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The 21st century home features smart styling and a bit of humor, if these emerging products are any indication.
By Times staff writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published February 24, 2001
Your fondest dream: to float in one of those disappearing-edge swimming pools, the ones where the water seems to pour over the edge into nothingness. Your worst nightmare: the tub overflows. Combine these fantasies in the "sok" overflowing bath from Kohler. You soak chin-deep, caressed by tiny bubbles produced by air jets. A sheet of water spills over the edge, calming you with the sound of falling water, and is recycled. Are we relaxed yet? On the market in April. $6,400.
Maybe this is the answer to ugly popcorn ceilings or acoustic tile. TinTile ceilings from Armstrong are 12- by 12-inch tiles that look like vintage stamped metal ceilings. They can be installed and painted or stained by do-it-yourselfers, says Armstrong, which also offers wood-look planks and vinyl planking that looks like beadboard. Trend to watch: "area ceilings" to define space in open-plan houses, much as we'd use an area rug on the floor for the same reason. The TinTile and wood-look planks are about $1.25 a square foot; the beadboard, $1.59 a square foot.
The GE Profile Arctica refrigerator lets you set the temperatures of the freezing and fresh-food compartments just as you set the programmable thermostat in your home. In the bottom drawer you can express-thaw food at a maximum temperature of 40 degrees (so it doesn't start to cook, as it might in the microwave) or express-chill food (lower the temperature of an item from 70 degrees to 40 in 30 minutes). Select the Quick Ice feature when you want lots of ice in a hurry. There's also a lock and a door alarm for those of us who can't resist midnight snacks. The 25-cubic-foot model is $1,699 and will be available in April.
If family sizes are shrinking, and no one's cooking, why do we need larger refrigerators? Because we do. The Maytag Wide-by-Side steals space from the freezer to create a larger cooling cabinet, creating room for deli trays, watermelons and sheet cakes, then the zig-zag interior design steals back space for the freezing compartment. At last, room to lay frozen pizza boxes flat, not to mention store a turkey. It retails for around $1,649.
More toys for boys: the Marvel beer tapper, a refrigerator that holds a quarter-keg or half-keg of your favorite brew. It comes in indoor or outdoor models starting at about $1,250. Now you can have what the guys in the sky boxes have. Available at J&M Services in St. Petersburg and Florida Builder Appliances, Tampa.
The Web-enabled refrigerator from Whirlpool will be in the stores late this year (no price yet). Use the "Web tablet" as you stand at the fridge door or carry it with you. Check e-mail, make lists and schedules, program the oven, set the dishwasher for a delayed start, access recipes and automatically add missing ingredients to your shopping list, get messages about appliance problems (a door is open; a filter needs changing). Oh, and it keeps food fresh, too.
Turn lamps on and off with a voice command using the VOS IntelaVoice light switch ($29.95) or dim the lights by voice with the IntelaVoice Dimmer ($39.95). Good for seniors, those with mobility impairments or people with their arms full who want to turn lights on or off. Order toll-free at (800) 596-0061 or visit its Web site at http://www.vossystems.com.