O O Ø O O O O
Slow Burn
Kitchens suck.
I moved again this year, so that means a new kitchen, with new hiding places for the usual pots, pans and utensils. Sorting out the new kitchen arrangement has gotten me to thinking...
Slow Burn
Who ever asked for a stove with three small burners, and only one large one? I can just imagine the marketing speak at Kenmore. “Our customers are telling us they want value pricing.” True that may be, but that doesn't mean we want a marginally functional cooktop where we can hardly melt butter. Why not cut out an executive perk or two and give customers the standard configuration of burners we’re all used to?
Complete Knobs
The same committee that turfed the second large burner also axed knobs as critical components of the user interface. Now, instead of turning a dial on the stove to the desired temperature, I have to push a flat-panel button numerous times until a digital readout displays the temperature. How is this an improvement? Wait, let me guess. Cost. Digital controls and readouts are now cheaper to manufacture than archaic twist & pull selectors.
The next stove I buy is going to be a second-hand seventies avocado number. Cheap and properly functional.
Counter Reform
Why aren’t all counter tops cutting boards? Your basic well-oiled chopping block is the most visually, and tactile-ly attractive surface in the kitchen. Maximizing its area can only be a functional and æsthetic victory.
Also, pathogens can’t live in the wood: they’re ridiculously sanitary. Also, they’re not arbourite pretending to be granite. (The sin of skiamorphy.)
Turnover
Why are the freezers still by-and-large on top of the refrigerator compartment? How often do you defrost a frozen bagel, compared to pulling something to drink off the top shelf? The explanation must have something to do with plumbing—the fridge cooling from run-off air from the ice box—but these technical difficulties have long since been overcome, so why hasn’t the more rational arrangement won out?
Side-by-side configurations make even less sense. Who even buys those?
And precisely who decided that contemporary design was all about compromises?
Evan Spence
Tuesday, June 15, 2004
PD DCLVI