Worst Appliances!

[BakedPotato]

Hello everyone!

I am new around here! Cooking enthusiast and also a student studying product design. Currently I am doing my design project on improving kitchen appliances (Fridge, range cooktop, ovens, microwaves, etc.) And I have been browsing this amazing forum for a while and have found many great insights on what are the best appliances to get, but is there any that you guys currently own and absolutely hate? I have recently found this fun little exercise call the Breakup letter, I did one myself and I can a lot fun doing it. So I figured that I share with you guys and at the same time hopefully can get some insights for designing my series of appliances.

It's really simple how this works, just write a letter to the appliance that you hate most as if you're breaking up with them!

Here is a quick example of one I did for a printer for my last project!

Dearest Canon Printer,
I am ending this relationship, now. When you were flirting with me in the Staples showroom you promised me a carefree and easy life. No drivers to download, no CDs to install, no futzing with finding the neighbors’ WiFi by accident. You bought me drinks, made me take you home, and now my life is a mess. After many hours wasted trying to get PDFs to transfer to my Mac and Word docs to print, sadly I have had enough. I am returning you to Staples and will try to find a new printing partner.

Hope you guys have fun!!

 

[roadfix]

If you promise to stick around I'll tell you about my hate hate relationship with my Whirlpool washer.

 

[BakedPotato]

Pretty hooked on the forum already, not going anywhere

 

[Addie]

Welcome to DC to the both of you. Please do stick around. This sounds like fun. I have a toaster oven that I would love to write a letter to. But I have to think it out really carefully. I want that dang thing to know I mean what I say.

 

[JanetMlr]

This goes back a long way, but I used that George Foreman grill one time, and then brought it to Goodwill. What was I even thinking?

 

[chiklitmanfan]

Coffee makers! I had two of the Hamilton Beach models that brewed the coffee into an inside tank that kept the coffee warm and it dispensed coffee into a cup or mug as needed. Both of them developed significant leaks. I spent a little more money and bought a Cuisinart coffee maker that works the same way but I've had this one for 2 years and it is still growing strong.

 

[CraigC]

Anything made in China and that goes beyond appliances.

 

[Mad Cook]

Hello everyone!

I am new around here! Cooking enthusiast and also a student studying product design. Currently I am doing my design project on improving kitchen appliances (Fridge, range cooktop, ovens, microwaves, etc.) And I have been browsing this amazing forum for a while and have found many great insights on what are the best appliances to get, but is there any that you guys currently own and absolutely hate? I have recently found this fun little exercise call the Breakup letter, I did one myself and I can a lot fun doing it. So I figured that I share with you guys and at the same time hopefully can get some insights for designing my series of appliances.

It's really simple how this works, just write a letter to the appliance that you hate most as if you're breaking up with them!

Here is a quick example of one I did for a printer for my last project!

Dearest Canon Printer,
I am ending this relationship, now. When you were flirting with me in the Staples showroom you promised me a carefree and easy life. No drivers to download, no CDs to install, no futzing with finding the neighbors’ WiFi by accident. You bought me drinks, made me take you home, and now my life is a mess. After many hours wasted trying to get PDFs to transfer to my Mac and Word docs to print, sadly I have had enough. I am returning you to Staples and will try to find a new printing partner.

Hope you guys have fun!!

I hate my Bosch dishwasher with a passion and I suspect it hates me. My old dishwasher wouldn't fit in the new kitchen at this house so I had to have a narrower one. It is supposed to take 10 place settings, which it does - if you only use dessert plates instead of normal sized dinner plates and only put 4 or 5 cutlery place settings in the basket. It won't take a pot bigger than eight inches diameter and 2 inches deep or normal sized sheet pans and it doesn't wash or dry very well despite taking hours even on the "quick wash" setting. I chose Bosch because it's supposed to be among the best makes available in the UK (hollow laugh!) and it was seriously expensive (except it was in the sale - I wonder why....)

My old full-sized d/w was a cheap and cheerful Beko and it was excellent - no messing, it did exactly what it was supposed to do and never gave a minute's bother. I mourn it's passing. I can't retrieve it from the old house because the new kitchen is built around the Bosch.

 

[Roll_Bones]

Clark Howard taught me a valuable lesson on purchasing appliances.

Never buy the newest, unproven, must have, highly expensive model.
Buy something the the company has made thousands and thousands of.
The reasoning is price for one and if they made that many particular appliances, the kinks have all been worked out long before you became their test subject.

 

[bakechef]

Clark Howard taught me a valuable lesson on purchasing appliances.

Never buy the newest, unproven, must have, highly expensive model.
Buy something the the company has made thousands and thousands of.
The reasoning is price for one and if they made that many particular appliances, the kinks have all been worked out long before you became their test subject.

I agree completely. My current washing machine is an older style with knobs, it swishes the clothes around in soap, rinses and spins. As long as they're still available, my next one will be too. I see absolutely no need for one with an onboard computer that can and will eventually fail. I don't need a front loader where I keep needing to clean the seal of mildew, and god forbid you close the door and grow a mold farm in there.

This is from someone who loves technology, but doesn't need it everywhere. Internet connected refrigerators, um, no...

 

[Andy M.]

I agree completely. My current washing machine is an older style with knobs, it swishes the clothes around in soap, rinses and spins. As long as they're still available, my next one will be too. I see absolutely no need for one with an onboard computer that can and will eventually fail. I don't need a front loader where I keep needing to clean the seal of mildew, and god forbid you close the door and grow a mold farm in there.

This is from someone who loves technology, but doesn't need it everywhere. Internet connected refrigerators, um, no...

Yeah, but it's so wicked cool to be able to control your appliances through your smartphone while you're on vacation. Not sure what you would do to them but you could.

 

[Addie]

I had a Whirlpool washer and dryer for 20 years. Never needed a repair for either one.

 

[cave76]

This may not be exactly what you want BP----- but I nominate ANY electric stove top as the absolute worst appliance ever made.. That includes the newest smooth range tops too.

 

[bakechef]

Yeah, but it's so wicked cool to be able to control your appliances through your smartphone while you're on vacation. Not sure what you would do to them but you could.

LOL, and I'd be the first one that my friends would expect to have one of these connected appliances!

I would like a connected thermostat, and water heater. It would be nice if I forgot to adjust them before going on vacation.

One thing I can't get into is security cameras, if I pulled them up and saw someone creeping around my house it would freak me out a bit. My co-worker can pull up his cameras on his phone.

 

[Steve Kroll]

... I nominate ANY electric stove top as the absolute worst appliance ever made.

Huh?

Just a suggestion, but maybe further explanation would help illustrate your point, because I have no idea what your beef is. I've owned an electric stove for about ten years (replaced a gas stove) and have never had any problem with mine. It does exactly what it's designed to do.

 

[Addie]

Me too. I have used several electric stoves over the years and never a problem. Why electric stoves in particular?

 

[Dawgluver]

I really like my glass top electric stove. It too does exactly what it's supposed to, and is very easy to clean.

 

[Steve Kroll]

I would like a connected thermostat, and water heater. It would be nice if I forgot to adjust them before going on vacation.

Same here. I think even remote electric locks would be useful. I don't know how many times I've left the house and wondered if I had locked all the doors.

 

[Addie]

Same here. I think even remote electric locks would be useful. I don't know how many times I've left the house and wondered if I had locked all the doors.

And windows!

 

[CWS4322]

I would like a juicer that is easy to clean (read that, doesn't require being put in the dishwasher). I see a lot of juicers at the Goodwill and lots of friends have told me that they hated how hard they were to clean, so got rid of their juicers. Sure, one can get a Vita Mix, but that's a pretty pricey juicer for the average joe.