What the big box stores get right—and what they don't

Earnings reports for the big retailers are out and results are mixed. Overseas sales saved Walmart from a disastrous slide. Home Depot reported a jump in profits but Lowe's is lagging. And sales at J.C. Penney were stronger than expected. We'll leave it to the business journals to follow the vagaries of the market and stick to what we do best—testing the products they sell.

Walmart
What we liked: A pair of the Brinkman grills—including the 810-2545-W, $220—did very well in our tests of gas grills. In our tests of barbecue sauce, the Great Value Original was thick and smoky and a CR Best Buy.
Not so much: In our exterior paint tests, Walmart's Color Place satin paint was middling and the flat and matte and semi-gloss sheens finished at or near the bottom.

Sam's Club
What we liked: The large Jenn-Air 720-0709, $850, sold at Sam's is one of our recommended grills.

Costco
What we liked: In our tests of dish liquids all scored very good and were recommended. But at just 6 cents per ounce, Costco's Kirkland Signature earned a Best Buy.
Not so much: The $1,500 Urban Islands 4-Burner gas grill by Bull was one of the few grills we tested that scored poorly at high-temperature cooking.

JCPenney
What we liked: Cooks 10-Speed HM820 hand mixer, $30, is a CR Best Buy.
Not so much: In our stand mixer tests, Cooks Commercial SM248, $150, was too noisy and a middling performer.

Home Depot
What we liked: Their paint brands—led by the $33-per-gallon Behr Premium Plus Ultra Satin Enamel—still dominate our Ratings of interior paints and also perform well among exterior paints and solid wood stains.
Not so much: The $37-a-gallon Freshaire Eggshell finished last in our tests of satin and eggshell interior paints.

Lowe's
What we liked: It's selling the Whirlpool Gold WHED20 undersink water filter, a CR Best Buy, for $130.
Not so much: The Char-Broil 463742111 [Item #221370], $149, finished near the bottom of our ratings of small grills and was inconvenient to use.

Sears
What we liked: The Kenmore 4027[2], $800, was as good as several front-loading washers that cost hundreds of dollars more in our washing machine tests.
Not so much: Just be sure to buy your detergent somewhere else. Sears 9879 Fresh Scent high-efficiency laundry detergent (9 cents per ounce) finished near the bottom of the pack in our laundry detergent tests.

There's something else we rate—or rather our readers do—the retailers themselves. We'll have the results in a few weeks when we publish a report on the best places to buy appliances. It's based on surveys of 16,519 Consumer Reports subscribers who reported on 27,612 appliance-purchasing experiences.

—Gian Trotta