View Full Version : why are our appliances so big?
I have been perusing kitchen photos on the web since we will be doing a few updates to the kitchen in the house we bought. It seems so inefficient that our stoves are big enough to hold a turkey that we cook once a year or not at all. Our refrigerators are also quite massive-no wonder food goes bad as it gets lost in there. Not to mention the utility costs of having huge appliances. I have been looking at some of the smaller European style appliances but they are way out of our budget. Anyway found this article that asks the same question:
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/10/the-huge-chill-why-are-american-refrigerators-so-big/280275/
I noticed that too, I was at Ikea yesterday and with all the tiny homes and kitchens they still all have these giant fridges. I have a smaller fridge in my apartment now and we still have food going bad. I would have loved to get an old style fridge at my old rental house so the whole kitchen space would work better.
I wonder if this is because of all the sodas, when I visit other people they have so many beverages in their fridges.
I have been perusing kitchen photos on the web since we will be doing a few updates to the kitchen in the house we bought. It seems so inefficient that our stoves are big enough to hold a turkey that we cook once a year or not at all. Our refrigerators are also quite massive-no wonder food goes bad as it gets lost in there. Not to mention the utility costs of having huge appliances. I have been looking at some of the smaller European style appliances but they are way out of our budget. Anyway found this article that asks the same question:
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/10/the-huge-chill-why-are-american-refrigerators-so-big/280275/
We recently bought a new propane stove, which needs no electricity and is good for our rather frequent power outages. We were replacing an ancient propane cooktop plus a 1970s vintage electric wall oven that were here when we bought the house (and possibly when Noah was still building the ark).
It's 24 inches, which seems tiny. Here's the thing, though -- it holds our large turkey roaster and we cooked a 22 pound turkey in it for Christmas. So really even the turkey doesn't require the size they all seem to be.
We also have a small frig, and i'm struggling more with it. One can, it seems, lose things in a frig of any size.
I don't think the electricity cost of our huge refrigerator could be any better for a small size. It is incredibly low. Something like $11 a YEAR.
Part of the reason to have a consistent size for appliances is it makes them easy to replace, easy to construct kitchens, and easy to stock and sell. 30 inches is standard for ranges. If you design the kitchen for a smaller footprint, it is basically limiting any other resident to the same size. Only "luxury" properties request a width of greater than 30 inches and then they look pretty stupid if someone wants a "regular" range. Ditto with properties that use 24 inch ranges. Someone cannot move in with another range that might be a regular size of 30 inches. So larger and smaller are more limiting and will also cost way more because they are sold in smaller quantities.
Americans buy a lot of food, keep almost everything in the refrigerator and shop occasionally. If you shop daily or every other day, keep many things on the counter, do not store excess food, you can get away with smaller refrigerators.
I have a small fridge in my apartment, the freezer section is too small in the winter when you need to stock up. Some of my neighbors buy an additional fridge or freezer when they have bigger families.
When I replaced the fridge in my house a number of years back, since we did not remodel I had to find a fridge to fit the spot the old one was in, which was not a full size fridge. It wasn't easy.
When I bought the new appliances for my new home, I was entranced by the look of the new appliances. It was like looking at the car shows with lots of gadgets, shiny and buttons to push.
The cabinets did not allow a large fridge plus for my laundry area, I had to decide if I wanted stacked washer and dryer or a side by side. Standing in the department store, I saw, in a corner, a simple basic top loading washer and matching dryer in plain white. It was all I needed.
It was as though someone had snapped me out of a hypnotic state. All the sparkle is marketing hype. Many of the washers last about 5 years according friends' experiences. My old basic washer had lasted 20+ years. I went basic with everything except the dishwasher and chose a Bosch design for a number of good reasons including the better quality basket, steel interior, filtration system etc.
Big is not better!
ETA My appliances ended up being the most energy efficient or awfully close to it so I have no regrets every time I look at my energy bill. We have high electricity rates.
Chicken lady
1-4-17, 8:28pm
Dh and I struggled to find a small fridge. Now we are building a new kitchen with a spot for it. Maybe somebody will have yo replace a cabinet some say. I don't care.
we do have an extra freezer for milk, cheese, and veggies from the farm, but I highly recommend a food storage/stocking up plan that resists power outages - canning, drying... Of course, being a vegetarian helps with that approach.
I have a large fridge and LOVE it! The shelves are glass and you can see at a glance where everything is. Previously, I had a small side by side and had to stack food because it was so small. A pizza would not even lay flat in the freezer. I threw away a lot because I could not see what I had. We rarely go out to eat and absolutely love having enough room. I never want to go back to small.
I have a large fridge and LOVE it! The shelves are glass and you can see at a glance where everything is. Previously, I had a small side by side and had to stack food because it was so small. A pizza would not even lay flat in the freezer. I threw away a lot because I could not see what I had. We rarely go out to eat and absolutely love having enough room. I never want to go back to small.
I'm with you. I hate my refrigerator with its cramped, minuscule freezer. I was telling a friend I could have mastodon meat in there--I wouldn't know; it's a black hole. I keep telling myself I'll get a good refrigerator for my next house, It's incentive.
ApatheticNoMore
1-4-17, 11:36pm
Yea small fridge was a disaster, no room, and here is the thing also those small (not mini but apartment size) fridges are very poorly made. All the side shelves broke for no reason at all as well as and this was the final straw a vegetable bin broke. It also leaked. So happy I finally replaced it with something normal sized and decently made (and a bottom freezer, that is cool). I can now see my food, I can clean my fridge, it's like a normal fridge finally.
article:
Most people would agree that fresh food tastes better than anything that's been kept in a refrigerator for even a short amount of time. So why then would anyone want a weeks' worth of perishable food stored in their kitchen at one time?
oh geez, you've never had leftovers that were still good the next week (and I do eat leftovers all the time, they aren't generally accumulating, just really ... they are sometimes still there and still good the next week much less storing one weeks worth of food.) Most people might agree fresh food tastes better most people might also not prefer to cook everyday, I guess the only problem is if these aren't the same person :)
Chicken lady
1-5-17, 8:22am
I might also depend on your definition of "small" my fridge is 30" wide and 5'6" tall. The bottom third is a freezer. It is full width, not side by side. Gallon storage on the top level of the door, glass shelves, two crisper drawers and a "snack" drawer where I keep cheese and the deli meat for dh sandwiches. no ice maker or water dispenser. My only complaint is that you cannot use the middle third of the top shelf for anything taller than an inch that goes more than halfway back the shelf or you block the air circulation and everything freezes.
we don't keep single serve beverages in it except a couple of beers. It holds more than a week's worth of food for two people.
To OP. were you meaning the inside volume of the appliances or the sheer bulkiness of them? I was referring my comments to the bulkiness compared to the sleek compact design of earlier concepts.
iris lilies
1-5-17, 11:38am
When I bought the new appliances for my new home, I was entranced by the look of the new appliances. It was like looking at the car shows with lots of gadgets, shiny and buttons to push.
The cabinets did not allow a large fridge plus for my laundry area, I had to decide if I wanted stacked washer and dryer or a side by side. Standing in the department store, I saw, in a corner, a simple basic top loading washer and matching dryer in plain white. It was all I needed.
It was as though someone had snapped me out of a hypnotic state. All the sparkle is marketing hype. Many of the washers last about 5 years according friends' experiences. My old basic washer had lasted 20+ years. I went basic with everything except the dishwasher and chose a Bosch design for a number of good reasons including the better quality basket, steel interior, filtration system etc.
Big is not better!
ETA My appliances ended up being the most energy efficient or awfully close to it so I have no regrets every time I look at my energy bill. We have high electricity rates.
We do the same thing, buy basic washers, dryers, stove, fridge but a higher end dishwasher due to wanting a quiet dishwasher.
Now, I will say that our most recent purchase of a washing machine was done the same day due to a time restriction. Had I had a moment or two to think about it, I would have orderd a Speedqueen and paid several hundred dollars more for a sturdy, basic machine that would last my lifetime.
My original thinking came when I saw a small built-in oven in a photo of a German kitchen. It was stylish looking but half the size of an American one. So many times, I just want to bake something but it's too big to fit in a toaster oven and the oven seems cavernous. I will see if I can find a photo of the Bosch smaller sized appliances. Higher priced homes are putting massive-sized appliances (haven't we been through this before?) in their kitchens - 8 burner stoves, etc.
Miss Cellane
1-5-17, 1:44pm
I've had apartment-sized, smaller refrigerators in some apartments. It was hard to see what was on the top shelf without bending down and twisting to get on eye-level with the shelf. And I'm not tall, just barely 5'6". So I had to limit what went there, or I'd forget about it and it would go bad.
Had the fridge been the same size, but with the freezer on the bottom, the problem wouldn't have existed. My current fridge is larger than I need, but I can see into it okay and find things.
As more and more kitchens are built without free-standing stoves and fridges, it makes sense to standardize the sizes so that the appliances will fit without having to take out cabinets--which can mean having to re-do countertops and flooring.
My SIL totally re-did her kitchen several years ago. To save costs, she reused her existing, older,fridge. She had a space built for the fridge in a run of cabinets. When the fridge died a few years later, she had a hard time finding anything to fit in that spot--refrigerators had increased in size since she bought her fridge. It was either buy an expensive fridge that fit, or redo the entire run of cabinets. I think they ended up going with the expensive fridge, which was still cheaper than trying to redo the cabinets and granite countertop.
As for the size of the stove, I'd had a 24 inch oven and while it was fine most of the time, it wasn't great for large batches of cookies or bread. What I do is try to cook as much as possible when I have the oven on. Three baked potatoes, for example, with two left over for future meals. Plus a casserole that I might not eat right away, but freeze for next week. I'll double the recipe for bread, so as to have as many bread pans in the oven as possible.
I'd rather have the space when I need it, and figure out ways to conserve energy in day-to-day cooking.
My original thinking came when I saw a small built-in oven in a photo of a German kitchen. It was stylish looking but half the size of an American one. So many times, I just want to bake something but it's too big to fit in a toaster oven and the oven seems cavernous. I will see if I can find a photo of the Bosch smaller sized appliances. Higher priced homes are putting massive-sized appliances (haven't we been through this before?) in their kitchens - 8 burner stoves, etc.
I recently purchased Nesco (6 quart size for the two of us) and see that you can bake bread and casseroles in their pans in the Nesco. I haven't tried it yet but think this may be another alternative to an oven.
My tiny space has a 9 sq. cubic foot refrigerator with a freezer on top. It is about 57" tall and 24" wide. It is absolutely the perfect size for one person and more than a weeks worth of groceries. Since cooking with no real kitchen is a PITA, when I do cook something I am able to make up a bunch of little containers to freeze for future meals (just like my old life). I only have to cook something major once or twice a week to keep up with a nice backstock of freezer portions. I also eat a lot of salads. I have to go into Santa Fe at least once a week to buy fresh vegetables, as there is no place closer to get them in the winter. I keep some bags of frozen stir-fry vegetables for when I run out of fresh and can't make it to the store.
ToomuchStuff
1-6-17, 1:04am
There are a lot of places in Europe that have been around for hundreds of years, and kitchens evolved and changed and had to fit in existing spaces. Size of the average house here, has grown since 1950, but if you have an existing space, you have it and your budget and ability to expand to go by.
The home I grew up in had two refrigerators. One was there, because it still worked and once or twice a year it would have to be plugged in an used. It was one of the old round top fridges from the 1940's or 1950's. The other refrigerator was bought new in 1960, ran until sometime around 2010, and was a 14 cubic foot, that is the same size as a modern 18 cubic foot, but used more energy. The stove was a 24" that was probably the same time frame and I was offered that size or the normal for when I bought my house as we found that one had a problem. (safety issue gas appliance) The price was almost the same, so I went with the 30" due to the ability for more space on the stovetop, more then the larger oven space.
I keep looking at things like IKEA kitchens, because I would like some of the features of the smaller kitchens, since I only have to cook for me. The downsides are we no longer have those small grocery stores/butcher shops, within walking distance that we did when the houses were built (1920's), and the resale value isn't there, if I choose to sell and move.
My current refrigerator is around a 11 cubic foot one, that would cost more new, then an 18 cubic foot one (got it from a closing doctors office), and I saw a "retro" one the other day (1950's styling, curved, baby puke blue), that was more then $1100.00 at a damaged freight store (don't want to look it up retail).
iris lilies
1-6-17, 11:42am
Every time I tell this story DH claims I am exaggerating the numbers, but I dont think so.
Early in our marriage we visited my inlaws and they had 10 - 12 refrigerators and freezers. Several were in their basement, two were on their big back porch, a couple were in the kitchen area, a few in the attached garage. Sure they had reasons and some of the appliances were on their way to their children, but holy jesus, that is a lot of refrigerating going on there.
They live n a farm and have huge gardens and they slaughter cows and pigs and pass n foods to their children.
It used to be common to rent locker space or have huge cold cellars to store food in.
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