Appliances
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March 26, 2019
How Cleaning Your Dryer Lint Filter Could Save You Money
The lint filter inside your dryer is a small component that is very easy to overlook, but it could actually help you achieve some significant time and money savings. Cleaning your lint filter is a simple task, but regular cleaning is vital for an efficient home. The Potential Problems of Having a Dirty Lint Filter While it is easy to overlook, your filter can have a significant impact on dryer performance. If your filter is allowed to become clogged with lint and debris, it can create some potential problems including: Blocked Airflow: The lint or fluffy residue from your towels, bedding, and clothing accumulates inside the dryer and collects in the filter. Unfortunately, this lint doesn’t just disappear, and when the filter becomes full, it restricts airflow, blocking the heated air. This lack of free flowing air means that not only will your clothing and other items take longer to dry, but there is also a risk of your dryer overheating. Increased Energy Usage: Additionally, the restricted airflow will contribute to using more energy to dry your items. As your dryer is forced to work harder and harder, it will use more and more energy, so you’ll be faced with higher energy bills. Motor Strain: The additional power needed and longer drying periods not only uses more energy, but places the dryer components under increasing strain. One component, particularly at risk, is the dryer motor. As your dryer is working harder, you may find that your dryer motor is vulnerable -
March 11, 2019
How to Choose the Right Appliance Finish to Complement Your Kitchen
A kitchen with no major appliances is basically a blank canvas. When you install new appliances, you can add more character to your kitchen, but this is not an easy decision. Each appliance finish has different characteristics and will bring a different ambiance to your kitchen. So, here we’ll explore the most popular appliance finishes to help you to choose the right one to complement your kitchen design. Contemporary Stainless Steel Stainless steel has become the go-to appliance finish for many homeowners. This type of finish goes well with everything, carrying the power to make any kitchen cabinets feel more modern and new. Today, stainless steel appliances tend to be fingerprint resistant, making them a great choice for homes with small children that may leave little finger marks all over. Stainless steel can add contemporary sophistication to any kitchen decor, providing a safe option for your kitchen decor. Bold Black If you want to create dramatic appeal in your kitchen aesthetic, bold black or black stainless steel could be the perfect choice for your appliances. This is an intense hue that can be paired with almost any other color to create a vivid contrast, particularly with white. If you want to make a stylish statement, black is undoubtedly a bold choice, but if you have a smaller kitchen, it may not be the right option for you. Having a great deal of black in smaller areas can make the space look crowded and even smaller. This finish is best avoided -
February 27, 2019
Tips to Find the Best Laundry Pair for Your Home
A washer and dryer combo is a vital resource for any home. A busy home can require multiple loads of laundry each week or even each day, so you need to know that you can rely on your washing machine and dryer. So, here are some tips to help you find a pair of laundry appliances that will work best in your home. Match Styles from a Manufacturer The simplest way to ensure that your new washing machine and dryer will work together is to purchase a matching pair from the same manufacturer. Not only will your new appliances be likely to be equipped with complementary functions, making them easier to use, but they are also likely to have a similar appearance to fit the decor of your laundry room. Look for Stackable Models When you have limited space inside your home, you should consider stackable laundry appliances. While stackable washers and dryers are generally smaller, they provide excellent space saving in laundry rooms or small apartments. Additionally, stackable laundry appliances are usually designed to work in concert as a single unit, even if they are actually technically separate devices. Consider Function Controls Like many other appliances around your home, laundry appliances have developed a great deal in recent years. For example, many modern washer and dryers for sale feature a Wi-Fi connection that allows you to control and monitor your appliances remotely. Whether this is a feature that appeals to you will depend on how tech-savvy you want your -
January 28, 2019
Important Features to Look For When Purchasing a New Refrigerator
Food storage methods have evolved a great deal in recent years. The advances in technology have created a variety of refrigerator options, so refrigeration is now not just about keeping perishables fresh. With the hundreds of features to choose from, buying a new fridge can cause a great deal of consumer confusion. So, here we’ll explore some important features you should look out for when you’re shopping for a new refrigerator. The Right Door Style Fridge opening options have significantly changed over the years, making it easier to choose the right door style to suit your kitchen. Side by side models allow you to get access to certain foods without opening the whole refrigerator. French doors offer similar benefits and make organizing easier. If you want quick access to your frozen foods, you may prefer a traditional top or bottom freezer door. Door Alarms If you have toddlers or young children in your household, safety should be a consideration for your purchase. Some models have door locks and alarm systems that will alert you if the door has been left open or if a child may be playing with the refrigerator. This type of alarm can save energy, as the internal temperature is reduced if the door is left open. Additionally, you may wish to choose a refrigerator with a door lock, so you don’t need to worry about little ones spilling drinks or getting into the treats without permission. Adjustable, Sliding Shelves There are a lot of considerations when -
January 14, 2019
Design Tips to Create a Chef Worthy Home Kitchen
Whether you simply take pride in creating meals to wow your friends and family or have some serious culinary chops, there are some tips to consider when designing and renovating a kitchen. While a basic kitchen may be all that’s needed if you could burn a boiled egg, if you want a chef worthy kitchen, there are some elements you’ll need to include to impress any guests at your dinner parties. The Work Triangle When you plan your kitchen layout, you’re likely to be aware of the work triangle. This involves having your sink, refrigerator and cooking surface at the three points of a triangle. While it may be challenging to create this geometric shape in some kitchens, to maximize functionality and aid movement, you should try to incorporate the work triangle into your new kitchen. Double Sinks Even if you have a fantastic dishwasher, two sinks can be extremely beneficial in a chef worthy kitchen. Sinks are a crucial element of any kitchen and having a separate sink to stack used pots, leaving one free to clean fruit and vegetables or drain pasta can make preparing any meal easier. Keeping a dedicated sink for meal prep and one for clean up will aid the flow in your kitchen. Your sink should have high faucets and a deep bowl, so you can avoid water splashing as you’re doing your meal prep. Lots of Counter Space As a keen home chef, you’re likely to be doing a variety of food preparation -
January 08, 2019
Exploring the Advantages of Bottom Freezer Refrigerators
When refrigerators first began to appear in homes, they were equipped with a single door, and there wasn’t even an option of a freezer. Once the freezer started to become in demand, there was the standard option of a French door style with the fridge on one side and the freezer on the other or the freezer on top. Today, the bottom freezer has become an increasingly popular design. This provides a single wide door or two french doors for refrigeration with the freezer in one or two drawers underneath. So, here we’ll explore the advantages of this type of design and why it may be the right choice for your kitchen. Putting Your Favorite Foods in Easy Reach In most households, frozen food is used less frequently, while the refrigerator door seems to be continually opened and closed. So, putting the freezer at the bottom leaves you lots of room for all your fresh and chilled food at eye level, preventing the need to kneel down to get access to your vegetable drawer. This can be invaluable when you are trying to prepare dinner with fresh produce and avoid items being forgotten below eye level to spoil. Double Width Design A side by side freezer and refrigerator can be limited in terms of the cooling and frozen capacity, as each side occupies only a portion of the total appliance width. So another advantage to this type of design is that it offers a double width fridge portion. This makes -
December 17, 2018
Five Great Ways to Save Energy in Your Kitchen
Many homeowners are concerned with having a greener home, and when it comes to saving energy, the kitchen is one of the most important areas to concentrate your efforts. Your kitchen is likely to be in use throughout the day, with appliances to make our lives easier. So, here are five great ways to save energy without compromising your kitchen functionality. Upgrade Your Cooktop to Induction Induction technology magnets to conduct heat through your cooking vessel directly. This differs from conventional cooktops that use thermal conduction to focus the heat on the cooktop burner.In simple terms, magnetic induction features a coil mounted under the cooking surface of each burner. This generates a magnetic field that is turned on when you turn on the stove. As you place a ferromagnetic pot or pan on the burner, heat is delivered directly to the cookware. This provides a more concentrated heat, where there is no heat loss from escape as you would find with a traditional burner. According to Department of Energy statistics, induction cooktops can save a great deal of energy as they are 12% more efficient compared to a smooth top electric range or cooktop at heating food. While they tend to be more costly initially and you cannot use Teflon pans, induction cooktops offer considerable energy savings in the long term. Update and Stock Your Refrigerator Refrigerators are at the top of the list of most energy-using appliances in the typical home. This is because your refrigerator is continuously running -
November 19, 2018
How Much Dishwasher Detergent Should You Use?
These days a dishwasher is considered an essential home appliance. Most homes are equipped with a dishwasher, but this doesn’t mean that everyone is enjoying sparkling clean dishes. Although there are a lot of factors that can affect dishwasher’s performance, one of the most important is the detergent. Using too little detergent will leave your dishes dirty, but too much can also create problems. So here we’ll delve a little deeper into how much detergent you should be using to get those sparkling clean results. How Old is Your Appliance? The first consideration for determining the correct amount of dishwasher detergent is the age of your appliance. If you’ve recently upgraded from an old machine, you’re likely to have experienced some issues if you’ve not adjusted your detergent levels. Modern dishwashers are designed to be as energy and water efficient as possible, so they use far less water than older models. This reduced water use means that you also need far less soap to complete the task. In the late 1970s when dishwashers had started to become very popular, the average model used approximately 15 gallons of water per cycle. This decreased to between six and 10 gallons per average cycle in the 2000s, but has dropped again with today’s dishwashers that can use as little as 2 gallons. This makes it easy to see how using the same amount of detergent that you’ve gotten used to using in your 1980s model is sure to create a problem in a -
October 22, 2018
How to Make the Best Use of Your Refrigerator Crisper Drawers
If you want to keep your produce fresher for longer, you need to make the best use of your refrigerator crisper drawers. When you open your refrigerator door, the drawers may look like nothing particularly special. In fact, some may even use the drawers to throw things that don’t properly fit on the shelves such as apples or even beer. Before you dismiss your crisper drawers, you need to understand that these drawers are not merely drawers, but when used properly can protect all your produce from spoiling. The Two Types of Crisper Having drawers can be a good storage option, but controlling them makes them an even greater feature. If your refrigerator is equipped with humidity settings, that are usually a small vent or simple toggle to change between high and low humidity, you can tailor the conditions in your crisper drawer to create the optimum conditions for different types of produce. If your refrigerator doesn’t have humidity controls, you will have a high humidity crisper by default. Food preservation experts appreciate that a great deal of the humidity inside crisper drawers is derived from the produce itself. The humidity settings refer to the space left in the drawers that is open to airflow. Low humidity drawers introduce airflow into the drawer, while high humidity settings close off the airflow completely. Both of these provide an advantage; it just depends on what produce you want to store. Putting Everything in its Place There is a general rule of thumb -
October 09, 2018
Do You Really Need to Set Your Freezer to 0º?
Refrigerator and freezer temperatures can be tricky. Often the first sign that your appliance is malfunctioning is that it doesn’t seem to be cool enough. With many homeowners now focused on saving energy and having a greener home, is it really necessary to set your freezer to 0º? The FDA Stance According to the FDA, refrigerators should be set at or below 40º, while freezers should remain at 0º. Even energy conservation groups and sites adhere to this, with many advocating that while a refrigerator set 10º colder than necessary could be using 25 percent more energy, the appliance should be kept at 35 to 38º. So, with so many legitimate sources promoting the 0º stance, is there still reason to consider otherwise? There have been articles in the media that suggest that it is okay to adjust the temperature of both the refrigerator and freezer while keeping your food safe. In fact, when you look back at studies conducted in the 1940’s, 50’s and 60’s, these temperatures were brought in to maintain food safety in the appliances of those eras. The temperature of 40º was chosen for refrigerators to minimize the potential for bacterial growth. This number continues to be important in the food industry today, even with the flash freezing and newer technologies today. Freezing temperatures are a little more complicated. There is a science behind obtaining the best temperature to slow or stop enzymes while preserving nutrients. Enzymes are responsible for the ripening and eventual rotting of
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