Getting dinner on the table night after night can be one fine juggling act. Fortunately, many of the ranges on the market today have new features that trim cooking time and offer flexibility. If you haven't replaced your range in a decade or so, you'll be happy to see models with one or two high-powered elements, warming drawers and elements, and convection oven modes that speed baking.

After two of the hottest summers on record, homeowners are now assessing their cooling needs for the coming months and budgeting ways to pay for them. Cooling accounts for nearly 20 percent of a home's utility bill, according to Energy Star. And if you have a leaky central air conditioning system or a window unit that's the wrong size for the room, you'll spend even more and get less cooling. But there are ways to save even on hot summer days.

A backyard barbecue skips the formalities and fills a patio with friends who answer the call of "come and get it" when steaks and corn on the cob are hot off the grill. This simple fare promises to taste even more delicious when eaten outdoors where the mood is relaxed, unless a problem flares up. Here are five gas grill goofs that guarantee your cookout will be unforgettable, although not in the way you intended.

With a long summer of mowing ahead, parents of teens and pre-teens may be wondering when it's safe for a child to take over this chore. Children under 18 suffer 13 percent of the 68,000 mower injuries treated annually in emergency rooms, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. With that in mind, the AAP recommends that no child younger than 12 operate a walk-behind mower, that no teen younger than 16 drive a riding mower and that children never be allowed to ride along as passengers.

Over 1.6 million folding step stools from Kennedy International Inc. of Dayton, N.J., are being recalled. The Kennedy stools can break or unexpectedly collapse during use warns, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and its Canadian counterpart, Health Canada.

Corded-electric string trimmers are definitely tempting if you have a small property without a lot of dense growth. They're the least expensive and fairly lightweight. And because they start with the press of a button, you face none of the starting issues of gasoline-powered models, let alone the maintenance.

Memorial Day isn't the only big event in the month of May. The National Association of the Remodeling Industry has dubbed May National Home Improvement Month, so before you kick back and relax, take advantage of the nice weather to get your property in shape. To mark the occasion, and help you focus your energies in the right direction, we've compiled seven tips for successful home improvement.

A recall of Banzai inflatable pool slides previously sold at Walmart and Toys R Us outlets has been announced by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The bottom of the plastic slides, designed for in-ground pools, can deflate during use and cause swimmers using the slide to severely injure themselves.

There's been a lot of trash talk lately in the Consumer Reports labs, specifically trash bag talk. Our testers wanted to know which tall kitchen garbage bags, the top-selling type, can do the heavy lifting and which can't. Two top brands hoisted 50 pounds of barbell weights before stretching and breaking but one weakling failed at 35 pounds.

Next time you plan to paint your house don't count on finding a contractor in newspaper advertisements or the phone book. The best contractors don't have to advertise. They get work through referrals from satisfied customers. Ask for recommendations from friends and neighbors who have had work done and then go to their homes for a first-hand look. Also listen to complaints from unsatisfied homeowners so you can avoid some common paint pro pitfalls.

Americans will spend about $18.6 billion this year on Mother's Day gifts, according to the National Retail Federation. Do the math, and that works out to about $150 per mom. With that figure in mind, here are five ideas for the kitchen from Consumer Reports' test labs that Mom will enjoy for years to come.

At Consumer Reports we test lots of big things like cars, refrigerators and wide-screen TVs. But there's a team whose job it is to find "small stuff" to test. So when we saw the commercial for Flex Seal in which the pitchman applies Flex Seal to a screen in the bottom of a boat and floats away, we just knew we had to check the claims.

Labor accounts for about 80 percent of the $2,500 to $5,700 a pro might charge to paint a house. You can save by doing it yourself—or pay even more if a pro has to fix your mistakes. Some of the biggest mishaps are the result of poor planning and too little research.

A survey released this week by the National Association of Home Builders shows strong numbers for bathroom remodeling. In the first quarter of 2012, the bathroom was cited as one of the most common jobs completed in the last year by a record 78 percent of respondents. With remodeling activity on the whole still down, manufacturers are seizing on the interest in bathrooms by bringing new products to market, a fact highlighted by Consumer Reports' latest bathroom remodeling guide.

On the list of life's major concerns, the state of our homes' indoor air quality doesn't seem to rank highly ... but perhaps it should. Apartment dwellers seem to care more about indoor air quality than owners of single-family homes—but can have a funny way of showing it.