Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7739 in Kitchen & Housewares
• Brand: M. Kamenstein Inc.
• Model: 4536AS
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 7.70" h x 7.70" w x 13.30" l,

Features

• Clever paper towel holder
• Stainless-steel construction with brushed finish
• Neatly rip towels along perforation; weighted base and nonskid feet for stability
• Holder accommodates regular- and jumbo-size rolls
• Stands approximately 12 inches high; weighs 4 pounds

Amazon.com Review
Tear off a string of paper towels for an emergency mop-up without unraveling the entire roll on the floor with the Perfect Tear paper towel holder. Its upright towel stand allows users to pull out several sheets with a single hand, while tearing perfectly along the perforated lines. The stainless steel holder has a stylish brushed finish that blends well with any kitchen decor. A weighted base with nonskid padding keeps the paper holder rooted to countertops. Preassembled upon shipping, users need only slide paper towels over the top before the holder is ready for use. The towel holder accommodates regular- and jumbo-size rolls. This item stands approximately 12 inches high, and weighs 4 pounds upon shipping. --Jessica Reuling

Customer Reviews

Perfect Tear, Perfect Holder!
I absolutely love this paper towel holder; I have yet to find fault with it. In comparison to other stainless paper towel holders I have owned and subsequently worn out, this one seems to be the best yet. The build quality is superior, and I like the "click-click-click" sound it makes as you pull the paper towel. It also stays clean looking and doesn't show water spots or finger prints as readily as other models. Also, it fits all sizes of paper towel rolls including "Bounty Big Rolls," so no worries there.

Go out and buy the Perfect Tear! You'll love it.

From Great To Terrible in 3 Months
When this product first arrived, I really loved it. It did everything it claimed to do. I could tear off towels with one hand, and I loved the sound of the racheting mechanism as the spring rod in the center rotated.
After about 3 months, however, the racheting mechanism simply stopped working. The towel rod spun freely, and I could no longer tear off towels with one hand; I'd get 15 towels instead of one. A few days later, and the mechanism had seized completely. Now, what used to be a one-hand operation is difficult even with two hands, because the towel dispenser does not rotate, or rotates only 1/4 turn, and then seizes.
There is no warranty on this product, so if you get a lemon, you'll be making lemonade with your tears as you weep over your paper towel roll dispenser that no longer works.

Edit: I disassembled the paper towel dispenser to determine whether it could be repaired, and this is what I found. The racheting mechanism is made from two plastic parts. The first is a star-shaped center piece with "arms" that extend from the points, and the second is the outer bezel that rotates around the center arm. The outer bezel is visible on the assembled product as the black "knob" at the base of the paper towel rod. In essence, the racheting mechanism is like putting a card into the spokes of your bicycle wheel -- it makes a clicking noise. What I found was that all of the plastic "arms" from the inner star piece had broken off and were lying inside the bezel. So the rod would free-spin until one of the broken pieces happened to jam the bezel, and then it wouldn't spin at all.
I called Kamenstein's customer support number to try to order a replacement star-shaped piece, but so far they have not returned my call.
The internal components of this product are plastic, and function by passing the ridges on the inside of the bezel over the plastic arms of the inner star as you unravel your roll of paper towels. That's the clicking sound you hear. But this presents two unavoidable problems. First, the brittle plastic arms can break, as happened to mine. Second, the ridges on the inside of the bezel will eventually wear out, and the rod will spin freely -- no more clicking sound or racheting motion. This is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of time. The parts will wear out, probably sooner than you'd like to think. I bet there are a lot of 5-star reviews here that will come back and change their minds in six months or so.

Edit: Two weeks later, I finally received a call from Kamenstein. They are not able to supply replacement parts. However, they sent me a completely new unit, and did not ask for the original one back. The new version they sent, though, is very shoddy compared to my original. What used to be a lovely compliment to my kitchen has been transformed into a cheaply made knock-off. The center post is not straight, and the knob on top is crooked to the degree that the towels still cannot spin freely. Extremely disappointing.

This one is the best
I recently received this paper towel holder and we have been putting it to good use in the kitchen. It is wonderful and great looking. After tossing out our old oak holder that was soggy from water on the kitchen counter, this one is a dream. It is sturdy, classy looking, very functional and well made.