Gourmet gear:
Look what they’ve cooked up now

[Photo: GE] A foodie’s delight: The Chef’s Washer from GE, at right in photo above, holds the big bowls, casseroles, baking pans and utensils that won’t fit in a regular dishwasher, left.

By JUDY STARK

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 19, 2001

For the cook who has everything, appliance manufacturers have come up with new ovens, refrigerators and dishwashers that can hold it all - and efficiently, too.

ORLANDO -- Make it bigger. Make it faster. And make sure it saves energy and water.

The appliance industry heard those demands from consumers and responded this spring with an array of new dishwashers, ovens, washers and dryers that deliver capacity, speed and energy savings.

Never mind that families are shrinking in size or that weeknight meals tend to be fairly simple, requiring minimal cooking equipment. Never mind that we may cook huge meals only once a year. And never mind that our ability to cook like Emeril or Mario or Martha may exist only in our imaginations.

At the National Kitchen and Bath Industry Show in Orlando recently, GE introduced its "Chef's Washer for gourmet cookware." The large-capacity dishwasher will accommodate big bowls, platters, casseroles and other equipment -- up to 15 inches high -- that won't fit into a conventional dishwasher.

"It's for people who are into the Food Network," spokesman Don Johnson acknowledged as he demonstrated the dishwasher's features: water as hot as 171 degrees, the better to clean baked-on food and to sanitize; and longer cycles when called for. "To a degree, it's furniture for the kitchen. It's a lifestyle item; there's snob appeal."

[Photo: Amana] The Big Oven, from Amana, can hold a 42-pound turkey with room to spare.

This would be a kitchen's second dishwasher; consumers would still want a regular-size dishwasher (and GE makes a matching one) for plates, glassware and flatware. And it's only for cookware that's dishwasher safe; the popular Calphalon brand, for example, isn't. The Chef's Dishwasher will be available in November, just in time for the holidays, ranging in price from $1,049 to $1,169.

GE also unveiled its Profile dishwasher, with a speed-cycle option that washes and dries lightly soiled dishes in 45 minutes or less (a standard cycle is 90 minutes). Or users can choose a normal cycle, during which sensors will determine whether dishes are clean or need more scrubbing and adjust the wash time accordingly.

This model can hold 16 place settings and has "stem-safe clips" for wine glasses. It will be available in September. Price range: $549 to $749.

Amana recently introduced what it is frankly calling the Big Oven, with a capacity of 5.1 cubic feet (typical capacity is 4.4 cubic feet). It comes with a big window so you can watch the big meals you're cooking. Prices start at $749.

Spokesman Russ Maheras said that last Thanksgiving, to promote the oven, he roasted a 42-pound turkey and had room to spare on the top shelf for a pie or casserole.

	The water-saving Neptune washer and its matching dryer, with a shorter drying cycle, are winning favor in these energy-conscious times, Maytag says. Its “Stain Brain” feature (inset) provides directions for prewash treatments. [Photos: Maytag]

But how often do we need to roast a giant turkey and cook desserts or side dishes simultaneously? Isn't this like building a giant parking lot to accommodate the big crowds the day after Thanksgiving, most of which stands idle the rest of the year?

"I'm not sure why," Maheras acknowledged. "Consumers are telling us it's the peace of mind that they have the capacity if it's needed."

[Photo: LG Electronics] The Web-enabled refrigerator from LG Electronics, left, lets users download music from the Internet, do teleconferencing, even take pictures (that’s your homes editor, below).

It may have been Maytag that started the push to more and bigger ovens. Two years ago it introduced its Gemini double-oven range, which allows simultaneous cooking in two ovens at different temperatures. The new models, with a combined capacity of 5.2 cubic feet (1.2 above, 4.0 below), offer cooktop "warming centers" and a low-temperature oven setting that also keeps foods warm while you wait for everyone to get home from soccer practice, late meetings or traffic jams. For the Dagwoods among us, the top oven can toast up to five slices of bread at once. Suggested retail: $799 to $1,499.

Frigidaire, too, was showing its own big oven. The Next Generation oven offers 4.6 cubic feet of space, a third larger than previous models, with a window "a full 86 percent larger than previous models." The range comes with what the company says is the industry's widest range of burner settings, from a low 500 BTUs for melting chocolate or gentle simmers up to a blast-furnace 14,000 BTUs to get that pot of pasta water cooking quickly. (A typical burner puts out a maximum of 8,000 to 9,000 BTUs.) It also has a "Precision-Set" feature that the company says allows the electric burners to be adjusted as finely as gas, in 0.2-degree increments. Suggested retail, for gas or electric, is $999, and it will be on the market in June or July.

These giant ovens and dishwashers join big refrigerators, such as Maytag's Wide-by-Side, which steals space from the freezer to create space in the cooling cabinet for deli trays, sheet cakes and other big items. A zigzag interior design then steals back some space for the freezing compartment, providing room to stack frozen pizza boxes flat or accommodate a turkey. It's on the market for about $1,699.

[Photo: Electrolux] Frigidaire’s prototype Electrolux “screen fridge,” below, provides many of the same capabilities. Oh, and they keep the food cold. But is this more than we want from the icebox?

Virtually all the appliance manufacturers were touting the Energy Star labels on their products. Energy Star is a program of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy that certifies appliances that use less energy than is standard.

This is not entirely beneficence on the part of the manufacturers. They face tougher new federal standards, effective July 1, that require refrigerators to be more energy-efficient than a year ago. To win the Energy Star rating, they must be 10 percent more efficient on top of that.

Still, consumers have become familiar with the Energy Star symbol and are starting to ask for it. In energy-starved California, the New York Times reported recently, "The first thing that comes out of their mouth is "energy efficient,"' said an appliance salesman at Sears in San Bruno, Calif. Before they ask about size or features, he said, consumers want to lower their utility bills.

At the kitchen and bath show, Sears showed its new Kenmore Elite side-by-side refrigerator, which it says uses "the same amount of electricity it takes to light a 75-watt light bulb" (if the bulb, like a refrigerator, is never turned off). You can push a button to envelop your groceries in a cold blast of air that is supposed to chill food quickly when you bring it home from the grocery store and is said to be more efficient than letting the appliance run and run as it cools warm food. The refrigerator should be available this month, and the 22-cubic-foot model will be priced at about $1,699.

"Water and energy saving are all the rage," said Brett Oleson, who was demonstrating Maytag's front-loading Neptune washer and dryer. "With the energy crisis, we can't keep these in the stores."

The Neptune uses 20 fewer gallons of water per load than a typical top-loader. It also offers wash and dry cycles of the same length, a response to consumer complaints about the inconvenience of standing around with loads of wet wash, waiting and waiting for the dryer to finish its cycle. The wash cycle is extended slightly to allow the washer to spin the clothes longer and extract 30 percent more water than a standard machine, so the drying cycle can be shorter. The dryer's sensors end the cycle when the clothes are dry, and a "delay start" feature can be used to run the dryer at off-peak hours, when energy demands are low.

[Photo: Sears] Sears Kenmore Elite side-by-side refrigerator, left, is said to use the same amount of electricity as a 75-watt light bulb and can flash-cool food.

Maytag was handing out free bottled water at its booth and had stacked up the cardboard cartons it came in to illustrate its point: At eight loads a week, saving 23 gallons per load, that's 736 gallons saved per month. A bottle of Dasani water, anyone?

Frigidaire showed a dishwasher that uses only 6 gallons of water and can use even less if you choose the option of washing only the top rack or the bottom rack, a handy option if you're washing only cups and mugs or only plates.

Appliance manufacturers are still playing with technology and, in some cases, getting it out of their systems, which cannot happen too soon. Frigidaire is refining its prototype Electrolux "screen fridge," which provides Internet access, a place to leave family messages, a way to order groceries online and a built-in video camera for personal messaging, among other things.

"The refrigerator is the center of the kitchen, and we want it to be the center of the home," Mitchell said, a one-stop control center for the household. And there is something to be said for making maximum use of the one family appliance that is always on.

[Photo: GE] GE Profile dishwasher does a load in 45 minutes, half the standard time.

But technology had run amok at the LG Electronics booth, where its $10,000 Web-enabled refrigerator lets you watch TV, download music from the Internet, leave messages, send and read e-mail, keep track of food supplies, order groceries online, conduct videoconferences, make two-way video phone calls and take still photographs (that's me, smiling and waving in the photo at left). Aiieee! Stop!

The same company showed a washing machine linked to the Internet that "downloads algorithms," a company representative told me seriously, to determine exactly how to wash your clothes.

People, please! Enough already! A nation that cannot program a VCR and can't master the intricacies of downloading a file is not holding its breath for these appliances.

Save us energy and save us time, but save us from appliances that solve problems we don't have.

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