Super easy and can marinade in the same container.

Nothing flashy about this well designed and good-looking kitchen tool, but it is easy to use and easy to clean. What more can one ask for?

Of course, durability and longevity (i.e., and the related "value") are very important issues for all consumer products, and since we've been using this tofu press for less than 3 months, we cannot address this issue (thus a 4-star instead of a 5-star review, sorry).

We find this kitchen tool very useful, especially since our favorite big-box store only sells a 4-pack (of 1 lb packages) of an organic "medium firm" tofu. Using this tofu press provides additional uses for the tofu (by creating a very firm tofu block).

A couple of minor issues:
(1) BEFORE opening the lid, be sure to "dial down" (release as much as possible) the spring pressure on the lid (a step that becomes "obvious" once you have opened the lid before first dialing down the spring pressure).
(2) When cleaning after use: One may (should?) try to avoid getting the enclosed metal spring wet (though vent holes are there), and/or if the spring and its housing are washed, make sure they are thoroughly dried before storing (and that dry time is usually very long). Possibly, this issue of the spring and its plastic housing should lower the "cleaning" item to 4 or 3 stars?

I use this to drain cooked spinach, for quiche and spanokopita. Does a great job! Love that I can set it in the fridge, and occasionally pour off the moisture. Makes a perfect compact spinach for baking.

I bought this for making my own tofu. It is definitely overkill if you are just squeezing tofu. If you are making your own tofu, you will need to get cheese

The benefits of this design are:
1. The Grid on the bottom - can't tell you how much I love that feature! It makes cutting the tofu into equal sized parts so easy. I get that this is not necessary in any way, but my brain sure loves it.

2. It's self contained, so I can set it up and then move it when I realize I want to use that workspace. If I had the simpler one, I'd need a drip pan and a weight, both of which are built in (weight is a spring) in this design.

All that said, I kinda wish I'd bought the really simple stainless steel one. It seems easier to clean and like it'd take up less space when stored. Cleaning the plastic one isn't that hard - tofu doesn't get things very dirty, but there are a lot of parts.

I've been using this press for a while now and it definitely works and is easy to use. The only thing is that the lid does not have a firm attachment to the container, so when the pressure is put on the tofu, if the 2 latches on the sides are bumped, it might come loose and pop off. I haven't had that happen, but I've been careful. The lid is more likely to come off when it is not pressing tofu as then it's not under pressure. Overall, it's a good product and it works.