Land of 100 refrigerators

I do not merchandise Yale anymore. That job resides in the capable hands of Darren, Bobby and Dennis. So when I climb down the ole ivory tower, I question the reasons behind displaying over 100 refrigerators in a new room.



Then I am reminded of the many categories of refrigeration as defined below.


Top Mount: Refrigerator on the top freezer on the bottom


Bottom Mount: Guess


French door Bottom Mount: Side by side top with freezer below


Shallow depth Bottom Mount: Same as bottom mount only does not protrude from the cabinet


Shallow depth French door Bottom Mount: Same as above with side by side doors


Side by side: Refrigerator on the right, freezer on the left


Shallow depth Side by side: Same as above only does not protrude from cabinets


Professional: Compressor on the top..does not protrude from the cabinets: Can be side by side, french or bottom mount


Integrated: Fits seamlessly within the cabinets: Can be any of the above(except pro)


Confused? look again..



Top Mount: Price


Bottom: Ergometrics(you are in the refrigerator 82% of the time)


French Door: Similar to above with design appeal and the shorter doors are better for island applications


Side by side: More freezer space and more organized storage


Pro: Commercial look


Integrated: Never see the actual refrigerator

Vineyard Part 2...The Bar

Our last post was about affordable luxury. This one is about luxury period.

Typically when you plan a bar refrigerator, the space is either 15 or 24 inches. Appliances follow cabinets, and this is the standard or almost universal size. In this space, the choices could be refrigerator, refrigerator and freezer, freezer alone, icemaker, wine cooler or refrigerator and wine cooler.

Buying a decent brand is my only guideline. The case is produced with metal instead of plastic. The compressor also breathes from the front instead of the back, so the product can be enclosed in cabinets.

There are plenty of decent brands: SubZero, Uline, Marvel, Viking, Scotsman and Monogram. Rick (from our last post) does not seem to be satisfied with one. He did create a magnificent bar and game room.

Have a look:

Marthas' Vineyard Part 1

I love The Vineyard (pronounced vinyid). The Vineyard is an island 40 minutes off Cape Cod. You travel by ferry, and disembark at one of three distinct areas Oak Bluffs(OB), Edgartown or Vineyard Haven.

We stayed in Vineyard Haven in the home of a friend and business associate, Rick Adams. Rick is in the granite business and renovates homes as a hobby. If you walk into Yale, the granite displays are his. We basically trade granite for appliances.

I helped him with the layout of his kitchen, and for this home he has actually three suites of appliances.


Lets look at the appliance on the roof deck first. One of the main goals of this blog is to inform people on how to renovate on a budget. The buzzwords are affordable luxury.


Have a look:





You are looking at an Electrolux Icon kitchen. A suite of appliances would be approximately $12,000 less than a traditional Viking, Wolf or SubZero kitchen. It is good looking, functional and a decent alternative.

Dunkin Donuts, Starbucks and Turbochef

I am a total vegetarian wannabe. My grazing diet is salad, fruit and repeat. To be truthful, I do not like meat, especially burgers and steak.

Ocassionally, I will eat fish or chicken. Recently, I have fallen in love with a breakfeast sandwich at Starbucks of all places. It consists of eggwhites, light cheesse and turkey bacon on a whole wheat english muffin. I was wondering how they are able to serve it so quickly....

Then we look at Dunkin Donuts advertising pizza and flatbread sandwiches, and you wonder how they are able to compose the said items


The answer is unlikely. They employ Turbochef technology or impingement convection with low power microwave. Its unlikely, because until 18 months ago the product had reliability issues....But it seems fixed, unless, of course they are logging thousands of service calls a day





Actually a pretty interesting piece with great technology, interface and of course incredible speed