New Gadgets Make Themselves at Home

0 Comments | Insight on the News, May 14, 2001 | by Jennifer Harper

They cook, they clean and they connect us to the Internet. Welcome to the brave new world of multitasking kitchen appliances, where soon we'll log on to the refrigerator.

Americans' domiciles have become showcases for fancy technology in unusual configurations. By year's end, a newfangled icebox somewhere between freezer and Palm Pilot will go on sale. The contraption is connected to the Internet and has a video screen, electronic message board and digital camera built into the door -- you can watch television, broadcast images and send e-mail. LG Electronics wants $10,000 for what it calls an "Internet-enabled refrigerator."

Meanwhile, there's something called the "Icebox," which is not a refrigerator at all, but rather an "entertainment appliance," according to its maker, Samsung. This waterproof combination TV, VCR, DVD and CD player, which comes with ports for the Internet and a video camera, sits on the kitchen counter to further muddle the boundaries between pantry and rumpus room.

This is only the beginning, though. You can have your cyberspace and lounge in it, too. Four months ago, La-Z-Boy introduced its "Explorer" model, also know as the "e-cliner." The tilting, unfolding, reclining, swiveling, overstuffed chair is wired for the Internet and has a built-in infrared keyboard, WebTV receiver and electrical outlet for anything extra. Oh, and it has a drink holder, too.

Samsung's "Internet Microwave," meanwhile, downloads recipes from a Website, then sets its own temperature and cooling time. Not to be outdone, Sunbeam has a new line of appliances that quibble electronically among themselves. There's an alarm clock that starts the coffee maker and turns off the electric blanket, and a console that simultaneously serves as electronic address book, calendar and cookbook.

And while Rival is celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Crock-Pot with a limited-edition, copper-plated, hand-numbered commemorative model of the famous slow cooker, it also has introduced something called the Smart-Pot. This digitally enhanced stew maker can be programmed with complicated messages and instructions ... although it still sits there all afternoon, just like the original.

Meanwhile, MTI Whirlpools now makes an electric sink that can wash unmentionables all by itself, courtesy of three "swirling jets" and a built-in washboard, plus a "deck-mounted control" that automatically pulls the plug.

All these confusing amenities are just part of the burgeoning American home front, analysts say. Folks "want a bigger house with more cool stuff in it," says Atlanta Realtor Ellen Crawford. The 5,000-square-foot "New American Home," recently highlighted at the International Builders' Show in Atlanta, boasts a wine cellar, home theater, spa and "master retreat" with its own laundry. The 12,000-square-foot concrete-and-stucco "Safe Haven" features a master-bedroom closet that is actually a "safe room" -- concrete floor, walls and ceiling, plus a steel door with four locks.

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) reports the average size of new American homes has more than doubled in five decades -- from 983 square feet in 1950 to 2,225 square feet today. Standard fare for a typical house in 2010, the group notes, will include automatic-security systems, multiple telephone lines, and energy-management and lighting-control systems. While home designs will lean toward the "neotraditional," lots will be smaller, streets narrower and materials, well, faker. The NAHB predicts we'll build domains from engineered wood products, steel, concrete and recycled materials.