Looking for a Little Privacy This Valentine's Day? GE Monogram Privacy Glass Wine Reserve and Beverage Center Hide Wines and Beverages

Business Wire, Feb 2, 2005

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Giving your valentine wine and roses this year? Why not add some privacy to the mix? Now you see them. Now you don't. The GE (NYSE: GE) Monogram(R) Wine Reserve and Beverage Center are available with a privacy glass door that gives consumers the option of displaying their wines and beverages or hiding them behind opaque glass.

With a liquid crystal privacy glass door, consumers can now locate the beverage center or wine reserve anywhere in the home without distracting contents getting in the way.

These popular refrigeration modules already contained two layers of UV resistant glass, virtually eliminating ultraviolet light from harming valuable wine. The new privacy glass incorporates a liquid crystal laminate between the two sheets of existing glass.

Liquid crystals within the laminate manage light flow through the glass door. In an uncharged state liquid crystals are randomly set and block rays of light from passing through the window. When the privacy display is inactivated with an electrical charge, the crystals or pixels align in a parallel fashion and rays of light can pass through both layers of glass.

When it comes to chilling beverages, the GE Monogram Wine Reserve and Beverage Center are perfect for those who love to entertain and display wine and spirits. The wine reserve holds up to 57 wine bottles, and the beverage center accommodates 10 wine bottles and up to 126 (12-ounce) cans. All seven of the wine reserve's shelves are on full-extension slides making it easy for hosts and guests to peruse a wine connoisseur's collection. The beverage center creates an appealing refreshment oasis anywhere in the house. Extendable, spillproof glass shelves make the beverage center an entertainer's new best friend.

Performance and luxury are key to the wine reserve and beverage center, which are designed with beveled stainless steel edges and a black case for a sleek, sophisticated look. Both units feature exquisite shelf fronts of unfinished cherry wood that may be customized to fit any decor, and both may be used as freestanding or built-in units.

Both the wine reserve and beverage center are equipped with adjustable digital temperature controls to cool wines and other beverages to precise temperatures, and soft interior lighting is controlled by an external switch. The interior automatically illuminates when the door is opened.

The GE Monogram Wine Reserve and Beverage Center with privacy glass doors will be available January 31, 2005. The wine reserve (model ZDWT240PBS and the beverage center (model ZDBT240PBS) each have an estimated retail price of $1999-$2199.

GE Consumer & Industrial spans the globe as an industry leader in major appliance, lighting and integrated industrial equipment, systems and services. Providing solutions for commercial, industrial and residential use in more than 100 countries, GE Consumer & Industrial uses innovative technologies to deliver comfort, convenience and electrical protection and control. General Electric (NYSE: GE) brings imagination to work, selling products under the Monogram(R), Profile(TM), GE(R), Hotpoint(R), SmartWater(TM), and Reveal(R) consumer brands, and Entellisys(TM) industrial brand. For more information about GE Consumer & Industrial, consumers can visit the company's web site at www.ge.com.