Do you use your appliance garage?
gb85
14 years ago
Featured Answer
Comments (9)
robinst
14 years agobiochem101
14 years agoRelated Discussions
Do you let your cleaning person near your new kitchen appliances?
Comments (53)Agree with eleena. In my bathroom, I can't get the cleaner for the tile on the mirror, or the faucet cleaner on the floor, or the floor cleaner on the faucet. You can't clean the whole thing without a damn spreadsheet. Teasing aside, having a simple cleaning service is not an upper class thing, at least not for two-job households. However, the reality is, having an intelligent, reliable cleaning person is an upper-class luxury, unless you happen to be lucky. I would love to have a touchup every week or two. However, I remember what the cleaning people did at my mom's place when she got sick and couldn't do it all herself. Each week, something new was broken, scratched, stained or missing. She couldn't afford to supplement the housekeeper's income by running out and buying new carpets or collectibles or lamps on a weekly basis--which is precisely what you are doing if you allow someone to break something in your house without paying for it. She lucked out for a while with an old Italian lady who cleaned like she did, but for the most part they were more trouble and money than they were worth. Now, if you can afford real staff, then you can get into human resources techniques. But if you can't, then you're not the employer, just a customer, and you take what you get....See MoreAppliance garage - what's yours like, where did you get it?
Comments (10)Hi andrea and no.s & uncle -- thanks. As an appliance garage, I agree with all you say. I don't have one in my kitchen and was never tempted. I don't actually have a problem seeing appliances sitting on countertops (obviously; if you've seen pictures of how I live you will notice a certain high bar an tolerance for clutter). But you're right, andrea, it's the tambour door I'm after, not the appliance-housing capacity. I wondered about that reliability issue. If you install them yourself is it any better do you think? I'm pretty much anticipating the door being open much of the time. It's intended for waist height in a floor-ceiling narrow-ish stack used for linens and things. It's located on a hallway and I think having a drawer at chest-and-above height will not be so good. But I'm worried about cabinet doors opening smack-dab at chest height into the walk-way. So I was thinking at that mid-height to nix the doors altogether with a "roll-away" one. I saw those swing up doors but worry about their stick-out-edness the same as swinging cabinet doors. An open shelf could work but I'm afraid it would look a little cavernous. So andrea - what's a "garage door" style door if not a tambour door? Maybe, having wider slats? I don't know the lingo. I've seen those open and slide back type doors on cabinets intended for TVs ... I could look into finding the hardware; it must exist. That's a good idea. I hadn't followed up on that. But you'd need to keep the side areas of the space clear. I can imagine when housing a massive TV that's easy enough, just position it on top of a shelf, which they do. When the space is intended for kchatkes, I'm guessing it might become a nightmare and unusable very quickly. Good point about the cabinet above needing to stay closed for the up-and-out hinges. Actually, best would be a tambour that slid horizontally all the way around - not up but sideways. I bet that would be better-functioning. You wouldn't be fighting gravity... I haven't settled on the making of these cabinets. But we had our kitchen done by, basically, a maquiladora. That's a whole nother set of options when on the border. For some reason I feel a little queasy about this, though I'm no fan of nationalism --- anyway, that's what we settled on before. It worked well-enough in the end, but it was something of a fight that I've been reluctant to return to the fray of. Still, it is likely where we'll wind up. And yet, none of it is settled. They certainly could do inset but it might look a little funny? Though the tambour is essentially inset, so there you have it.... Thanks for thinking about this, all....See MoreDid you put a tile backsplash in your appliance garage?
Comments (13)But wouldn't the tile make the appliance garage stick out beyond the cabinet a little bit? Or would you install the garage first and then tile up to the sides on the outside and then inside??? But then if you removed it you'd have gaps in the tile. I guess you just trim down the sides of the garage to make it sit flush with the upper cabinet? I dunno but I didn't tile inside mine, just painted the wall color back there. We don't leave it open for any length of time and the only appliances we have in it are the Food Saver and the electric can opener. I guess if I had a coffee pot or toaster in it it would probably stay open for longer periods of time....See MoreDo you run appliances when you're not in the house?
Comments (29)I live in Toronto, Canada. Unfortunately, we are one of the 10,000 residents selected to "test" the new "smart meter" - which means we are billed at different rates than the next door neighbours for using electricity at the same time of day or night. They have divided the 24 hours in the day into periods of low, medium and high energy use - and based the charges for those with smart meters on a sliding scale. So basically if I run my dishwasher and dryer from midnight to 7:00 a.m. I will be charged much less than say if I run it at noon. Yet our neighbours - with 6 people in the house - as opposed to the 2 of us plus dog - and no smart meter - can run their appliances at noon and be charged far less than we are. There is something wrong with this scenario. I have spoken with Hydro and the person I spoke with agreed, no way would he go to bed - or leave the house - with appliances such as these running. The ONLY good thing going for me at the moment is that I am on a fixed electricity rate for 5 years - which while sadly costs more per kw hour than the rate the NON smart meter people are using - I can run my appliances when I want and it will cost me less than adhering to the new rules imposed on me. But, when my term ends I don't know if I will be allowed to renew. The local firemen buy their firehouse food supplies where I shop and I asked for their opinions and they agree with me - and so did the dishwasher and dryer repairman who was here last week. What really scares me about the dryer is the lint/dust/hair you name it build-up in the drum. We needed new bearings and while I keep the lint trap and hose as clean as possible. I can't remove the drum since I can't re-balance it - the repair man confirmed that the average Joe can't do this - but he sure cleans his a lot at home. I cleaned it as fast as I could while he was working on fitting in parts - otherwise he would have had to stick in back in as is. When we are away I unplug everything I can - not the fridge though - but I think I will start turning off the washer hoses. Our insurance INSISTS that our outside water tap be turned off when we are away - too many instances of vandals breaking windows, tossing hoses inside and turning them on. Should this happen we would not be covered - not a risk I am about to take. When I call to tell them we will be away (a requirement) the first thing they say is to remember to turn off the outside hose - and forget timers. It is hard without family - and we don't have a trusted neighbour. But of course there are those who do have trusted neighbours, who unfortunately have "trusted" kids, with "trusted friends" and in the end a whole slew of people know your alarm code, things go missing, parties are held with underage teens etc. etc. I envy those with the true trusted neighbour! I missed the finale of Boston Legal because I wouldn't leave the VCR plugged in and set. Annoying....See Moremacybaby
14 years agolowspark
14 years agoemilynewhome
14 years agoarleneb
14 years agogb85
14 years agojeri
14 years ago
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