I hate using miles to buy stuff as it represents bad value as others have said. But sometimes you have to use them or lose them. I had 35000 etihad miles that were expiring, so I got a frying pan (as we were in need of a new one) and EUR250 in Amazon vouchers, which I put towards a Kitchenaid mixer for the missus.
IIRC the vouchers took about a week to arrive via email, and the pan about 2 weeks to be delivered.