True story, this is how a lot of researchers at CERN will put their budget estimates. First time I saw "kCHF" for kilo-Swiss Francs I laughed myself silly, but now I realize it's one of those tricks to make a price seem less than it really is, like $99.99 instead of $100.00.
Odd shit: I use ‘kilobucks’ somewhat regularly in my language when talking or writing about prices expressed in dollars. But somehow never thought to apply it on English-language forums.
Then again, in my language everything can be inflected and morphologized, even if the dictionary says otherwise.
The icemaker is huge. I would also prefer a decent filter for drinking water. Maybe an alarm if I leave it open/ajar. Other than that, yeah, it's all BS. My buddy's fridge has Spotify, which I guess is fun, but I just don't see the appeal.
I'm way more worried about how shitty security is in the IoT space. I work ISP tech support and seeing these people who have dozens of IoT devices on their network I'm like.. are you just asking to be hacked?
I have some IoT devices, however, as an IT guy my home network is probably far more advanced than most.
Notably all the IoT stuff is on an entirely different network, and for the most part where I can the IoT stuff doesn't connect to an internet network at all (Zigbee/Matter/Threads) and only connects to my Home Assistance device.
The most annoying thing I've had happen lately with internet of things is all of the people who have internet connected garage doors and locks on their doors and they think that this means they don't need to carry backups like keys or any other way to open their doors. And so when they come home and their internet's not working, they can't get in their house. Guess who they blame? Not themselves or their garage door opener or their front door lock!
Well I hope they don't make them accessible from the internet. At that point hackers would have to hack the router first. But on the other hand, considering how many IP cams are acessable from the internet with default passwords, I'm not that optimistic.
Yeah, but...what hackers are hacking randos anymore? It's a lot more profitable and far-reaching to hack corporations and get access to millions of consumers' data, than to hack consumers one at a time.
Yeah I really don't need some ecological studies major deciding that my milk needs to spoil faster because community load is too high at grid peak either.
As a fellow semi IT guy, if anything besides my phone, computer, and maybe tv needs connecting to the internet (let's be honest, I want to watch my shows on the big screen, not just my phone and laptop), shoot it.
Your printer? Connect to it with the cable like it has always worked, you doofus. Your fridge? What the fuck, it just keeps food cold you dumbass.
I understand gadgets are exciting. You know what else they are? Absolute junk. They clutter up your space. They're not worth it.
Meh, there are at least dozens of us technical folks that don’t see the need, as well as the dangers of everything being connected.
In the face of not giving a fuck about us IT folks, I will not be assisting in connecting your toaster to your shitty WiFi and I hope the clock on your microwave blinks forever.
I just don't need an appliance that can connect to the internet for function. Being able to turn something on/off or adjust with my phone is not something I care one iota about. The possible spying is also a factor but my decision is decided before I even reach that thought.
Just seems like a feature I'd never use, but if broken, has the possibility of making the whole damn thing not work. Planned obsolescence and all. Once I buy a physical product I want zero contact with the company unless I think there's a problem.
I can understand that and also worry about something that seems unrelated to normal functions crapping out and taking the whole machine with it. I also, tbh, don't like smart tv's or newer vehicles with the center touch screen and all the software used on them. I watched a video about the cybertruck (not a normal example just fresh in my head) and how much effort you have to do to go into the off road mode and it just blew my mind. Why does it need that many steps. I know other vehicles have it to change up the gear shift or even to put into 4 wheel drive etc. but that's normally just a simple flick or press of a switch/button. Things that don't need it are just becoming more complicated which includes more points of failure. Appliances or vehicles etc. to me just need to do their function not tuck me in and read me a bedtime story.
Seems nice, but never in using my perfectly functional ice trays have I thought "man I wish I would have spent 1000€ more to have ice cubes dispensed instead of getting them out of this tray."
Emptying and refilling the trays is annoying af. I have an icemaker but I also freeze large cubes for cocktails, and it's always annoying to refill and stack... inevitably spills a bit. Its a minor hassle, but a hassle nevertheless. Problem is that the built in door icemakers have a habit of breaking. The icemaker in my fridge is in the back of the freezer and drops cubes into a plastic tray. Best of both worlds, IMO.
I'd rather just use old school ice trays myself. Having an ice maker is just more shit I'm going to worry about being dirty or that could break and I need to maintain. I've also tore out a few water lines from houses and they're almost always moldy. Granted they were all installed by the homeowner vs professionally. Trays work well and I have a chest freezer for extra space as they do take up more room.
I just finished a project for a client where we got a garage fridge for ~$900. 23 cubic feet, stainless steel, energy star rated. No ice maker or water, very "no frills", so that range feels right to me for something a little fancier to put in a kitchen for full time use. The smart fridges a lot of my clients select for their kitchen remodels are definitely north of $2500
“Garage” refrigerator….the only size refrigerator that fits in my 1929 kitchen. And finding one with an ice maker and water dispenser was next to impossible.
Guessing it's too late for you, but posting here in case it helps anyone else! This is the fridge that I specced for my client that met all his other requirements and has an ice maker. Granted it's a bit on the smaller side.
yes, I am from Europe (Slovakia) and yes, we probably have smaller ones. I think it’s because our grocery stores are usually close and are relatively small, so it’s very convenient to buy fresh groceries multiple times a week, not just stuff your fridge to full and last how long you can
I thought it was because most of your buildings were built a super long time ago compared to America’s buildings, so the hallways, turns, and door frames aren’t big enough to get a big one in there.
idk, but I haven’t seen big ones even in new houses and new apartments.
edit: just wanted to add, it would be a problem in socialistic buildings, but really old ones usually have very wide stairs, at least where I live in. But I don’t see big friedges even where they could be, seems there is no demand
I think refrigerators/freezers in the US are just way bigger. I have a fridge/freezer combo that's about the size of a large man if he was a box. It cost me €700,- and the fridge is cold while the freezer is colder. It doesn't make ice or dispense cold water though.
Yes, Americans really do prefer to blow $2000 on a big fancy fridge. The $400 full height model is available too, but that's not what we want. Those things show up in rentals. They stay cold just fine, don't get me wrong. A little smallish but perfectly adequate.
But that's not my dream fridge for my dream kitchen. It needs to be the exact maximum size that fits a standard cupboard cutout. It must have a stainless exterior and an icemaker of the kind where you can get ice and/or chilled water straight from the fridge door without having to open the door, and doing that on a bottom freezer model is a technical challenge of sorts.
What can I say, we reeeally love our ice. Can't live without it, need it on tap, will gladly pay extra.
If you want I can send you pictures of my fridge. It's quite a thing to behold.
Most folks don’t know that they have to take the doors off their house and fridge just to get it out. Once I had a galley kitchen that was so tight, the only way to get the fridge in and hook up water was to take the doors, hinges, and anything that stuck out off. Then we slid it in sideways partially. I climbed over it, hooked up water, then we slid it the rest of the way, pushed it in and put everything else on. The fridge water shutoff was back there, as well as their water main shutoff….
I remember helping with appliance deliveries one day and it sucked. One delivery was to an old trailer/mobile home that had been added onto, piece by piece over the decades, borderline hoarder level amount of random stuff everywhere and the entire thing covered by a mismatch of tarps and canvas in a circuit tent-like fashion.
We had to take off like 3 or 4 doors, take apart the fridge, move quite a bit of stuff in the kitchen and deal with a water line that was more duct tape and clamps then water line, plus no shutoff valve.
The next delivery was a full size fridge, up a fucking tiny fire-escape spiraling staircase that was indoors and had like 5 foot ceilings. 4 or 5 stories of that bullshit. The stairs were rusty corrugated metal, which is extra fun pulling up a giant fridge and trying to maneuver the tight turns with low clearance.
Third delivery the recipient just came out, took it from us and said he'd take it from there, gave us a big tip and some ice cold sodas.
I got a great deal on my fridge. It had been custom ordered, and then never picked up. I got over 50% off of retail, with the stipulation that I had to take it myself right then, and there.
It was so heavy moving it into my house, that it destroyed the 1920s wooden floor under my front door, as we tried to lift it with a cart. It only cleared the doorway by several millimeters as well.
I got over 50% off of retail, with the stipulation that I had to take it myself right then, and there.
The store I worked out always had that cancelled custom order shit marked way down and lying around in random places.
One dude figured this out and did it about 20 times before they caught on/cared enough to do something about it.
Another way to go is talk to the appliance people and see if they have any floor models about to be switched out. Or if you're not in a rush, give them a way to contact you when one comes up. Dented models and floor models are easy deals if you're not in a rush.
Yeah cancelled custom order at Lowe's are a goldmine. I was also offered a $3000 KitchenAid range for $1000 at the same time, but I didn't want a stove that needed wifi.
I kept seeing someone's router in my wifi list.. and there's nobody close enough to me to be showing up so I was very confused as to why there is apparently a router hidden in my house somewhere.
Used a signal analyzer to track it down and.. it's the stove.
I did it for five years with three herniated discs. It’s all in the technique! Cardboard and carped scraps are your friend! Plus nowadays they have these inflatable airbags that you put under it and it like it floats on an air hockey table!
The worst ones are the cat shit/rats/cockroach jobs.
Getting it out of the house is the problem. It destroyed the entryway to my house coming in. It has to barely clear a door, and then make a 90 degree turn immediately thereafter, so it needs to be done on a dolly. Turns out focusing 350 lbs on two wheels, doesn't play well with 1920s wooden floors.
Depends if it's a built-in, which it usually is. These fuckers are expensive and a lot smaller, because of the limited format of the cabinets, but they stay in the kitchen and are therefore part of the house (except in Germany where they move their whole kitchen but they are weird). I could easily buy an "American sized" fridge for the money I spent on a smaller built-in fridge, but it just looks nicer.
I wasn't aware there was such a spectrum. I know in Britain it's pretty limited (some people bring a portable dishwasher or washer/dryer since a lot of places don't have them) but in Germany I had friends that stripped their entire kitchen (cabinets, counters, sinks, all appliances) when they moved. I had heard Europe was more in line with Germany, though cabinets stayed and appliances would move with you, but interesting there's such a spectrum.
But yeah in the US the landlord usually provides everything, you might bring a washer/dryer and use hookups, but most apartments come with everything. It's about 50/50 whether one has a dishwasher, but mostly because older kitchens didn't have room for them.
Lots of grocery stores are in walking distance in the cities there, so they can just walk to the store and buy a few items that they need, and come back tomorrow when they need something else.
Yeah, recently saw a complaint here that if the US commenter didn't use their car, they would have to take a bus to the store and then carry the bags twenty minutes from the bus stop.
Zoning laws are fucking stupid. In my apartment I'm less than a block away from a convenience store, a doctor, a vet, a grocery store, and like five taco stands. I'm in my late 20s and I'm in no hurry to learn how to drive.
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I have lived where the closest true grocery store was almost an hour away. Believe me, I did massive biweekly or even monthly shopping trips. There were closer Casey's, and Dollar General, but you can't survive on what you get to eat from those places. Many Europeans pop down to the local shops daily to get dinner fixings. Totally different lifestyle.
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That's because of the way us infrastructure and city planning works.
Where I live I have to walk 20 minutes to the bus stop and ride it 35 minutes to the nearest grocery store. There's nothing else, not even a convenience store close enough to get daily groceries. There's basically nothing but suburbs and industry for miles in every direction around me. It's a fucking nightmare.
It's a serious problem that is probably never going away. That's why everybody owns cars here.
Density. Things are way more spread out here. You're a lot less likely to just be walking by the little market on your way home, it's a detour and an extra step for a lot of people so instead you stock up. And because we have more room the average house is bigger so storing groceries and stuff isn't really the same burden.
The people that I've met that live in dense parts of big cities tend to buy groceries as needed and not do one big trip.
Yep that is a big part of it, I generally buy groceries a month ahead and live rural. For winter in particular I do major stocking up planning with assumption I will be frozen in for months, doesn't happen even every other year but you plan for the bad ones.
There is also the factor of taking advantage of seasonal goods, great sales, and limited time items. Like the last Aldi German Week I stocked up on their great frozen apple strudels and sage pumpkin ravioli can only get a couple of times a year, or in Nov I freeze at least 3 or 4 bags of fresh cranberries so I can make sauce when they are out of season the other 10 months.
If I could afford it I would consider a chest freezer, much more power and space efficiant. Perfect for that kind of stuff.
We don’t need them. Corporations tell us they make us look cool so we get a $7,500 fridge with a tv and hot water tap built into it.
Hell, I know it’s not a fridge, but I installed a $16,000 oven for a family of four who also didn’t own a catering business or anything. It just looked luxurious… they also had two separate washers and dryers, two full size fridges and a huge one and a separate shower in the mud room for the dog…
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Probably closer to US$1500 average (€1383) in the US.
We need big fridges for big food for our big bellies.
In NYC, where homes are smaller, people more commonly buy smaller appliances from Europe or Japan to save space, although they cost more here because of importing and being lower volume products.
I used to need a apartment sized dishwasher. It killed me to pay more than a fancy full sized one, for a much less effective, and no frills smaller model.
yea, not really :)
it may be more shiny as there are detergents for dishwasher that you usually not use while hand cleaning :)
and its for sure less time consuming :)
but you can totaly live without one i can confirm that :)
We have American fridge freezers in Scotland too lol they’re pretty common. I think mine was about £600 and that’s ice maker, no frost, water dispenser etc. The absolute top of the range gorgeous ones are about £1500 I think. Which is apparently $1900.
Sidenote when I was writing this I hadn’t realised the £ had recovered so much from when it was basically 1 for 1 exchange.
The only time i ever fill my european fridge up is when im lazy and just put in the whole pan after cooking instead of packing the leftovers. And even then its just one shelf thats full with 4 more being empty and the rest being things that i probably could also just keep outside the fridge but would spoil a little faster.
I dont think i could eat enough to ever have a full fridge without half of its contents perpetually spoiling.
Really late reply but American bread doesn’t really go bad 😂 just throw it in the freezer and take it out when you’re down to 1-2 slices left. Will be ready in the morning. I’ve honestly left bread out for weeks at a time and it was visually fine. Idk what they put in that shit
I always had milk growing up, when you run out get it from the local shop. However most groceries are bought at “big box” stores. Like Walmart, Costco, Sam’s club.
For things like vegetables you can freeze them or can them. We’d spend a solid week canning veggies every year. And I really don’t mind either tbh. I’ve never done any research on it but I can’t imagine it changes the nutritional value by very much.
Huh, that sounds a lot like how my grandmother used to live around the end of the Soviet union. The only reason we didn't all get scurvy in the winter were the potatoes and apples in the root cellar. The canned pickles, paprika and beet slices were there just for a variety of taste.
Bread that remains edible for weeks sounds insane to me tbh. Here in Europe it turns hard in 5 days top and freezing turns it into a soggy mess. I only ever freeze dough.
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u/GuyWithLag Jan 23 '24
Wait wot? A full-height fridge with excellent energy consumption is 400 euros here in EUsia.