New Retailer Offerings
Target the 'Man Cave'

Do you have to be a cave man to have a "man cave"?

That's the term of art being bandied about by makers of products aimed at adult men. The idea is to have a room in the home that is essentially a lair of testosterone -- a place to veg out with stuff within arm's reach, to rock and roll in a comfy chair and to blend drinks for sports-watching buddies.

Men are usually considered the bottom of the retail food chain when it comes to products for the home. Except for outdoor grills and tools, most sellers target women (and even children) first and tend to ignore males almost entirely. That's because of copious studies showing that buying decisions related to the home are mostly made by the female of the species.

But some manufacturers are trying to buck that trend and take advantage of this neglected market, in part because of the success of some popular home products that have been spurring men to buy for themselves, such as air-cleaning machines, massage chairs and the line of George Foreman grills. Hence, the man cave.

So going boldly where others haven't gone before to outfit a such a place (which we set up in my garage), my manly assistant Ed and I decided to test a range of new products that make their appeals more directly to men. These included one particular highlight of the most recent big housewares show in Chicago: a personal home vending machine whose maker, Maytag, is aggressively targeting men by hawking the idea of placing it in the center of any man cave.

We also tested a multimedia chair that shakes like a roller-coaster ride, the latest iteration of those popular George Foreman grilling machines, and a pair of super-powered blenders (including a half-gallon number from Waring big enough to entertain an entire fantasy football league).

Despite a disappointing experience with a home popcorn maker, we enjoyed our time in our man cave and emerged standing fully upright. What we found was a range of mostly excellent goods that almost any gender looking to relax can appreciate.

Beer Access

Of course, we did have to lean over slightly to pull out our cold ones from the SkyBox, the $500 beverage dispenser that Maytag claims is the first ever for the home. We were dubious when we first approached this unit, since the public vending machines aren't exactly heirloom pieces worthy of prominent display. But the machine, which thankfully has a much smaller footprint than traditional ones, is a handsomely designed appliance that is much more enjoyable than tasteless.

Sitting on a base cabinet and available in either black or platinum, it holds 64 12-ounce cans -- or half that many 12-ounce bottles -- that are dispensed from four selection buttons. The lighted front can be customized with almost any team logo or even family photos. The SkyBox also smartly allows you to apply a child lock for certain beverage choices, which I appreciated after my toddler tried diligently to punch up a Sierra Nevada beer as his selection. In fact, nearly everyone we showed the SkyBox was delighted by the ability to press a button and get a cold beverage without having to fork over money. While a refrigerator essentially does the same thing, there is an element of fun in the SkyBox that is infectious.

Spewing Oil

That isn't true for the JukeBox Popper, sold by cataloger Hammacher Schlemmer for nearly $1,600 -- a lofty price for any appliance that doesn't do much better than a microwaved bag of popcorn from the supermarket. Large and ungainly -- with a whimsical bubbler jukebox facade that inexplicably plays no music -- the cabinet is essentially the kind you find at the movie theater. You place oil and popcorn kernels inside the aluminum kettle to make the "theater-quality" -- a dubious distinction these days -- popcorn, which is kept toasty with a warming deck below and overhead lamps above. We found the unit spewed a disturbing amount of grease and unpopped kernels. It was also a mess to clean after just one batch. And what man-cave man is going to want to spend time scrubbing?

In fact, most will not budge from the excellent Gamepod multimedia chair, made by a company called Loftgoods and also sold by Hammacher Schlemmer and elsewhere for about $800. The squat chair, clad in charcoal suede with a swivel base, is designed to deliver richer and more vibrant audio, shaking and rattling gently but firmly as a user plays a videogame, listens to the stereo or watches a movie. Using technology that turns sounds into vibrations, a pair of 50-watt speakers has been mounted inside the headrest, along with a 300-watt amp in the bottom.

While there are cheaper units you can attach to your chair to enhance multimedia experiences, embedding it into the furniture definitely gives a more consistent kick. It also improved game playing, with a surround-sound feeling that made it more immersive. One drawback: Pretty much everyone who tried the chair wished it would also recline, to increase the couch-potato experience.

Easy Cleaning

Ease of use is the main aim of the newest -- called the Next Grilleration -- in the long line of George Foreman grills from Salton. While Salton has recently gotten into some legal troubles over pricing practices related to Foreman products, the small appliance has legions of fans using it regularly to cook everything from steaks to grilled cheese. One common complaint, though, is that it's hard to clean the grill plates, which have until now been affixed to the machine. With the $99 Grilleration, Salton has designed removable grills, updated the design, improved its LED readouts and made it even bigger with 100 square inches of cooking space. The detachable grill plates make it a snap for you or your designated server to clean in the sink.

Also well done are two new blenders we tested, one from Waring and another from L'Equip. The Waring MX1000R, clocking in at a half-gallon, is a beast that can make a pitcher of margaritas for a small football team and eliminate the need to mix many batches. Caveats: The thing is a counter-space hog, and quite expensive at $560.

Vroom Vroom

We liked the more sleekly designed L'Equip Model 228 RPM blender better, although it has a smaller pitcher and less power (up to 20,000 RPMs). With a cool tachometer display that mimics a sports car, the $149 machine looks great and blends well, with a nice smoothie stick in the lid to help break up chunks more easily. Ed especially liked revving the vroom-vroom dial, which may be a tad juvenile, but is also more fun than using a switch that just reads mix, blend, frappe.

You probably don't need all this style and gimmickry, much as you likely don't need a man cave. But, then again, in this modern world, it's sometimes nice to regress just a little bit.

Email your comments to rjeditor@dowjones.com.