We’ve been looking at a lot of appliances and doing a lot of research. Modern industrial looking appliances have been commonly available for sometime now so this has been one area where it hasn’t been a challenge to find the styles we like. Instead we’ve focus a lot of our efforts on finding the most energy efficient appliances functional appliances. Using the Energy Star rating system has been a helpful starting point but the more I dig into the subject there is still is a great deal of difference from appliance to appliance and fuel type to fuel type and their greater impact on the environment.

One of the things we decide that we liked was the idea of having a full size fridge and full size freezer in the kitchen. When I looked into it I could only find one with an Energy Star rating (Sears Kenmore Pro) yet the energy consumption of these seemed to be lower than many of the standard fridge freezer combos featuring the Energy Star certification. I started asking some of the product reps and found out that not all appliances have been rated like those made by Sub-Zero, Electrolux and Sears, Kenmore Pro. According to several of the reps some of these are so efficient that they actually use less energy in one year than a standard 100watt light bulb. ( I don’t know if that was just a sales line but if it’s not it’s pretty impressive to me).
Before learning more bout appliances, I used to think that there were basically two options when it came to cooktops, gas or electric but there is an alternative options within electric that I had never heard of — induction. Although these are relatively common in Europe (I’m not even surprised when I hear this anymore) and with professional chefs they have struggled to catch on in the U.S.. Induction uses a powerful, high-frequency electromagnet, with the electromagnetism generated by sophisticated electronics in the “element” that then transfers energy to the pot or pan. What’s most incredible to me at least is that it heats the pots and pans but once the pot or pan is removed the the cooktop is not hot to the touch (sounds a little like that might have got you in trouble, oh say in the 1600’s). As well Induction cooktops are from 80–90% efficient vs. standard electric at roughly 50–60% or gas at 30–55%. Induction also has the precision of heating that most people associate only with gas. It’s only major draw back, as I can see it is that it only works with ferrous metals (ones that can hold a  magnetic charge). I plan to read a little more about these and a few other technologies before we make our decision but as it stands now this along with the efficiency, free standing fridge and freezer are both on my list.

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 16th, 2007 at 12:00 am and is filed under Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.