Bad Microwave Controls

I am glad someone finally called this out. I worked in restaurants of an on for 10 years before the pro look was cool, and never did I cook on a Viking range!! That being said, hell I would love to have one in my house!

J

Sorry if that came off as nit picky. I just assumed they actually made commercial ovens, and I love how they have been able to craft an image so successfully.

One day I will have a Viking or similar gas range. At $10,000 or so though it’s pretty crazy.

I just spent 6k for 3 appliances + wall mounted hood.

R

Fwiw it’s also pretty interesting once you start to look at the corporations behind the brand. For example Ikea appliances are made by whirlpool who makes everything from maytag (cheapo) to kitchen aid (more expensive) to jenn aire (premium) and a few other higher level brands. The ikea hood for example looks almost exactly the same as the kitchen aid one (and better specs) but is $300 less msrp.

R

Yo!: great catch. I’ve used Viking stoves in mood boards but never knew they were residential oriented.

It’s funny you pay an 80% premium for something without bells and whistles…

Of course, the great thing about Viking and similar top-end brands is that their controls are much more accurate. My crusty beige gas range at home has 2 settings. Low and Inferno. Guessing where the sweet spot is with Stainless pans is a risky adventure.

As far as higher end residential stuff, I’ve been impressed with GE’s high end series. You still end up with random buttons, but the burners and ovens are great.

Also, on the IKEA tip, I’m glad you noticed that their made for IKEA by other companies. I think the fact that they do that speaks to what companies like KitchenAid, etc think the American (North American) public wants in terms of kitchen gadgetry. The IKEA stuff is seen as European, so they pare down the options and give it a clean simple look. Something that would probably sell well at Sears.

Do you mean NOT sell well at Sears? I think the middle America consumer would probably not like the Ikea stuff. Funny how that is actually that Ikea is a mass retailer and yet is quite effectively not in line with mass market aesthetics, tending to more modern and Euro.

R

No, I think it would sell at Sears if they actually sold it there. Of course, Sears, Home Depot, Lowes, etc. probably wouldn’t take the risk.

NURB: I have no faith in big box retailer buyers. They are like a gang of uneducated people suddenly given the keys to the castle. “Of course we want this one, it’s what our incredibly stupid red-neck clientele wants.” Uh, ok.

I see the Viking success as symptomatic of a world of products that have out of control function creep. iPod/iPhone/iPad on one end, Viking on the other. They are really the same solution for different markets.

I have no doubt the Ikea microwave would never sell at Sears or the big box stores. They offer such ugly, traditional crap, it’s almost unbelievable. For example, do you know that they don’t sell a single hollow interior door that doesn’t have fake recessed panels and “trim”. They don’t even have plain doors!

I recently spent some time at Home Depot as I’m selling my loft and was looking to switch out some things like light fixtures, door handles, etc. that I’ve upgraded and want to take with me, and I was literally walking the aisles saying “crap, crap, ugly, ugly…” It actually makes me kinda sad for humanity in general that either people like such garbage or they have no choice as someone someplace decides that is what people should have.

R

I can’t think of a consumer electronic/ appliance shop that lets you use the tv or microwave or whatever before buying. The sales experience is a feature list, or a sales person rattling off a feature list ( or not being able to, many a time my half an hour research into an appliance has given me more background than the sales person), or them telling me thats what they own, which depending on the person I take with a grain of salt. Most shops have a wall of TVs on but that’s about it. I bought a PVR a little while ago and wanted to view the remote before I purchased- they reacted if I asked them if I could take off my pants.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4649234n&tag=mncol;lst;5

The consumer technology boom has created the need for the “Geek Squad”, an indispensable tech support company for those whose products break down, as Steve Kroft found in 2007.

I watched this 60 minutes segment for a marketing course. Electronic/appliance stores a huge social failure. I’m convinced they exist because they exist. Of course, we’ve been shown an alternative. Look at Apple and the Genius Bar.

The reason that Home Depot/whatever still sells crap is because of contractors and the alternative is so difficult:

  1. Contractors want the cheapest thing. They know that if the home owner is not satisfied, they’ll call up and pay even more to replace that horrible door that they just installed when they built the place. The construction market is set up to encourage poor craftsmanship, high prices and horrible service. Read “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest” for more details.

  2. What is the alternative? Small boutiques who offer recovered used building materials? Hard to find high-end boutiques? Not everyone has money or time to find these things. They shouldn’t need to though. A $1 tile or a $30 tile is pretty much the same thing.

Both of these things could be overcome by someone with deep pockets targeting these unsatisfied customers. But, it’s a risk. It’s different. It’s untested. Just like the Genius Bar was. In fact, the first year, no one used the Genius Bar. That’s just how bad customer service is today, we can’t believe that it’s offered. When it is put in front of us, we just walk passed dumbfounded.

I bought my washer and dryer at a Maytag store (while they were still around) and they had all models hooked up in house with utilities. You could actually bring in a load of laundry and wash and dry it yourself to see what it was like.

They also had a full kitchen with almost all of their appliances hooked up to test out. The usually baked cookies… so that made you want to buy something.

Pretty cool idea, but again, it was only Maytag appliances. If Sears, or Home Depot or something did that, the machines would probably be broken in a weekend and probably couldn’t control the customers enough to make it worth while.

ya that whole customer service thing worked steller for Maytag.

Bingo. Hence the “while they were still around” comment…

Was refreshing while it lasted.

I was cooking my lunch and thought of this old article by Don Norman:

http://www.jnd.org/dn.mss/simplicity_is_highly_overrated.html

Why such expensive toasters? Why all the buttons and controls on steering wheels and rear-view mirrors? Because they appear to add features that people want to have. They make a difference at the time of sale, which is when it matters most.

Why is this? Why do we deliberately build things that confuse the people who use them?

Answer: Because the people want the features. Because simplicity is a myth whose time has past, if it ever existed.

I found a good little Microwave:


Easy, intuitive, good feedback:


Put it behind a stainless steel facade and a Euro brandname, demand curve skyrockets.

Nice and simple! Does that “Light Up Dial” graphic scrub off? :wink:

You could do a lot worse than go to Ikea for some rebranded Whirlpool stuff…

I’ve been thinking about the Discount Big Box shopping experience, lately.

Lowes and Home Depot are doing ok but walking into a wherehouse environment primes a consumer to be pragmatic, they want you to feel like to made the smartest descision not influenced by emotions. not finding designerly appliances shouldn’t be a surprise.

IKEA sells a few thousand major appliances out of each store a year, dismal by comparison. They are looking to bring in US style appliances. Middle America is what it is.

Sears, the original one-stop-shopping store is fading fast, Kmart’s takeover failed to reinvent that value proposition.
HH Greg and Best Buy use the same idea, only not so much of everything under the sun, how much longer they’re around is anyones guess.

Today’s home page post from Carmine Gallo on the Apple store’s emphasis on “not selling stuff” is probably pointing at the problem…