A low price doesn’t always mean a good deal, especially if the product doesn’t perform well.

The experts at Consumer Reports have tested thousands of household items over the past year — from detergents to toilet paper — and have put together a list of some of the best and worst home products, based on products that are Best Buys or Recommended.

CR sifted through its lists of tested products to find some of the best choices for consumers. Staffers looked for products that tested at or near the top of their product category. All picks are recommended, which means they combine performance with value. CR’s testers also highlighted some of duds they’ve discovered.

• Laundry Detergent. Best: Tide 2X Ultra with Color Clean Bleach Alternative, which costs around 32 cents per average load, was the top-scorer for washing away tough stains in CR’s tests. Worst: Xtra 2X Concentrated Lasting ScentSations Spring Sun Shine, which costs around 6 cents per average load, may have an attractive price but landed at the bottom of CR’s Ratings.

• Liquid Dishwasher Detergent. Best: Cascade Complete with Bleach Hydroclean Action Powder at 12 cents per load excelled at cleaning dishes, thanks in part to phosphates that can harm the environment. Worst: Wave 2X Ultra High Performance costs 33 cents a load and left CR’s dishes pretty dirty.

• Carpet Stain Removers. Best: Bissell’s OxyPro Carpet Spot and Stain Remover, $4.85, was best overall and one of the best at lifting French dressing and spaghetti sauce. Worst: Dyson’s Dyzolv Spot Cleaner, $13, left most of the French dressing and spaghetti sauce behind and was even worse on coffee and red wine.

• Paper Towels. Best: Walgreens Ultra Quilted, $2.50 per 100 square feet, was one of the top-rated brands of paper towels. It was absorbent and held up well in scrub tests. Worst: Earth Friendly Products tore easily when scrubbing, held little water, and cost almost twice as much as the Walgreens’s brand.

• Toasters. Best: Cuisinart CPT-170, $180, consistently produced batch after batch of evenly toasted bread, and a digital display counts the seconds until the toast is ready. Worst: The Toastess Digital TT321, $60, was only fair at toasting and results were inconsistent from batch to batch in CR’s tests.

• Toaster Ovens. Best: The Cuisinart TOB-195, $80, was very good at baking and broiling, toasts bread evenly, and is spacious enough for a four-pound chicken. Worst: The Emerson TOR35, $70, was only fair at baking and took longer to bake and broil than other models.

• Cookware. Best: Earth Pan with Sand Flow (10 pieces), $190, delivered high performance at half the price of some of the other cookware sets CR tested. Worst: The Mercola Healthy Chef cookware set, $300, landed at the bottom of CR’s Ratings because of burned food, handles that broke during testing, and stuck-on food.

• Stand Mixers. Best: KitchenAid Classic K45SS, $200, has topped CR’s Ratings for years because it can whip up fluffy meringues and handle double batches of bread dough with ease. Worst: Sunbeam Mixmaster 2594, $90, was a lightweight in performance and pounds.

• Toilet Paper. Best: Quilted Northern Ultra Plush, which costs 29 cents per 100 sheets, is top-rated and disintegrated easily when flushed, making it easier on plumbing and septic systems. Worst: Scott 1000, which costs 6 cents per 100 sheets, was the thinnest toilet paper CR tested and was only mediocre in strength and softness.