Modern appliances keep adding more and more features requiring more electronic control. The newest craze is adding features that can be controlled through wifi networks and even directly from people’s phones. The question is if these features are coming with increased appliance quality or are they just cool features on appliances with no time invested in increasing reliability. Several manufacturers decided to find out on their own what consumer perspective was on the subject. They polled a lot of categories but with a concentration on high tech equipment and smart appliances.

The discovery was that consumers don’t believe there has been a strong improvement in smart appliance quality even though the features have increased. Consumers indicated they feel that over last five years there has been little improvement in appliance quality.

Hopefully these manufacturers take these findings seriously and start making noticeable improvements in appliance quality along with the growing list of features! What do you think about appliance quality over the last five years?

Despite concern for the global economy in recent years, Asian financial workers believe that there is still a lot of economic potential for the years to come. Overall, global prosperity has a lot of potential since many nations are still emerging.

Asia’s consumer class has seen a huge boost in growth. One interesting thing about rising nations is that when a nation comes up from poverty, they acquire luxuries at an alarming rate. One of those luxuries is appliances! Asia holds for about 60% of the world’s population but currently only accounts for 20% of the world’s consumption.

If speculators are correct in their optimistic outlook for the global economy, there could be a huge boom in manufacturing in the years to come!

The National Association of Home Builders has what they call an RMI (Remodeling Market Index).  According to this index, remodelers’ confidence is down six points going into the first quarter of 2013. This may sound like a small number but this is a big deal for builders since it means they could have less business ahead for them. Speculation is that rising construction costs and labor costs are swaying remodelers’ confidence.

Less remodeling projects are being done but home owners are mostly paying for repairs and small room by room remodeling projects as well as minor additions.

If you are considering a kitchen or laundry room remodel, cutting costs and investing in reliable appliances can go a long way in making a project financially possible. Feel free to give us a call if you want professional advice on what appliances are in it for the long haul.

Detergent spills are dangerous since detergent is thick and extremely slippery especially if there’s any water present. Do not ignore a spill as slipping accidents can be extremely painful and often make for expensive hospital visits. The easiest way to start cleaning up a detergent spill is by scooping it up with a dustpan. Next rub a dry bath towel over the detergent slowly to let it absorb into the towel or towels depending on how much was spilled. If you’ve managed to clean up as much possible with the dry towels, you can use either moist paper towels or moist towels to clean up the remaining residue. Do not soak them as you don’t want to leave standing water where you’re wiping. You just want to add some moisture in order to lift the detergent residue. Continue wiping with this method until the residue is gone, and then wipe everything down with dry towels or paper towels to dry everything off.

If you are constantly spilling detergent, you may want to lean over the washer as you poor detergent into the measuring cup/lid or the washer.

Spring brings us lots of great things like flowers and sunshine. It also starts to lead us towards the warmer weather we all love in the summer. Spring cleanups are dreaded but necessary to clean up inside and outside the house. Many people don’t think to clean up the outside of an appliance though. The truth is that cooling units such as refrigerators, freezers, ice makers, and air conditioning units need to have unrestricted air flow in order to work properly and efficiently. When you’re cleaning up inside the house, make sure that any dust bunnies on the condenser coils of your refrigeration systems in the house are also getting cleaned up! It will not only prevent you from having an appliance meltdown and lose your food when the weather warms up, but it will also help you save money since the appliance will stay running efficiently.

Many people that want to have a dryer in an apartment or certain home applications end up using a non-vented dryer.  A non-vented dryer has a heat exchanger that cools the air that was heated in the dryer that allows the air to condense and drain off either into a reservoir that needs to be emptied or into a drain tube that empties out into a septic line or is routed into a building drainage line. While these dryers are significantly more convenient than having to go to a Laundromat or basement laundry center, they are arguably not as effective as a vented dryer.

Safety is generally not any more of a concern than vented dryers as long as you follow the manufacturer’s instructions. All ventless dryers are electric powered to avoid adding the dangers of gas into an unvented setting. It is suggested that you have the condenser cleaned on a regular basis as even with proper lint trap cleaning, lint can build up on the condenser.

As we are making our way into 2013, we thought we’d highlight some of the more interesting trends that we come across in the industry that influence the products we sell and work on. Several trends are carry-overs from last year that are growing in popularity but many trends are new to this year.

Transitional kitchens are becoming more popular. Offering the ability to blend traditional kitchens with contemporary warmth, this style provides the opportunity for some impressive designs.

Gray color schemes are another trend that is on the rise. Gray color schemes are being incorporated at nearly double the rate we’ve seen in the past. It is a difficult color to work off of but when it is done correctly, it can create a powerful look and allow many appliance colors add powerful contrast.

Quartz has risen in popularity making it a close second to granite for counter usage in the kitchen. Quartz is notorious for creating a beneficial blend of man-made products and stone. Due to the stone base, they are extremely hard but also have many beneficial qualities from having synthetic materials. Many people are calling the material “the best of both worlds”.

Retail Observer is showing that “The total cost of the average kitchen” is down by nearly $4,000 last year. The current economy has caused a lot of changes in purchases. People are still making kitchen renovations but many people are doing it on a tighter budget. This has made for some interesting changes in the types of appliances people are buying as some people will go with a slightly less extravagant model while others will cut the costs in the design to maintain the quality level of appliance they want.

Some other new trends that are coming into play this year have been the incorporation of LED lighting, touch-activated faucets, as well as white-painted cabinetry and glass backsplashes. Under-mount sinks have been making their way into bathrooms. This sink style has been a rising trend in the kitchen for some time but only recently has it been common to find this style in a bathroom setting.

Stay tuned to see what else makes its way into popularity as we continue to dive into 2013!

There was a recent court case filing made by Whirlpool against other manufacturers such as LG and Samsung claiming that they were “dumping” products by selling them in the U.S. for less than the cost to make them.

The decision came back on the case just recently in favor of Whirlpool. The Department of Commerce has proposed forcing tariffs on appliances imported from South Korean and Mexican manufacturing facilities. Brands affected include: Electrolux, Samsung, Daewoo, LG. The tariff proposals range from 11 to 151 percent. The discoveries in the case show that Korean governments were subsidizing some of the companies.

Samsung has already voiced their disappointment in the hearing in the case. They say that this will likely reduce washer selection for the end consumers. Other manufacturers are yet to comment on this hearing.

Whirlpool was at risk of having to drop more employees and lose more shares at the rate they were losing sales. Whirlpool is not the only company affected by the activities. Sears Holding Corp. was also seeing slumping sales presumed to be at least partially related to the dropping sales of Whirlpool appliances.

This court case decision is great news for Whirlpool and their recent rise in share price is proof of it. They had a 46% loss in shares reported in 2011 so they have a ways to go to recuperate. The effects of this ruling will be seen in time.

There are many house fires that occur on a yearly basis and odds are you’ve even seen one locally within the last few years. All of us want to believe it will never happen to us but there are a lot of things that we may be overlooking that will help prevent tragedies like this from ever happening.

Believe it or not dishwashers cause a lot of structure fires so don’t overlook this appliance’s potential for causing disasters.

According to National Fire Protection Association, between 2006 and 2010, dishwashers account for an average of 1,130 structure fires in the U.S. per year. Many people have been injured as a result and between those years, two people have even died. Roughly three-fourths of these fires involving dishwashers were started at the “appliance housing or casing or wire or cable insulation.

Make sure you have a professional install your appliance and if you have any electrical problems, make sure you only have qualified professionals work on your appliances to make sure all the wiring is handled properly and installed with safety in mind.

One other thing to keep in mind with dishwasher safety is your placement of silverware in the washing basket. If you place knives with the blade up, be extremely careful reaching into the dishwasher.

Follow these simple precautions and you should greatly reduce your risk of injury and structure fires.

Cloth is great! We wear it, carry things in it, sleep in it, sit on it, and many other things. It only has one downfall: it gets dirty! It takes on stains, dirt, smells, colors, etc.

Laundry detergents have to meet a wide range of expectations and there are so many detergents to choose from that sometimes it can be hard to decide what to get. We put together some basic information about cloth detergents to help you narrow your search for the perfect detergent.

First off, take a look at your owner’s manual to see what the manufacturer recommends. The manufacturers run extensive tests so they know what works best and can tell you what works and what will ensure that you don’t cause any damage to your washer.

There are two basic types of detergents: powder and liquid. Front load washers made things more confusing since they wash differently so their implementation nearly doubled the number of available detergent types. Typical top-loading washing machines take a conventional detergent and won’t work very well using high efficiency detergents. On the other hand, high-efficiency washers function very poorly with conventional detergents and can build up residue in the washer leaving the clothes poorly cleaned.

If you want to pick out which detergent to use by cost, Consumer Reports wrote that you should “compare prices of detergents, divide the total cost by the promised number of loads and forget about volume”. The labels on the detergent containers should tell you how much more detergent it will require to deal with hard water.