by facet after which perceive the benefit of use options, we actually get an excellent understanding of how the product works.”
Should you grew up listening to concerning the Good Housekeeping Seal like me, there’s a motive: for the previous century, the publication and the institute helped pioneer shopper product testing. From the time Hearst purchased in 1911 till the Nineteen Sixties, it turned a family identify, and over the following half century, hitting 5 million in circulation by the 60s.
“Within the early 1900s is principally when merchandise had been coming to the market and the crew members had been like, there’s nobody actually regulating it,” mentioned Nicole. “So actually making an attempt to elucidate to customers what they need to be shopping for, what they’ll belief. And that’s what the great housekeeping seal is.”
In a means, being within the Good Housekeeping Lab felt like going again in time. From the totally different devoted testing space for home equipment, materials, and different home goods to a full-fledged take a look at kitchen, it was such a giant departure from the present means wherein most merchandise critiques get generated in 2025, the place influencers typically will strive one thing out or simply see it on-line and provides a evaluate of the product.
Based on Nicole, the critiques are round a seasonal rolling calendar which mirrors shopper conduct. “We work three months upfront on print and digital,” she mentioned. “Consider summer time… persons are going to be looking for ice cream makers. After which consider additionally This autumn, Black Friday, the vacations.”
Some classes, like air fryers, by no means sleep, whereas others resurge and periodically come again (stand mixers and bread makers). In addition they spin up new sub-categories as merchandise evolve.
“We had our espresso maker story eternally,” mentioned Nicole. “However now there’s a whole lot of all-in-one espresso machines. You press your button, you get your cappuccino such as you would in a workplace.”
On the podcast, I requested Nicole how she ended up with such a cool gig. Based on her, she had gone to journalism faculty and knew she wished to work in magazines, however the inspiration to fuse meals and journalism all began with an internship.
“My first internship was at Women Dwelling Journal. And I keep in mind going into the take a look at kitchen and somebody was grilling pineapple and like candying walnuts. And I used to be like, how do I get that job?”
From there, she went to culinary faculty at night time whereas working full time, then moved into brand-side roles. “I ended up at Cuisinart, growing merchandise with them and recipes and serving to edit consumer guides, after which ended up Household Circl after which right here at Good Housekeeping.”
She advised me that model expertise formed how she evaluates merchandise at the moment. “While you’re working at a model, you’re working with so many various departments. An engineer will give you one thing actually thrilling and then you definitely type of must hone it in and allow them to know like, this won’t work in like an actual shopper’s kitchen.”
I requested her if she had any recommendation for these trying to get into the same line of labor.
“I believe, actually, getting as a lot expertise as you possibly can with people who find themselves within the subject, saying sure to issues, taking up totally different experiences,” she mentioned. “At one level I used to be working for, like, 4 totally different jobs directly… however I beloved it. Be good, and say sure and then you definitely’ll discover what you’re in search of. Additionally don’t be afraid to stroll away. There’s loads on the market.”
If you wish to take heed to my full dialog wtih Nicole you possibly can click on play beneath or discover it on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
