Appliances....ohhh precious Appliances

As a youngster my grandfather was one of my favorite people & I loved his prediction of my career path….working at SEARS!!!!  I kid you not, that is exactly what he told everyone he met about me….”Dylan will be working at Sears one day selling appliances”.   That was because if there was even a mention of going to Sears I was the first to the car, buckled up, barely controlling my excitement to see what new appliance buttons were in store for me.  Buttons were my favorite up until they received their first shipment of the coolest refrigerator ever….it had a FLIP DOWN DOOR ON THE DOOR!!!  You didn’t even have to open the refrigerator to get into the refrigerator!  Genius!  

Well, to my parent’s relief, I have yet to enjoy a position at Sears (not that the thought doesn’t cross my mind from time to time), however my love affair appliances has yet to falter…in fact it now borders on obsession!  I can still spend hours looking through the appliance section wherever they’re offered and one of my favorite parts of kitchen design is helping my clients determine the best selections for their new kitchen.  How natural you might say…a designer specializing in kitchens that loves appliances, but alas….I have learned that I am somewhat a rare breed in that regard.  Little known fact outside of our industry, the cabinet guy and the appliance guy are usually mortal enemies.   Ok, ok….that’s an exaggeration, but if you want to talk about finger pointing be warned, both are usually trigger happy and I’m surprised that there’s hasn’t been a disorder of the likes of carpel tunnel plaguing our industry.  HOOOOOLD on Mr. Appliance Installer, before the steam starts shooting out of your ears, hear me out.  It’s not just you; the “cabinet guy” just got the same slap across the face. 

The fact is that today’s kitchen has evolved into a new animal where refrigerators & dishwashers are increasingly shy and don’t want to reveal themselves, ranges want to steal the show by being the biggest and most impressive piece of eye candy in the room, and ovens do things that should be reserved for circus freak shows.   Cabinetry is certainly not going to let the appliances steal the show!  Instead of simply being fortunate enough to have adjustable shelves two decades ago, you now have things popping up & out of places that sometimes make you stop and scratch your head trying to figure out “ummm….why?”. 

You want to know what I say to Mr. Cabinet & Mr. Appliance…..PLAY NICE!  Yes, yes, Mr. Cabinet – we know that you have the power to betray us the satisfaction of releasing our frustration by slamming a drawer or door & we know Mr. Appliance, you can spit out a roasted turkey in lighting speed thanks to your NASAish technology, but neither of you are going to do anything unless you put your fingers in their holster and work together.  You are both components of something much greater, the kitchen.  The place where we humans usually enjoy spending the bulk of our time when we’re not sleeping or working (well, sometimes when we’re working too).  Either you work out your differences and come to a good compromise, or you’re never going to be able to “show off” in a way that we would appreciate you. 

Wow, I’m not sure where all that came from, but I started this rant in an effort share with you an interesting article that I recently read on CNNMoney.com titled “When good appliances go bad”.  I thought it was interesting & though you might too….so here it is!  Happy reading!  If you find yourself looking for an appliance expert who leaves her finger pointer holster at home, talk to Mrs. Toni Brown at Wholesale Appliances in Mt. Pleasant.  She’s great and if she doesn’t make you smile and tell you something you didn’t know about cooking….find a good doctor, something’s wrong.  

Yours Truly,

The Kitchen Nerd

Update:  Email from my father after reading this blog posting....

Dylan,

Remember as a child, every time we went somewhere in your granny's car, you would take the chrome grill from her refrigerator door and sit on the center console and use it as an imaginary steering wheel to drive the car. Little did I realize back then . . . 

Dad