31–40 of 52 posts
One very practical reason that comes to mind is waterproofing. Kitchen counters get wet, and office desks do not. Anything with a plug is at greater risk of shorting.
https://www.sunbeam.ca/en_CA/kitchen-appliances/sunbeam-1.7l...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Also product liability. If you give a domestic hair dryer a 12 ft cord, someone will use it in the shower. If you give an insta-pot a 6 ft cord, someone will drape it off the counter and a child will pull it. UL standards actually limit cable length for many appliances. https://www.intertek.com/standards-updates/ul-1026-electrica...
I believe you can't put an outlet on the side of a kitchen island anymore because too many toddlers were able to grab an appliance by the cable and pull it down onto their heads. In the USA at least.
As much as I truly love replaceable cords, I'd be more than happy enough if I could just unscrew the shell of the device, unscrew the power wires from where they attach, and put in any cord. Where I care about waterproofing, some silicone caulk is an extremely cheap (and removable) fix. Unfortunately practically everything you can buy now is welded plastic halves, or easily-broken clips. So even when you might be abl…
You mentioned waterproofing, and I think another major factor is how often the device (and indirectly the cable) is going to be moved around, and which stresses and strains will be placed on the connection. What's best for my printer is not what's best for an immersion-blender.
One very practical reason that comes to mind is waterproofing. Kitchen counters get wet, and office desks do not. Anything with a plug is at greater risk of shorting.
https://www.sunbeam.ca/en_CA/kitchen-appliances/sunbeam-1.7l...
I had to settle for a Proctor-Silex branded unit that was only sold by Home Depot online. It does not have a detachable cord.
Detachable cables should honestly be standard on most kitchen appliances. Once you’ve experienced it on PCs and monitors, fixed cables just feel outdated.
There have been enough Crockpots and similar kitchen appliances pulled down by children onto themselves that it's driven two trends in the American kitchen:
- Short power cords, to avoid cords being accessible from below
- Placement of power outlets: to ensure there are enough to be used with the short cords and not tempt extension cord usage, and to keep outlets and cords plugged into them inaccessable.
There's a lot of tension in that last one, and the NEC has gone back and forth on how to regulate outlet placement, eg on kitchen islands, and where they should be allowed to go.
Headphones are a big one for me. By their nature, the cords are often going to get snagged and tugged on and are pretty much guaranteed to fail before the headset itself does. I'm pretty happy my current Sennheiser headphones have detachable headphone cables, though the shaky ground the company itself is on makes me wonder if I should stock up on a few...
I think a detachable cable is a widespread option, as long as the headphones are large enough to make accomodating it easy.
I’m a big fan of this notion. My hot water dispenser has a magnetic power dongle kinda like macbooks MagSafe, but bulkier [0]. Ideally something like that would be more standardized across appliances the way some of the other three prong power cords are. [0]: https://youtu.be/E2WrHHRYrV4?t=108
I loved having one of these until the non-stick coating inside started flaking off badly after a couple years. Nowadays I'm only touching steel and/or glass on these things. An all-steel-interior Zwilling kettle has lasted me twice as long already, and looks brand new (on the inside) if I give it a brief acid cleanse to remove deposits. It's not quite as convenient or as stable temperature, but I'm more than happy to…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I loved having one of these until the non-stick coating inside started flaking off badly after a couple years. Nowadays I'm only touching steel and/or glass on these things. An all-steel-interior Zwilling kettle has lasted me twice as long already, and looks brand new (on the inside) if I give it a brief acid cleanse to remove deposits. It's not quite as convenient or as stable temperature, but I'm more than happy to…
Two-layer, thermopot-style kettles are a thing; I own one. All-steel interior is a natural consequence.