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Refrigerators and Freezers

Newly Expanded GE Café Series of Appliances

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The newest additions to the GE Café series include two counter-depth refrigerators, and a new electric range.

Refrigerators:

The counter-depth styling allows the appliances to blend seamlessly with the surrounding cabinetry, achieving a built-in look without the added expense of a built-in model.
The new counter-depth 25-cubic-foot side-by-side refrigerator is available with ClimateKeeper2™ technology, featuring a dual-evaporator system to create two zones of air circulation that help foods stay fresh. Because air is no longer circulated between the fresh-food and freezer compartments, the freezer’s cold, dry air won’t prematurely dry out foods, and odors won’t transfer between the compartments. Suggested retail price for this refrigerator is $3,249.

For home chefs who prefer the convenience of keeping produce and meats at eye level, GE will launch the 21-cubic-foot GE Café counter-depth bottom freezer with French doors. Now available with an internal water dispenser. Suggested retail price is $2,899.

Offered as a free-standing, slide-in range, the new GE Café Electric Range offers consumers without a gas line the ability to have a restaurant-inspired range. The range includes a fifth center burner and cast-iron griddle on the cooktop, a PreciseAir™ convection oven, and a double-oven configuration with a drawer that heats up to 450 degrees for added cooking flexibility. An optional stainless steel backsplash is available (model JXS80SS). The GE Café electric free-standing range (model CS980SNSS) will be available November 2008 with an estimated retail price of $2799.

Basic Appliance Care and Safety

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If you are lucky, you rarely need to pay much attention to the appliances that run, some of them 24 hours a day, in your home. But to keep everything trouble free, it’s good to follow some basic guidelines for care and safety when using or installing appliances in your home. Handymanclub.com offers some simples steps for use with your washer, dryer, refrigerator, ranges, cooktops, even your water heater.

Ventilation and combustion (dryers, water heaters, ranges and cooktops)
• Clean the clothes dryer’s lint filter before or after each load. Check behind the dryer for trapped lint. Clear lint from the exterior vent often. Lint buildup results in inefficiency and excessive wear and can even pose a fire hazard. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), an estimated 15,500 fires each year are associated with clothes dryers.
• Use only metal ducting for gas dryers because they run hotter than electric machines. Rigid rather than accordion-pleated ducting is best for airflow.
• Never vent clothes dryers or water heaters into the house to supplement heating.

Plumbing (washers, refrigerators and water heaters)
• To prevent leaky or bursting waterlines, check washing machine hoses for signs of wear. Consider replacing rubber hoses with newer braided stainless steel hoses.
• Check the screens at either end of the water hoses and remove sediment that may have collected there. This is especially important after road construction or water-main work has been done in your area.
• Periodically check that the washing machine is soundly footed and level so the hoses and the drain hose do not come loose.
• If a dishwasher’s tub doesn’t empty after operation, detach the drain line from the household drain and clean any debris from the line.

Gas (dryers, ranges and water heaters)
• Never use an oven as a room heater — combustion pollutants resulting from fuel-burning appliances can cause illness or death. Have gas appliances serviced periodically to ensure they burn with the proper mix of air and fuel.
• Be sure all vented appliances are checked for backdrafting. (This is one reason that it’s important for a city building official to inspect newly installed vented appliances.)

Electric
• Diehard DIYers may bristle at this warning from the CPSC — nonetheless, it’s a lifesaver. Never attempt to repair a microwave oven — because they use high-voltage power, they can pose a risk of electrical shock even after they are disconnected from the power source.
• Use dedicated circuits for large appliances such as washers and dryers.
• Keep appliance cords away from hot surfaces.

Samsung’s Flexible Fridge

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Samsung has a creative refrigerator idea. The Quatro Cooling Convertible Refrigerator allows the consumer to switch the refrigeration and freezing compartments as needed. If you plan to cook and freeze food in preparation for a big event just switch use to make room. The same applies to needing more room to cool drinks for a party. The unit has to bottom drawer that can switch modes at the push of a button.

The refrigerator is a french door style with each compartment controlled and cooled separately with its own evaporator and fan. The bottom two drawers adapt to become refrigerators as needed.

Here are some basic specifications:

Capacity Net Total 24.8cu.ft.

Dimensions
Net Width 35.7″
Net Case height w/ hinge 69.7″
Net Depth w/ door handle 33.1″

Cooling Features Cooling System Quatro Cooling

Freezer Features Icemaker

Exterior Features Display & Control Digital LCD

Color Stainless Steel

Advice for Buying a High-Def TV

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If you are shopping for a high-def TV, you’ll need to decide which type you’d like. Will you go for LCD(liquid crystal display), plasma, or HD rear projection microdisplay? Let us offer some information and advice to make your decision a little easier.

LCD

These televisions are thin and lightweight with bright picture contrast. That is good in a room with a lot of light. The largest screens are 46 inches and the picture quality is not quite as good as a plasma TV.

Plasma

These have the most lifelike picture, with 180 degree viewing angles. They are quite large screens, with nothing smaller than 42 inches.

HD Rear Projection

Cathode ray tube rear projetion sets are being phased out, but new hi-def flat screen have great picture quality. They are not meant hanging on the wall.

Your new TV can be wall hung and all the cable and wires hidden – no TV cabinet necessary. Although it is a job for a do-it-yourselfer, it requires some know how. Sets over 32 inches will be at least a two person installation job. Mounting requires a mounting kit with costs ranging from$100 to $200. Kits that swivel and tilt will cost more.

Before you go shopping, decide how large a screen you’d like, LCD is the best choice for for 42 inches and under. Plasma or rear projection are better for larger sets.

You can get a a high definition television without spending a fortune, or you can really blow a wad on one if you are inclined. For example, there is Samsung’s Slimfit which we found selling for $380. This has CRT technology and is only 16.5 inches deep. A pricier choice could be Sony’s Bravia which is 40″ wide and retails for about $1600. If you have the money, the Pioneer PDP-6010FD has two million pixels on an almost 60 inch screen. It also has four independent HDMI 1.3 inputs and a new room light sensor for adjusting to the viewing surroundings. This one will set you back about $4,000.

High definition televisions have a picture quality that is superior to analog TV and next year, over-the-air TV will be phased out. Analog televisions will require converters. If you are in the market for a new television , a high-def TV might just be the way to go.

Sears Brings Samsung Refrigeration Line To Its Stores

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Sears, Roebuck and Co. and Samsung Electronics, have announced the addition of Samsung refrigerators to Sears line-up of leading appliance brands. Beginning in March 2008, Samsung side-by-side refrigerators are available at Sears stores nationwide. Samsung front-loading washers and dryers have been available at Sears since November 2007.

Sears will carry Samsung’s Twin Cooling side-by-side refrigerators. The refrigerator and freezer are independently cooled to maintain optimal humidity levels so food is preserved longer and odor transfer is eliminated. The side-by-side line offers consumers a large 26 cu. ft. of space with innovative design features. Blue LED lights and hidden hinges give the refrigerator a sleek, contemporary look. The refrigerator will be available at Sears in stainless, platinum, white and black.

Sears also carries Samsung’s VRT front-loading washer line. Vibration Reduction Technology is a unique technological breakthrough that reduces vibration and noise from unbalanced loads in the high speed spin cycle, up to 1300 RPM. Consumers can now get the ultimate in quiet operation no matter where they place their laundry pair – even on second floors or close to living areas. The large 3.8 cu. ft. capacity allows even king-sized comforters or multiple pairs of jeans to be washed in one load. The Samsung VRT Front-Loading Washer will be available at Sears in colors such as stratus gray, neat white, and tango red with matching electric and gas dryers and pedestals.

Fisher & Paykel is Moving to Mexico

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Fisher & Paykel, the New Zealand appliance manufacturer well known for it’s dishwasher drawers and washing machines is consolidating it’s manufacturing and moving to Reynosa, Mexico, just south of the U.S. border.

The range and DishDrawer factory in Dunedin, New Zealand, the refrigeration plant in Brisbane, Australia and the DCS manufacturing plant in Huntington Beach will be relocated to the new facility in the next 12-18 months. The DCS move is expected to be completed by the end of the year, and individual manufacturing lines will be shifted separately to reduce the impact on warehouse inventory. The U.S. operation will continue to employ sales and marketing, customer services, head office and an engineering staff of around 340 employees. The financial benefit of the DCS move is expected to be $6.6 million per year with a one off cost of $7 million, both at pre-tax level.

“This expansion is designed to streamline our manufacturing costs, and bring increased consistency and efficiency to the company’s production process in the U.S. market, “ said Mike Goadby, North American President for Fisher & Paykel Appliances. “It’s an emotional time for all of us, but this move will make us more competitive in the U.S. and strengthen our distribution efforts through making them more efficient.”

With the Reynosa acquisition and the new North American DishDrawer line announced last year, the financial benefits of the new strategy are expected to be around $50 million per year, at a one off cost of approximately $100 million. The cost of the move will be offset by the sale of surplus property in Australia and New Zealand, which could total approximately $100 million.

You can read more here.

Staber’s New Electric Clothes Drying Cabinet

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Staber, an American manufacturer and online retailer of washers and dryers offers a new clothes drying cabinet as an addition to your laundry room equipment. Although drying cabinets have been used in Europe for years, many Americans are not familiar with them. They are in a simple form a box in which clothes can be hung up or laid out on racks while air is circulated around them to reduce drying time. They are not a replacement for a traditional tumble dryer, but an alternative to tumbling delicate or very bulky items.

Here are some benefits of the drying cabinet from Staber’s literature:
• To be used in addition to a conventional dryer; it is simply a different way to dry laundry

• Less wear and tear on clothing because of no tumbling

• Reduces shrinkage

• Lower operating temperature; increases life expectancy of clothing

• All kinds of clothing can be dried simultaneously, e.g. shirts on hangers together with sport equipment and boots

• Life expectancy of 15 years; minimal maintenance due to simple design

• Quiet operation, which makes it suitable in both houses and apartments

• Provides an energy-efficient drying process, and minimizes the amount of air to be evacuated

• Thermostat controlled, adjustable from room temperature up to around 150 degrees F

• Allows quick folding when removing clothes

The cabinet measures 67 1/2″ tall x 23 1/2″ wide x 24 1/4″ deep and retails for $949.00 online.

High End Appliances – What are You Getting for Your Money?

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Stainless steel looks beautiful in the kitchen, but shine doesn’t necessarily equal performance. Do high end appliances (many with those gleaming finishes) really rate having such high price tags? Sometimes they really do. But that doesn’t mean you should rule out mid-priced options. As mid-priced manufacturers start adapting some of the features the pricier models have to theirs, the average homeowner is able to get in on the fun.

If you, as most consumers do, want to know what you are getting for your money, Bill LaHay has gotten it all down for you in the ReadingEagle.com. We can start with what you get for the big bucks in ranges:

Like the hearth of a primitive home, they’re often the centerpiece of the modern kitchen, with typical price tags from around $4,000 to $10,000. This doesn’t even include some exclusive European brands.

The heavy-gauge stainless-steel housings account for some of the cost, but that’s just a start. Control knobs are beefier, oven racks are heavier and multiple halogen lamps light the oven compartment.

On the cooktop, large-capacity gas burners kick up the heat with a wide range of control, from a delicate simmer to a high-output setting for fast boiling or searing flavor into meats. In 36-inch and larger sizes, you can also add grills or griddles to the burner mix.

Look for ratings around 15,000 Btu (British thermal units), a measure of heat energy. The burners are fitted with continuous cast-iron grates, and most have an automatic reignition feature that lights an accidentally extinguished flame instantly so gas fumes can’t accumulate to dangerous levels. Electric ranges use sophisticated electronics to achieve similar levels of burner speed and control.

Down below, a gas or electric oven will feature a convection mode with concealed elements or burners and a fan to circulate air. Every feature is designed for durability, for faster or more even cooking, or for more control over the process. That’s also true when you purchase a separate cooktop and oven, a better option in some kitchen layouts.

Refrigerators, of course, have a different kind of temperature-control issue, but larger capacity, better access to contents, heavier shelving and hardware, multiple cooling zones and options for built-in design are what you get when you go high-end. Expect prices to start at around $5,000 in this category.

Finally, there are premium dishwashers. Stainless-steel liners, better motors and extra insulation keep them running quieter. Some versions sport hot-water boosters, optical scanners to “read” the water quality and adjust water use accordingly, and enough cycle options to keep even the most obsessive cook happy.

Some are configured as drawers and others accept cabinet door panels so they’ll blend inconspicuously into your kitchen. Best of all, these are still affordable, with typical prices ranging from $1,000 to $2,500.

It’s not true in every instance, but brand names can often indicate what category an appliance is in. You’ll find these pricier “premium” goods sold under names such as Dacor, DCS, Gaggenau, GE Monogram, KitchenAid, Miele, Sub-Zero, Thermador, Viking and Wolf.

There’s nothing wrong with splurging on this top-notch stuff when you have the budget for it, but don’t assume that more affordable goods won’t serve you just as well. The field of mid-priced appliances with stainless-steel cabinets and other quality features has grown faster than any other segment of the appliance market.

Amana, Bosch, Electrolux, GE Profile, Jenn-Aire, Kenmore, LG and Maytag are just some of the brands that offer these exceptional appliance designs at half the cost of goods sporting the high-end price tags.

There’s no end to the list of “must-have” amenities for the modern kitchen, and most of these manufacturers round out their lines with warming drawers, ice makers, wine chillers and other products. Big kitchens can accommodate all of these goodies, but in many homes they can easily cramp the kitchen and rob storage space.

Focus first on the essentials, and then see if other specialized appliances make sense. Even if budget isn’t a factor, you’ll be happier if your kitchen looks less like a machine shop and more like home.

LG Appliance Rebate

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If you have been considering buying a new kitchen appliance, now might be the time to act. LG is offering a rebate of up to $500 on their kitchen appliances. The deal starts at $250 for two appliances and goes up to the $500 if you buy four. You can outfit your whole kitchen if you choose, as LG makes gas and electric ranges, dishwashers, refrigerators and microwaves, all of which are part of the rebate program. The offer ends May 12, 2008. You can view the details here.

NightMare Maytag Store Bites the Dust – Going out of Business

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Does customer service really matter? We like to think that it does. Have you ever had a really bad experience with a store, and silently (or not so silently) wished that they would just go out of business? Well sometimes, the customer gets lucky. Our own NightOwl reported a while back on a nightmare experience with a Maytag refrigerator and the store that refused to properly service it.

We weren’t necessarily surprised to see an advertisment in the recent Sunday paper announcing that the Maytag store with the attitude is going out of business and having a liquidation sale.