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Can we talk about cleaning? Cleaning, for me, comes in phases. One minute I want to clean everything in the house while the next minute cleaning something is the last thing on my list of what I want to do. Does anyone else do that?
Walmart asked me if I would like to check out the new Bissell Symphony. The Bissell Symphony isn’t your average steam mop. It also has a built in vacuum so that you can not only steam clean but also vacuum your hard floors at the same time. Since I’m notorious for being a messy cook, I knew the perfect place to try the Symphony out at would be. My kitchen!
While I love cooking up new recipes in the kitchen, the mess that I often leave behind is kind of embarrassing. My most hard to clean places and the place that traps my cooking mess love of cooking is directly underneath the cabinets. Throw in all the grit, grim, and messes that comes with living in a household of all boys and, well, my kitchen is one of the most well used areas in our home. In such a high traffic area, this space needs to be cleaned constantly.
Unfortunately, as a busy homeschooling Mom I don’t have a whole lot of time to dedicate to cleaning. When I clean, I want it to be done quickly. Knowing that the Bissell Symphony does two actions at once frees up more time for me to concentrate on other tasks.
So let’s see what the Bissell Symphony can do! According to my husband, assembly is easy. He said that I could have put it together, but he was a little over anxious about our new toy so he wanted to “help”. There were only a few parts that needed to be snapped together before it was ready to use. The Symphony comes with two microfiber mop pads that have Microban built in. These cleaning cloths are machine washable so there is no need to buy any disposable refills. Also, the Symphony works with the power of steam eliminating 99.9% of germs and bacteria without any special chemicals just regular tap water.
Getting started cleaning with the Bissell Symphony is pretty simple and straight forward. First, you attach a mop pad to the bottom of the unit. Unlike other steam mops I’ve tried in the past, the Symphony has an easy-release mop pad tray that completely detaches from the bottom of the unit so you can easily slide the mop pad onto it. Then, you fill the unit with water with the provided water cup. Next, adjust the handle. I like that the handle is adjustable to different heights. My 6 foot tall husband can have the handle at a comfortable level for him and when I use it I can adjust it to a level that is more comfortable for my short self. When it is time to store the Bissell Symphony, the adjustable handle collapses for storage in smaller spaces. Lastly, plug in the unit and allow to heat up before steam cleaning. The Symphony has a really long cord, which is good for cleaning larger rooms.
I found that I prefer to clean with both the vacuum and steam mop settings turned on. With the Bissell Symphony one does have the ability to clean with just the vacuum or just the steam mop. But I liked to use both at the same time. It seemed to work a little bit better that way. It wasn’t as hard to push around with both settings as it was with just the steam mop. Also, a tip I’ve learned with most steam mops is to go slow to allow the steam to work and break up the gunk. Some areas may need a little extra concentrated cleaning, so for that I just leave the steam mop on that particular spot for a little bit longer to allow the steam to penetrate the mess so that the cleansing cloth can pick it up.
So how did it clean? Well, you can see from the results above that my kitchen floor was in desperate need of cleaning. Overall, I think it did a decent job at cleaning. I liked that I didn’t have to sweep before I steam mopped. There were a few stubborn spots that the steam mop wasn’t able to clean but that could easily be done by hand. Also, any really large piece of debris the vacuum was unable to suck up. For example, dog food. My dogs are forever leaving bits and pieces of their food all over the kitchen floor. And while there were a few small pieces that the vacuum was able to pick up, the larger pieces still needed to be picked up by hand to continue cleaning. However, for the small, everyday crumbs and debris the vacuum had no problem picking those things up. Anything that was left behind the steam mop trapped it in the cleansing cloth.
The Bissell Symphony has replaced several of the products that I used to use to clean my kitchen like a hand vac, broom, and steam mop. I like that this product does many different jobs in one. I think it is great to have on hand for quick clean ups or more thorough cleanings. The Bissell Symphony can be found exclusively at Walmart for $198.96.
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