Christopher Kimball's Milk StreetReviews of 177milkstreet.com

Pretty good recipes although many require special equipment and ingredients. The Store often is out of stock for months on products featured. I've also bought a few items I did not care for.

Here’s some high level points: the items are not bad or misleading. The quality is accurate. What isn’t as transparent is what they advertise v. what they actually have in-stock. If it’s in-stock, you’ll receive the item in a prompt/reasonable timeframe. If it happens to not be in-stock, getting it is a black box timeline where you will receive 0 communication about status or progress. This is where I fault Milk Street. They try to drive demand for their products through aggressive, constant advertising (again, not bad products!) but then aren’t so honest about whether they have those products on-hand, or are counting on your order to function as a “pre-order” that informs them how much more to get from their supplier. In other words, they’re gambling with your money and time v. taking the risk on right sizing their inventory. If they were more honest about this up-front, they’d probably piss far fewer people off.

Website design and customer communication is very unsophisticated and untrustworthy. I signed up for a limited-time promotional subscription with an auto-renewal feature (auto-renews are always a trap!). I decided the recipes were too fussy and went online to cancel the subscription and turn off auto-renewal feature. Subscriber Account Page poorly designed - has (1) no description of what level of subscription is active, (2) no start or end dates, (3) no display of what credit card in on file for auto-renew. There was NO CONFIRMATION back that the cancellation/removal of auto-renew changes were successful. When I logged in to my account 2 business days later, subscription was was still shown as "active". I had to telephone Customer Service (long hold waiting for someone to pick up the call but at least it was a human and not a robot). Service Rep said he entered the changes. However, I was told no email would be sent confirming account changes - company had no such practice. So I will have to log in again in a few days to be sure the cancellation/no auto-renew went through.

I don’t understand why you would advertise

I have received one news letter per year, on april 29 I placed an order for a cutting board, which I finally received in November and I’m still waiting for the Dutch oven. The recipe books have not been very exciting, despite the hype. I do love the olive oil offerings

I ordered it in July and didn't receive the cutting boards until late October. In September you were advertising them for sale, so I called to find out where mine were. I was told they hadn't arrived yet. That just added to my frustration. If your going to offer items you don't have on hand, I think you should include the delayed delivery time in the ad.

Disliked long wait for some items to be received. The Hinoki cutting boards & Japanese bread knife took months to be received. Milk Street did not give me updates on why delivery was delayed.

Easy to order, but I have only received two of the four products I ordered.