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A fridge from 70 years ago has better features than the fridge I own now

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Re: A fridge from 70 years ago has better features than the fridge I own now

#511

Post by ilyt »

momirlan wrote: post #374
maccard wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Barring something going horribly wrong, even the cheapest of cheap household appliances will last that, and more. Most major retailers offer longer retailer warranties than that. And, for an absolute bottom of the feature set appliance, a repair shop still exists

maybe in your universe. i lost count of appliances that failed after 1 year, where the vendor is asking for all sorts of pictures and then declares "it's not covered by warranty". repairing such item comes from own pocket, and -if possible - it's usually comparable to paying for it again

What is "your universe" then ? Name and shame

Re: A fridge from 70 years ago has better features than the fridge I own now

#512

Post by helsinkiandrew »

lopis wrote: post #249
helsinkiandrew wrote: post #34

70 years ago a fridge would cost $250-$400 - about a months salary, that's about $4k in todays money. If you pay $4k for a fridge instead of $400 today you can get one with a fair amount of gadgets too.

But that's the thing. We don't want today's gadgets. We don't need internet connected fridges, apps and other breakable IoTs. We just want more usable fridges.

Then spend a grand or two on a decent fridge from a reputable manufacturer that will last and has the features/gadgets you probably do want (auto defrost, quick freeze, chilled water etc).

Re: A fridge from 70 years ago has better features than the fridge I own now

#513

Post by Qwertious »

coryfklein wrote: post #345
jdminhbg wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's just The Market For Lemons at work. It's not, really. Information about brand reliability is widely available. People just value different things.

> Information about brand reliability is widely available I too see this information everywhere but I have no idea what to trust on this anymore and what information is paid for and gamed by the companies themselves. Brand reputation is its own business these days with its own products and markets.

>Brand reputation is its own business these days with its own products and markets.

I'm halfway convinced that selling a brand is just sort of illegitimate - a brand is just a reputation (ie. built-up trust), and selling out your reputation for money on your way out the door is cleanly, obviously immoral.

I'm sure there are arguments for it (like "well surely my son can inherit the family business" and "well surely I can sell the business to someone who I trust to maintain reputation"), but overall those arguments don't change what actually happens: the business is sold to someone who wants the profit from abusing the trust that's been built up.

Re: A fridge from 70 years ago has better features than the fridge I own now

#514

Post by masklinn »

VectorLock wrote: post #147
UncleMeat wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah the only two features that this fridge has that my fridge doesn't have are the pull out shelves and the removable bin for vegetables. I've got no idea why you'd really want the removable bin for vegetables. Carry all my veggies over to the sink first and then pick out the ones I want? And look at how small that thing is. Pull out shelves seem nice I guess, but they'd only be useful on lower shelves. My fridge se…

The pull out fridge doesn't even seem that great, I just think of shit sliding off the back or you push them in and then you push everything off the front.

You could easily solve this the same way pull-out shelves all over solve it: a small lip or some other sort of securing. I don’t think that’s too much of a concern.

However it strikes me as a necessity for deep and rather badly organised fridges so while I can see the value (it’s pretty much the only not-useless thing I can see in the ad) it seems limited unless you’re at a pretty high level of use e.g. you use a literal ton of fridge space or you commonly need to swap entire shelves of e.g. desserts in and out.

Unsurprisingly slide out racks and trays seem pretty common on professional fridges.

Re: A fridge from 70 years ago has better features than the fridge I own now

#515

Post by MichaelZuo »

SuchAnonMuchWow wrote: post #54
vsareto wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Parts were dipped in paint rather than sprayed leading to fuller and thicker paint coverage Hopefully not lead paint?

It probably is: lead paint is much more durable and resistant, which is why it was everywhere in the 50s

Aren't there some fancy synthetic paints nowadays that are just as durable as lead paint? (At a much higher price of course)

Re: A fridge from 70 years ago has better features than the fridge I own now

#516

Post by MichaelZuo »

ethbr0 wrote: post #168
UncleMeat wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This fridge has an ice dispenser that requires you to use a tool to knock out a dozen ice cubes. My fridge has an ice dispenser that runs by itself until a big vessel of ice is full.

If you've never had an ice maker break on a fridge, then you're a lucky person.

The expensive >$10k Sub-Zero fridges have very reliable ice makers, because the manufacturer offers 10 year warranties on them,

That's the price equivalent of a $500 fridge from the 50s.

Re: A fridge from 70 years ago has better features than the fridge I own now

#517

Post by VirusNewbie »

kQq9oHeAz6wLLS wrote: post #478
VirusNewbie wrote: post #458

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My fridge is like 10k but it has massive design flaws

You paid $10,000 for a fridge? What restaurant do you live in?

No i bought a fairly nice house that has a bonkers huge kitchen, with a giant built in fridge. The replacement cost is ~10k.

Re: A fridge from 70 years ago has better features than the fridge I own now

#518

Post by culebron21 »

I think 2 of 3 of the shown features are a bad idea.

First, the sliding shelves. I can see a package get stuck in the upper shelf, and then when the shelf moves, fall down behind, onto the lower shelf, making it impossible to push the moved shelf back and close the fridge. And it's not something rare -- sometimes I have plastic bags freeze to the back wall. Or something sticking up into the upper shelf. With still shelves nothing wrong happens to these, but with moving one it does and would annoy consumer.

Second, the box in the door on hinges... As soon as someone lets it drop-open, they'll have it break both the hinges and stopping points, and get feet injure. I had a similar thing happen with a piece of furniture. This will require a big repair of the entire door.

The ice cubes feature is interesting. But you have those in your fridges today with some bottle dispenser, etc. I mostly saw these features being idle.

So, as usual the featured fridge has nice features that failed the test of life.

My current fridge of choice is Liebherr brand, which makes them simple (no digital stuff), with very convenient shelves, and very quiet.

Re: A fridge from 70 years ago has better features than the fridge I own now

#519

Post by culebron21 »

quartz wrote: post #25

Wait is this actually better? It's well presented in the ad but: - that removable veggie holder in the door looks crazy heavy and super awkward to put back in place (lining up at a sharp angle while gripping likely slick sides) - you have to open the refrigerator door to get at the freezer - the door compartments are narrow and probably can't handle odd sized containers - the shelves have holes in them so anything th…

The hinged box in the door will live till it gets left drop-open. Then it will break the hinges, stop points (and I fear it will require the entire door replaced), and give foot injure.

Sliding shelves -- I see stuff sticking to the upper shelf and falling behind onto the lower one, making it impossible to draw this one back and close the fridge. (Occasionally you have to stuff things in plastic bags onto each other, because of lack of space, and they push onto the upper shelf; or sometimes bags get pushed to the back wall and freeze to it -- and it's no problem on still shelves.)

This reminds me of cellphone Sony J70, with a scrolling wheel. I wanted one badly in 2002, bought one -- and turned out it wasn't much more convenient (the wheel wasn't smooth) and it broke the very first time I dropped the phone on the floor. Repair was costy. That's how I learned that seemingly cool features have downsides to them.

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