I can come up with features missing from three appliances I otherwise love:
1.) My stove is the type with the knobs on the back (raised backboard). As a kid, our stoves always had a flat top surface to that backboard, allowing my Mother to keep useful items up there, like common spices, toothpicks, etc… (one being big enough for a vase with all her cooking spoons and spatulas).
My current stove has the backboard, but it’s shaped and rounded. Sure, it looks really nice, but I really miss keeping those useful items up there. Now I have to use counter space for it.
2.) George Foreman grill. I don’t know how I ever got along without one. And at something like $20, I really can’t complain, yet still the fact that the hot plates aren’t removable really, really annoys me. I’m frankly starting to hate using it because of the paper towel wasted to clean it afterward, and the subsequent mess it makes on my counter while wiping the grease off the cooking surface. It’d be so nice to remove the plates and scrape them over the trash, then rinse in the sink.
I’m thinking of replacing it soon with one from a maker that incorporates this.
3.) My Vizio flatscreen tv. The base it pretty large and doesn’t rotate. So if I want to turn the tv a bit depending on lighting, I have to lift and turn the whole thing (instead I just grab and turn, probably weakening the base in time). And since the base is so big, I risk knocking stuff off the stand.
Couldn’t a cost-effective swivel be incorporated? But I guess to make it withstand use, the bearing would have to be beefy and have a friction surface to keep it from being too easy to turn.
You have to bump up a model or two on the George Foreman to get the removable plates. Mine has them. Every 15 or 20 uses I toss them in the dish washer.
I have a Cuisinart pressure cooker I really like. One feature of pressure cooking is that often you let the cooker release the pressure naturally for a certain amount of time, to continue cooking, and then release the remaining pressure. My cooker automatically goes to a warm function when the time under pressure is complete, allowing for natural pressure release.
I wish the cooker would start a count up timer as soon as the cooking under pressure timer was complete. That way I could start timing the natural release time without using another timer. It would also help when I miss the cooking timer going to zero, I would know immediately how long it’s been naturally releasing.
I wouldn’t say it’s a great appliance, but my otherwise serviceable toaster oven doesn’t have any sort of indicator light so you know when it’s at the set temperature.
Does that mean you can’t tell when bread becomes toast?
After a power outage, I have to set both the time AND date on my microwave before I can use it. That’s not really a missing feature - more of an added annoyance someone had to go out of the way to do. It’s not like I have a program mode that says “start at 2:30 on Monday”.
I wouldn’t be surprised if this is a safety feature of sorts. A few toothpicks dropped into the sautee pan or plastic spoons knocked on to a hot burner might make litigious people think their clumsiness is the fault of the stove manufacturer.
And, your spices should be stored in a cool, dry place
My bronze-age dishwasher went to join the Choir Invisible about six months ago. After I replaced it I found that the dishes are significantly cleaner, not to mention the fact that one can now hold a conversation in a normal voice when the thing is running.
HOWEVER, I still have no [expletive deleted] idea how long the thing is going to run. Digital controls are nice, granted; but would it have broken the bank to provide a digital display (or even a row of LEDs) to indicate where the contraption is in the cycle and/or time remaining?
Back in prehistoric times, my “best” VCR had all the bells and whistles. However, the counter (on both the LED and onscreen displays) was only visible when it was in play (or record) mode. If you were fast-forwarding or rewinding, it helpfully changed to either “FFW,” or “RWD,” because, hey, who cares how far along you actually are when you’re fast-forwarding?
Now, in the GLORIOUS FUTURE, my little WDHDTV Media player (which is the very best thing ever) lacks a time search feature. Sure, it will offer to pick up where you left off last time, (if that’s what you want to do) but it seems a bit ridiculous that you can’t open a movie up and immediately seek to 3:20:00 without fast-forwarding through the first three hours. It sometimes makes me feel like I have a tiny, sleek, futuristic video player that uses some sort of linear media… like… say… tape. :smack:
My oven light is either on or off and the only way to set it one way or the other is with a button on the stove. Other ovens I’ve had would light up when I opened the door. Not this one. Not a huge thing, but a royal pain in the patoot!
First, all microwaves should have the program to schedule later cooking. Some do and some don’t. Fortunately, I have one of each.
Secondly, and tongue in cheek, I would like to see a “reverse microwave.” This would be a box that slowed all the molecules down so something could be frozen or slushed in seconds or minutes.
Why can’t I turn the sound off on my microwave oven? I don’t need to hear the beeping of the buttons I press. If I’m trying to not wake up the household when I use it, I should be able to mute it.
I was looking at cars this past week. And while looking at the cars, I noticed that they didn’t bother putting key holes in either the passenger door or trunk. Yeah, I get it that every car has automatic key fob thingies now. So for the first 5 years of car ownership, this won’t be a problem. Then the key fob thingie will stop working or the batteries will die and you’ll want to get something out from the passenger side and this will BUG THE SHIT out of you.
I hate TVs that require you to use the remote control to access the menu system. The “Universal” remotes typically don’t run the menu system very well. As a fall-back position, there ought to be a way to use the channel up/down buttons on the front of the TV as a menu access mechanism.
Mine has them too. Also digital temp and time controllers, and an audible alarm that announces when desired temp has been reached, when it’s been warming up for five minutes (a little redundancy there), and when the countdown cooking timer has reached “zero minutes,” which is useful because it doesn’t turn off at the end of the requested time.
I recently bought a cuisinart electric grill. The plates are easily removable, and that’s an improvement over the Foreman Grill. The back side of the plates make a great griddle for pancakes and eggs. Front side is for grilling.
I wish it had a basic timer. These new grills cook both sides at once. Even 20 seconds can mean the difference between medium (almost pink) and well done steaks. I set the microwave timer. Dash across the room and put the meat on the grill. Dash across the room again and hit start on the microwave. Then wait for the timer to go “beep beep”. Yes, it’s a PITA.
A timer on the grill doesn’t need to know the exact time. All it needs to do is beep after 7 minutes
