We started HEARTHNOTE in 2024 because every product review we trusted came from a Reddit comment, and every review that came up first on Google read like it had been written by someone who'd never actually owned the thing. This is our attempt to fix that, at a small scale.
Mara Whitfield is the lead reviewer. She runs cleaning, bedding, and home-tech testing — the kind of stuff you only understand after the honeymoon wears off. She lives in Portland, Oregon, with a dog who has opinions about the robot vacuum.
Jonas Vela writes about cookware, knives, and the small rituals of a kitchen. Former line cook, current home cook. Tests anything you put food in or cut with. Based in Providence, Rhode Island.
No PR samples, no loaners, no ambassador kits. Every item in our reviews was bought through the same affiliate accounts you'd use, which keeps the incentives clean.
A product has to live in our homes for at least three months before it's eligible to be written up. Most stay in rotation for a full year.
Every guide names the items that lost. Pros and cons aren't a both-sides ritual — they're notes from real failure.
No anonymous reviewers, no rotating contractor pool. Every guide is signed; both reviewers have been at this for a decade.
Brands cannot pay to appear on this site. Not in a sponsored slot, not as a 'partner spotlight', not bundled with anything.
When a product gets worse — quality drop, ownership change, recall — we say so and resort the list. The update date isn't decorative.
Affiliate commissions on the gear we recommend. The retailer pays us — never you. We disclose this everywhere, including on every link.
Accept payment for placement. Run sponsored content disguised as reviews. Take free samples. Recommend things we wouldn't pay for ourselves.
If you want to support us: buy through our links when you'd buy anyway, or subscribe to the dispatch. We've never asked for a tip.