A large percentage of people would like appliances to go retro. Their claim is that bigger is not always better and having features no one actually uses is a total waste. They would like to see major household appliances move away from electronic components and back to the electro-mechanic controls common in the 70′s and 80′s. Things were much simpler then. These are very valid points!
The average size of an oven cavity has risen dramatically over the years and yet we are seeing people eating our far more often than ever before. And when they are using their ovens it is for smaller portions. The large family gathering over a meal is now almost exclusively surrounding a major holiday instead of a regular Sunday happening. Having convection cooking but never using it or ten cleaning options on your dishwasher even though you almost always use the exact same cycle every time you operate the dishwasher seems frivolous to many people.
Granted there are some advantages gained in modern appliances such as a much larger capacity wash load. Energy savings can be significant especially on refrigerators, washers, dishwashers and air conditioners. Retail purchase prices have remained low and in fact some have even gone down (microwaves have almost become a throw away product due to their low replacement costs).
I think the bigger issue found in today’s appliances is the shortened life expectancy. The appliances available on the market today simply are not going to last as long as the appliances you or your parents purchased twenty – forty years ago. Getting ten to fifteen years out of an appliance today is becoming the new norm. That doesn’t make sense to me since today’s automobiles are commonly able to run with well over 150,000 miles on their odometer without experiencing any major repairs.
What is your biggest concern with today’s appliances? I’d like to hear from you.
The average size of an oven cavity has risen dramatically over the years and yet we are seeing people eating our far more often than ever before. And when they are using their ovens it is for smaller portions. The large family gathering over a meal is now almost exclusively surrounding a major holiday instead of a regular Sunday happening. Having convection cooking but never using it or ten cleaning options on your dishwasher even though you almost always use the exact same cycle every time you operate the dishwasher seems frivolous to many people.
Granted there are some advantages gained in modern appliances such as a much larger capacity wash load. Energy savings can be significant especially on refrigerators, washers, dishwashers and air conditioners. Retail purchase prices have remained low and in fact some have even gone down (microwaves have almost become a throw away product due to their low replacement costs).
I think the bigger issue found in today’s appliances is the shortened life expectancy. The appliances available on the market today simply are not going to last as long as the appliances you or your parents purchased twenty – forty years ago. Getting ten to fifteen years out of an appliance today is becoming the new norm. That doesn’t make sense to me since today’s automobiles are commonly able to run with well over 150,000 miles on their odometer without experiencing any major repairs.
What is your biggest concern with today’s appliances? I’d like to hear from you.