Home hardware manufacturers don't often introduce technological changes. Designs are tweaked, new features and bells and whistles are added, but real advances in technology are scarce. In fact, the last notable change was probably the introduction of the microwave oven to the residential market in the late '60s. That is, until now.
Innovation seems to be popping up nearly everywhere and this creates a wealth of choices for today's consumers, especially the techno-enthusiasts among us. Leading the way are developments that speed up cooking without sacrificing quality. But cooking isn't the whole story. There's news throughout the major appliance marketplace. Here are the high points.
Frigidaire's concept refrigerator may not be in production yet, but its flat-panel PC screen and bar code scanner seem like sure winners. They will let you monitor inventory and shop online.
Cooking Advances
Amana quietly introduced its new Wave Oven about one year ago. This small oven–the cavity is only 6 1/2 in. tall–grills, broils, bakes and sears foods with infrared waves created by 12 halogen lamps, four in the floor and eight in the ceiling. These produce immediate, intense heat that can cook some food in one-quarter of the time needed by conventional ovens. A microprocessor cycles the lamps on and off, depending on the heat required. The oven features preprogrammed heat and time settings for 39 foods and you can add up to 10 of your own menus to its memory. According to Amana, the oven cooks with the speed of a microwave but the performance of a thermal oven. It lists for about $2000 and requires a 240-volt electric line.
General Electric has developed a slightly different spin on this cooking-with-light technology: the Advantium Oven. It too uses halogen light, from three 1500-watt lamps. But, depending on what's being cooked, it also can combine the lightwaves with microwaves. And this oven converts into a fully functional microwave at the touch of a button. It bakes, broils and grills with no preheating. For example, it bakes a potato in 6 minutes. This oven can be preprogrammed with 100 menus on an LED display that's set up like a computer pull-down menu. And users can add up to 30 of their favorite recipes to this system. An over-the-range unit that includes ventilation should be in stores soon. A 30-in.-wide wall oven is set to debut later in 2000. The price range is $1300 to $1400 and the unit also requires 240-volt electric service.
The Jenn-Air division of Maytag is working on yet another form of rapid cooking technology, based on a commercial food preparation product. This system will cook via microwaves assisted by jets of rapidly moving hot air that strike the food from above. A deflector under the food creates a vacuum effect that suctions air from below. This results in air being drawn across the top and underside of the food in a constant heat-transfer relationship. The heat "wraps" the food, seals in moisture, browns and cooks faster and more evenly. This oven is scheduled for introduction soon, according to Jenn-Air.
Amana's Wave Oven cuts cooking time by using infrared waves generated by 12 halogen lamps.
GE's Advantium Oven converts from halogen to microwave cooking by touching a button.
New Applications
Many appliance advances don't use new technology, but existing technologies in new ways. Examples are microprocessor-controlled storage of recipes and two-stage cooking on electric ovens. Free-standing ranges like those in the new Sears Kenmore Elite line offer control of time and temperature for five favorite recipes. And, the two-stage cooking feature allows you to sear meat–or set a custard at a high temperature for 10 minutes–and then automatically lower the temperature for the duration of the cooking time.
Maytag's new Gemini is a double oven in an electric free-standing range that occupies the same space as a single-oven range. Maytag made it by eliminating the traditional pot drawer. The larger oven is moved down and the second, smaller oven sits above. Benefits include the ability to: keep items warm in one oven while the other cooks, prepare tonight's entree in one oven and tomorrow's in the other, and bake breakfast muffins in one, dinner in the other. The Gemini costs around $1450.
Other advances include cooktops with more than one type of burner. Jenn-Air offers an induction/radiant cooktop ($750) that has two induction burners on the left side that transfer energy directly to the cookware without heating the cooking surface. Two radiant electric elements are located on the right to make the unit more affordable. Another option: The Sears Kenmore Elite cooktop offers four gas burners, including one that produces as much as 13,000 BTUs instead of the 9000 usual on residential ranges. It also includes a warming zone in the middle of the cooktop that's heated by an electric element under the ceramic glass surface. This element maintains foods between 150 degrees and 180 degrees F without further cooking, and can also be used to make delicate sauces or to melt chocolate.
Dual-fuel ranges are yet another relatively new option that offers serious cooks the best of both worlds: an electric oven and a gas cooking surface. Frigidaire ($1000) and Thermador ($1900 to $2700, depending on features) offer dual-fuel slide-in ranges for those who don't have the budget or the space for a separate gas cooktop and electric oven.
Nearly every major manufacturer is also refining convection cooking systems, where performance is enhanced by a fan that moves heated air over the food. This convection method can cut cooking time by as much as 25 percent while delivering better results.
Maytag's Gemini range has a smooth glass cooktop over a double oven that's split horizontally instead of vertically.
The Sears Kenmore Elite cooktop includes four gas burners and a center warming zone heated with an electric element.
Dishwashers
Fisher & Paykel is a New Zealand-based company that's currently leading the pack on dishwasher changes, with its DishDrawer. The idea came from an engineer who thought the space occupied by a traditional box-shaped dishwasher seemed inefficient. The key was to design a motor and pump small enough to fit in a drawer and still have room left over for dishes. The results were a smaller one-drawer model ($950), and a two-drawer model ($1650) that fits in the same space as a conventional dishwasher but holds more dishes.
In an effort to save water and at the same time clean more effectively, several manufacturers, including Whirlpool and Maytag, have added sensor technology to their dishwashers. Two types of turbidity sensors are available: an infrared light beam and a pressure sensor. Both measure the amount of soil particles in the water. As long as the sensor continues to find particles, more water is added or a new cycle is triggered. Dishes that begin with less soil can be cleaned in one short cycle, allowing some models to use as little as 6 to 9 gal. of water.
Noise is another concern that's being addressed. Dishwashers can be annoyingly loud, especially in homes with an open floor plan. All the manufacturers have improved dishwasher noise levels by adding more insulation, developing quieter motors and sometimes by changing the way water enters the tub.
Today's dishwashers also offer more loading flexibility for those who want to wash only part of a load. Frigidaire's Precision Wash system, for example, can independently direct water to upper and lower wash arms. This allows the machine to wash only the top rack, only the bottom, or both. Some manufacturers, like Bosch, have eliminated the toekick access panel at the bottom of the unit so the door is a single piece. This increases the size of the tub, letting it hold taller and larger items.
Fisher & Paykel's DishDrawer dishwasher is available in one- and two-drawer models for maximum design flexibility.
By eliminating the toekick at the bottom, Bosch's new dishwasher provides more room for taller, larger items.
Refrigeration
The refrigerator uses more power than any other appliance in the kitchen because it's always on. Most of the recent research and development dollars spent on refrigerators have gone to reducing the amount of energy they use to meet government-mandated energy standards, and to eliminating environmentally unfriendly refrigerants known as CFCs. New refrigerators are more energy efficient because insulation and compressors are better, and gaskets seal more effectively.
Efficiency, however, is not the whole story. GE, Frigidaire and Whirlpool have added either carbon fiber or charcoal water filtration systems to their refrigerators. These filters remove the off tastes and odors from the water used to make ice and to supply drinking water to door-mounted dispensers. The filters are located in one of two places: inside the unit where they're easily accessible but use up valuable room, or outside, behind the toekick panel where they save storage space but require getting down on your knees to replace. In the why-didn't-someone-think-of-this-before category, both Maytag and Frigidaire recently introduced refrigerators with shelves that adjust as much as 3 in. vertically by means of a crank or lever, all without unloading the shelves.
Refrigerators also can be hidden in a drawer. At least the Sub-Zero 700 series can be. Dubbed point-of-use refrigeration by the manufacturer, these small units ($2800) are installed below a kitchen counter or in other rooms. Several can be combined so that quick foods are near the microwave, salad makings are at the sink and meat is near the range or grill.
For the future, Frigidaire recently unveiled a new concept refrigerator. Codeveloped with ICL, a London-based company that designs, builds and operates information systems and services, the refrigerator features a touchscreen, flat-panel PC monitor mounted right on the refrigerator door. This home-shopping terminal will allow the user to create shopping lists and to place orders directly to their favorite supermarkets for home delivery. A built-in bar code reader using a 3D laser, similar to the scanners used in grocery stores, allows the user to swipe products into a grocery list. Also, this PC can store recipes and household records as well as function as a home message center with e-mail.
Frigidaire's Pure Source Plus filtration system removes off tastes and odors from water used for dispensers and ice cubes.
Maytag offers crank-adjustable shelves in some new refrigerators. These shelves can move 3 in. vertically without unloading.
The Sub-Zero 700 refrigerators are drawer-size point-of-use units that can be installed in the house.
Laundry
The Department of Energy is expected to institute water and energy regulations on clothes washers within the next few years. In response, manufacturers have already begun to make changes. Maytag, Frigidaire and GE all offer a horizontal axis, or tumbler action, washer. In this design, the tub is on its side and rotates like a dryer drum to tumble clothes through less water than a top-loader requires. The clothes spin faster and more water is extracted so garments then spend less time in the dryer. Frigidaire, for example, estimates its front-loader saves about 8000 gal. of water and $100 in energy costs annually.
Manufacturers continue to make improvements in their top-loaders, too. Maytag's new Atlantis washer ($800), for example, includes a built-in detergent dispenser that holds 100 ounces of liquid detergent, a fingertip faucet button that provides a 5- to 7-second stream of water for pretreating stains, and cycle selection knobs based on how most people sort their clothes–White, Color and Delicate.
Microprocessors are also used to balance the load and to save water by automatically adjusting the water level to the load size. Whirlpool's Resource Saver uses just 5 gal. of water per load. It does this by spraying high-pressure water on the clothes to rinse them of detergent. This uses 40 percent less water for each load than a deep fill and rinse washer. It sells for about $600 and is estimated to save about $100 a year in energy and water costs.
Some dryers–Whirlpool units are good examples–have been improved too, with more accurate electronic sensors, rather than a thermometer on the exhaust. These sensors monitor the moisture content and the temperature of the clothes and turn the unit off when the humidity reaches the correct level.
Maytag's Atlantis washer features a built-in liquid detergent dispenser and a water faucet button for pretreating stains.
Microwave Ovens
While conventional cooking is trying to get faster, microwave cooking is trying to get better. The average microwave wattage five years ago was about 800 watts. Now it's 1000 watts, which means faster cooking. The ovens are larger inside, too. Five years ago, the typical interior cavity was between 1.3 and 1.5 cu. ft. This spring, ovens are 2.0 and 2.1 cu. ft. Unfortunately, many newer microwaves are also noisier. To make the cavity larger and more useful, manufacturers eliminated some sound insulation.
Microchips have found their way into microwave ovens, too. Many midrange to high-end microwaves ($150 for countertop models, and up to $400 for over-the-range models) include a microprocessor-controlled humidity sensor that's programmed to monitor the moisture content of a variety of foods, and adjust the cooking accordingly. Future developments in sensor technology could yield microwaves that include a sensor under the turn-table to determine the weight of the food and a temperature sensor to determine how dense it is. These microwaves will then be able to analyze the condition of the food, e.g. fresh or frozen, and adjust time and power to cook it perfectly.
SOURCES
Amana Home Appliances Amana, IA 54404 800-595-9255 www.amana.com
Bosch Home Appliances 5551 McFadden Ave., Huntington Beach, CA 92649 800-866-2022 www.boschappliances.com
Fisher & Paykel Appliances 22982 Allcalde Dr., Suite 201 Laguna Hills, CA 92653 888-936-7872 usa.fisherpaykel.com
Frigidaire Home Products 104 Warren Rd., Augusta, GA 30907 800-451-7007 www.frigidaire.com
General Electric Appliance Park, Louisville, KY 40225 800-626-2000 www.ge.com/appliances
Jenn-Air 403 West Fourth St. N., Newton, IA 50208 800-688-9900 www.jennair.com
Maytag Appliances 403 West Fourth St. N., Newton, IA 50208 800-688-9900 www.maytag.com
