The Plain Bench compares household products against the alternatives people actually consider, on the trade-offs that decide the purchase: what a thing does to the tools around it, how clean it stays, what it asks of you over a year, and what it costs.
Every comparison scores the same four things, and when a cheaper or older material wins on one of them, we say so on the page. A comparison that never finds a downside is not a comparison.
We do not test in a laboratory and we do not claim to. What we do is read the specifications, the manufacturer's own claims and the material properties, put them side by side, and be explicit about which parts are measured and which are judgement.
How this is paid for
Affiliate links. When you buy through a link here, the retailer pays us a commission, and you pay the same price either way. That is the entire business model: no ads on the pages, no sponsored posts, no payment for a good score.
What it changes: we write about products that have affiliate programs, so what is here is not a survey of everything on the market.
What it does not change: the scores. When another material or a cheaper product wins on one of the criteria, the page says so.
We are not the manufacturer and this is not an official site of any brand we write about. Prices, specifications and guarantee terms are set by the retailer and can change without notice.