apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

The cord looks like it would be easy to trip on, bringing down the board. Not sure how kid friendly it would be either :(

its my DREAM to have my own washer and dryer!

thats a really cool ironing board.

Coldstone, I have to disagree—the cord feature at the base of the ironing board is ingenious. Much better than having a cord from the iron across the room at waist height into an outlet 9 inches from the floor. Also, since when is any kind of ironing kid-friendly?

Agree with Aaron.
All irons and free standing ironing boards are not kid friendly.

This is an illustration of my point wrt to that simple living discussion a few weeks ago.

This is an example of the overconsumption that makes hubby and I gladly aware of our economy. You do not need to engineer the crap out of everyday utility objects in the name of design. I'm all for things looking nice. But the niceness of this is ruined when you look and realize that someone spent $5k on a washer/dryer. That's not money well spent to me, at least not when it could build 1/2 a school in Africa, and all it does for me is a little laundry.

I mean, really, a "drying cabinet"? I have a drying cabinet already, its called the bathroom when I set up the drying rack. I don't need a new appliance. My clothes aren't museum pieces. They were designed to be dried. This is for people with unlimited resources and no idea of what to spend money on.

Even if I could buy into this price point, I would like it better if all I saw was knobless cabinet doors hiding my "laundry center". The fact that it is designed to let the viewer know what it is ruins it for me.

A

I love this! Except my current apartment could not handle it. And not for lack of space but for lack of (sufficient) ELECTRICITY!

"The drying cabinet runs at 1,500 watts for quick, energy-efficient loads."

With my entire apartment on one 15 amp circuit-breaker I would be drying my clothes in the dark! I think I'd also have to unplug my refrigerator just to turn this thing on. LOL--the charm of old townhouse wiring!

A—
While I agree with your comments that this is ridiculously priced etc., it is important to note that this is coming from a design magazine. Good design will eventually filter down through different price points—if the design is bad or unnecessary, the product will rarely be developed or incorporated into everyday life for the common person. Maybe someday all the schools in Africa will have drying cabinets...

A lives in a yurt made out of 80% post-consumer recycled tofu.

Why is it that people always attack expensive design? I personally wouldn't spend that much on a laundry system, but that's just me. It doesn't make the people who buy this mindless consumers pouring their money into some gaping corporate maw.

That ironing board is a splendid example of making a basic product much more dicey to maintain. Electrical failure on a normal iron basically means you go out and buy another $30 iron. What happens if the electrical wiring goes kablooey on your high-design ironing board? You have to find an electrician who can fix it -- and I'm assuming there's an easy way to take it apart -- or you're replacing an entire designer item. (If you're worried about people tripping over a normal cord, put the ironing board next to the wall outlet. Voila! Nothing to trip over.)

The drying cupboard thing, I can at least see the purpose of, if your apartment has the right layout or lack of ventilation.

Actually, Max, if I had my druthers, I'd have found a big parcel within view of the Atlantic ocean and connected two or three permanent yurts together as a summer house (I know, permanent yurt is an oxymoron, but there are some rather substantial yurts these days). Someday, Max, I'll have you over for drinks on my yurt porch.

I am not "attacking" this merely because it is expensive. I mean, there are many of us, myself included, that would pay $5k (actually, I think the total on this before delivery and installation is only $4k) for good meaningful design - after all, people in apartments hire architects. And there are many people who find the therapeutic effects of laundry worth this sort of dough. But this is laundry, folks. This is apartment therapy, not house on steroids therapy. And basically, I don't think this is good design - unless the quality they were going for is design that tells the viewer "I spent a lot of money on my laundry equipment."

I have previously commented about the post WWII design capacity change, wherein the quality of a design or an object and its desirability is supplemented by its replace-ability, e.g., new shapes of car headlights and bumpers that make the three year old model immediately ancient. This is designed for the people who need the latest "thing" -- this washer/dryer/"drying cabinet" doesn't really do anything that much better than what you can get from sears for under $1k. This is like a bentley compared to a volkswagen. No one really needs a bentley. They can want a bentley, but then they are announcing they spend $300k on a car, and that's sort of overkill unless you are in the richest echelon and then you don't care (nor do you do laundry).

I find it ironic that the type of person who buys this sort of thing is probably also the type that employs someone to do their laundry; and has a laundry room in which this will be installed, so that no one else will see it. Its not like a mantel. But I guess, in that sense, it is all for personal satisfaction, unless that room is on the cocktail party path.

A

its my DREAM to have my own drying cabinet!
I will put it in my yurt.

nothing like a bit of hyperbole to make a point.
Ok so now you say it is not $5000 after all but $4K. List price is more like $3.5K though.

You say this is not good design but I disagree. This is the first time I have seen an integrated washer/dryer combination that blends into standard sized kitchen cabinets without having to hide them behind doors or in a separate laundry room.

One of the (small) pains in using our w/d is that it is behind a door. It would be much easier when your hands are full to be able to open the door to the appliance - much like you do a dishwasher or oven for example - without having to open another door first. No big deal? Well why don't we hide dishwashers, ovens and fridges behind another door also?

I like the look of built in appliances such as Gaggenau ovens and this is the first w/d that I have seen that follows that aesthetic or at least is on the right path. You simply cannot integrate a maytag/fridgidaire/whirpool w/d into kitchen cabinets as you can these Asko units. I would pay more for an integrated fridge such as a subzero (which I do own) and would pay a similar premium for an integrated w/d. In fact the premium is probably less when compared to the Maytag neptune w/d that we had before.

I agree that paying a premium for bad design is foolhardy but I disagree that this is bad design. It is actually a great new design idea and execution.

wende, I get your point but how many of us have had an extension cord go bad? Or the power cord on any electrical appliance? Same thing with this board. You've basically got an extension cord in there. Nothing more than that.

I went back and double-checked, as you're usually about 18 steps ahead of me on anything electrical, jamie pup... and it's an extension cord *outlet* on the foot. The inside is wired however it's wired, but they don't say. It *could* just be an extension cable that's easily accessible and fixable -- which would make it a better product in my eyes -- but they don't say, and I can't tell from the photos. Accessibility would matter here.

Jamie, Pup,
I think we have to agree to disagree on this. When I looked at it on the asko site, I just see cabinets with knobs and indents. I think integrated washer dryers have been available in Europe for a long time, maybe its just a very high end custom model here. I think you'll find these in the back pages of Ideal Home. I think Miele and even whirlpool make front loading, squared off cabinet sized units.

When I priced it, I found the w/ds were 1500 and the drying cabinet 1000 and that's not including shipping or installation. I didn't shop around.

You can get integrated washer dryers in Europe, and when you do a kitchen there, you order the matching covers for everything. For this type of item, the integration is a metal panel that latches on the front of the appliance, and holds the matching cover. I suspect that's what this will be as well. That seems pretty standard, not new.

Thank you A for your considered response.

I am familiar with European products, from coming from the UK and buying Euro mags. In fact I bought the Italian Design Diffusion News yesterday because they had a feature on the latest kitchens. I am planning in my head at least what our next kitchen remodel will look like so the $30 for this was worth it because I rarely see US mags that show kitchens that I like.

Anyway, I think integrated was the wrong term. I am aware of the panels that mount on an articulated fixture and we have one on our Miele dishwasher. This is not what I am talking about. I am talking about an exposed yet integrated into the structure look like the ovens in this pic that I scanned in this morning (bottom pic):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/64483597@N00/198812536/

That to me is a better look than a hidden behind a panel look. The units obviously have to look good enough to be on display and that's why I think these Asko units are headed in the right direction. Not perfect but the right idea and one that I have not yet seen in Europe or the US. If anyone has pictures of w/ds with that look I would obviously be interested in seeing them.

Who has had an immobile extension cord burn out on them? It's about the same chance as a wall outlet going.

The prices on the washer dryer are not that bad. I've seen plenty of compact stacked systems that cost $2000 or more. A drying cabinet would actually be pretty cool as I could dry all the stuff I hang overnight in my bathroom in an hour. It's what every yurt needs, right next to the clivus multrum.

I have been truly desperate for a drying cabinet forever - I hate all that lingerie hanging around the yurt.

Jamie Pup,
Articulated is way too big a word for me, but the euro style mieles have a decorative panel that fits into a metal panel that fits onto the front of the unit, if you want to make the unit match your panelling. It is the same type of structure, but different sizes, whether its a washer, dryer (most use the combo w/d) or dishwasher. I can't see flickr now, will look later.

My girlfriend put slide in doors on her laundry closet, with a stackable miele set. Looks great, works well, doors are enough to cover the minor noise. The closet opens in a hallway, though, which makes how it fits into the decorating scheme slightly less significant. It just looks like closet doors.

A

A
I agree with your sentiments about over-consumption and needless redesign/overdesign of all sorts of stuff to keep the economy going. Then I had a look at the Asko website and thought, well, if I did actually need a new washer and/or dryer these are at least Energy Star rated. I would be willing to pay more for appliances that use less energy, but I know not everybody can afford that outlay. A drying cabinet though - I just can't understand how that can be eco-friendly (even a regular dryer is a stretch there).

A, that is what we have on our Miele dishwasher.
The only reason that it is articulated and not fixed in position is that the foront panel needs to lift sighlty when the door is open to stop the bottom edge from hitting the fixed bottom of the unit.

Anyay, what you and I are talking about when it comes to those panels on the Mieles et al, is not the type of look I meant. You'll see it when you check out the flickr pic.

I purchased an Asko single-unit washer-dryer 2 years ago (model 1821), having successfully used combo units in Europe.

It's a high-maintenance bear, although it fits nicely under the counter where my old dishwasher was.

That said, Asko's dishwashers are highly rated.


Susan

Jamie Pup,
I checked out the picture. I like that sleek look. I like that the handles are all in the same style. I like that simplicity. Which is absent in the asko, which has too many knobs and controls and indentations, but I sgree its heading in that direction.

That kitchen in the pic is fab.