Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

I was just renewed @ 19.99 in January. No longer subscribe to magazine because who really needs both of those subscriptions.

i agree, subscribed for two years and cancelled it back in january, found a free site that's very helpful. allrecipes.com

it doesn't have the detailed, investigative recipes that test kitchen has but the recipes are from folks that don't get paid to cook.

good lovin is better with someone who loves what their doing rather than someone you paid.

The worst is how they have separate websites for the obviously overlapping content of America's Test Kitchen (Cooks Illustrated), and Cook's Country. The sites are done by the same people, tons of recipes appear on both in slightly different forms, but they charge separate subscriptions for each website!

I subscribed to both CI and Cooks Country for a long time, but got really tired of the poor customer service (and the cost for not many issues). If you had a question or a problem, you were screwed. The final straw was charging for for website content! I don't care if it's "exclusive;" how many recipes do I need? With epicurious.com, wlliams-sonoma.com, marthastewart.com and about 100 top shelf food, baking and restaurant blogs, I can definitely find great recipes without the snooty and pedantic Christopher Kimball!

I really enjoy the equipment reviews and it's certainly more convenient to look at their site than find the mag in the stacks, but good lord! $34.95 is crazy! My husband just renewed it for me (thanks honey) but when that's up, no more. I won't even waste my time trying to get customer service to refund and cancel it now.....I know THAT ain't happening!

Thanks guys, esp. @sailordave. I'm still snickering. Now about that refund.....

I recently re-subscribed to Cook's Illustrated. They sent one issue and I have never received any more. Rip-off ? mistake? I don't know - Received no response to my letter asking about it.

I had always assumed that Kimball was somewhat altruistic. I'm changing my opinion.

definitely worth it. the attitude that it is not worth it to pay for online content is exactly what is putting newspapers out of business all over the country.

I dropped CI because of terrible customer service.

1. When I first subscribed, they sent me 2 copies of the same issue.

2. One of their telemarketers called me to offer a book "on approval." I told her--twice--not to send it, but she did anyway. I returned it w/a complaint letter.

No apology from CI. No reply of any kind.

I thought the issues were both useful and beautifully produced. Same for the web site. But not worth the irritation.

Information wants to be free.

You can get at some of (but not all of) Cook's Illustrated's web content via the Way Back Machine now that they've blocked themselves from bugmenot.com .

I still get the printed addition, watch it on TV and get the email newsletter (which is free and has free recipe links) so I see absolutely no point to the subscription website. Even if they canceled the magazine since no one seems to read paper anymore, I wouldn't buy the website subscription. There are a gazillion other sites to find info. I think that bowtie is a little too tight... Get with the program, Kimball!

I will not subscribe to EITHER! They offered a "free" issue of their rag and after I cancelled, they continued to harass me!

I find Kimball and his lot pretty dull fare in general.

I would agree completely to the criticism of CI and the web site. It started out as a free site when I first subscribed. Then went to a pay site even if you were a subscriber to the magazine. I finally got completely fed up when I was receiving the email newsletter with links that I couldn't follow since I didn't subscribe to the web site.
Seems to me it's gone from a great magazine without advertisements (which I was glad to pay extra for) to a big money making scheme. Got way too much email and regular mail trying to get me to buy their cookbooks. Then the web site charges.
I canceled and will never subscribe again.

I thought I was the only one who'd had terrible customer service from CI!
Originally I signed up for a free issue, then returned the bill marked cancelled (which their free trial said was ok); they continued to bill me for a year and threatened to send me to collections even though I never received more than the first issue! And I could never get through to a live human in custoner service.

I do like ATK, and have bought their annual cookbooks for the past 5 years, and they are some of my favorite, go-to cookbooks. Somehow I got on the "we'll send you a free 20 day trial" and always end up keeping them. However, I have also received promo phone calls where they are trying to send me books I have already bought.

As for the cost of the websites, it is completely ridiculous and insulting to their subscribers. I like Fine Cooking much better, and their website is free of charge.

I have subscribed to CI since the first issue and I refuse to pay more in order to access things online. I personally prefer my hard copies.

I used to subscribe both the magazine (Cook's Illustrated) and the website, but then I realized I never even looked at the magazines, so I did not renew the print sub and kept the website. As far as the price goes, I would pay $50 a year if it came to that. It is worth every penny. Access to every issue of the magazine, plus extras, can't go wrong.

Apparently the ATK website is not the same thing as CooksIllustrated.com, so maybe you would be happier with the Cook's Illustrated website?

I used to subscribe, but realised after a couple of years that they were printing articles that contradicted previous articles. Don't they read their own stuff? Anyway, I think they're no better or worse than any other food oriented magazine, or show, and take all items with a grain of salt (sea salt of course).

Your comments are right on target. I subsribe to Cook's Illustrated and Saveur magazines. Cook's Illustrated is worthwhile to get recipes from occasionally, but Saveur has more authentic and varied recipes. Saveur's website is entirely free for all the recipes dating back to the first issue. Cook's Illustrated doen't warrant the subscription fee to access its site. I have all the issues, I simply get online to check certain recipes and the issue dates, I then look them up. They state that there is a charge because they have no advertisers...........they need to start accepting them. If you are desperate for a recipe, you can sign on for the trial subscription, and cancel before the trial time expires. Epicurious is the site that has all the Gourmet and Bon Appetit recipes, and they are all free. Cook's Illustrated is a bit behind the curve, but so is the bow tie that Mr. Kimball wears.

I have been a subscriber to CI for more years than I can remember, and have kept every single issue I have received. So it seems strange that I would subscribe to the website, but I really find it useful. That being said, I completely agree with the previous comments regarding horrible customer service.

I have had adequate, but not stellar customer service regarding questions (we move a lot as we are a military family -- FYI -- call several months in advance if you want to get it at your new location without a break in service). My biggest problems have always been when it came to their BOOKS; I have received two books that I had declined from telemarketing calls. I finally complained loud enough, I think, that they don't send them anymore. When they sent me a chicken cookbook that I had declined, they wanted ME to pay the shipping back. I flat out refused, so they sent a shipping bill to return it.

I finally cancelled Cook's Country (probably because finding the rooster every month was becoming too much of an obsession! HA!) because it seemed redundant to CI, and we're not a big casserole family -- too much similarity to Taste of Home for my tastes (which has a FREE website, BTW). I think it is absolutely idiotic that the two sites aren't tied together under the same subscription, and that there is no subscription break for magazine subscribers.

it does seem like they're trying to figure out something that works--'the deal' changes each time i receive e-mail from them..the convenience of having
their resources online may be worth some charge, though i can't see it
for mag subscribers..i've also found that between BEST RECIPE and BAKING ILLUSTRATED (two cookbooks i'd take to the desert island) that
most everything can be found--at least it's more expedient than searching
through piles of old issues! amazon sells both used (like new) very inexpensively, and they are definitely worth the one time expenditure.