Upscale Frigidaire?

Frigidaire's story always intrigued me. They were actually part of GM until 1973ish and were renown for the quality of the product. One cannot help but appreciate the irony.

Anyway for the next 20 or so years, they meandered between owners and hit rock bottom, only to be purchased by Electrolux. I really like this company, simply because they realized a huge loss by shutting and modernizing plants only to be more successful later with better, less expensive product.

They were also the first company to mass manufacture stainless steel appliances and own significant share in this category to this day. Their cooking product has been excellent and really drives their brand. For GE it's refrigeration, Whirlpool would be laundry and for Bosch it's dishwashers.

Frigidaire's dishwashers have always been rather cheap and almost appendage to a Frigidaire kitchen.

Until now...Have a look







Integrated all stainless dishwasher at $499 after rebate.....very nice.

Bosch French Door

Bosch is a different company. These guys can overlook everything important in the appliance business and somehow still succeed. Their formula of unique product has worked along with some great dishwasher and laundry products.

But nobody stays lucky and good forever. Their problem of not marketing lesser expensive products is an issue especially now...Their other issue is not featuring a competitive french door...until now.

Behold (March availability)





Very like-able aesthetically as all Bosch's are...BUT, it is not shallow depth, which is 65% of the market. Ouch.

GE French Doors

I was never a fan of GE. They had tons of products under several different labels with zero value propositions for customers, GE Profile, GE, Hotpoint, the now defunct RCA.

Two years ago, they launched GE Cafe with great new product and very different style. Special note to manufacturers and "branders" alike: People buy products first and labels second, and labels succeed only because of the product.

The success of GE can also be attributed to their new french door products. French doors are side by side refrigerators with a bottom freezer. So while Whirlpool, LG, and Frigidaire were focused elsewhere, GE stole the market with LED lighting, bigger sizes and more current styling.

Have a look at their best: The Profile PFSS9SKYSS







At approximately $2700, this is a little high subtract the all encompassing informational dispenser with just a regular one... and the scaled down piece is $350 less.

An Encouraging Message to All Bostonians

Visited Miami last few days on a seminar. In a way, Miami and Boston are similar (other than culture, music, lifestyle and weather). Both cities hit their peak in the 1940s or 50s, and then as the jobs moved out, crime and decay moved in.

Then at different times, both cities were revitalized by development by the water. Boston had Fanueil Hall and Miami had South Beach. Then later it mushroomed from there. Both became desirable places to live, so people were moving back to the cities.

Except lately. Miami has available land, so they kept building and building, whereas Boston is landlocked and really cannot with a few exceptions. Have a look at Pat and several such buildings.








I stopped counting at 47 mostly empty buildings on one street alone. So imagine if you are trying to sell your home. You have lost a ton of value. In Boston, because we could not build, prices have mostly stabilized. Building and remodeling have started to return. Thus we will pull out of the recession/depression/shock early than cities like Vegas, Stockton and Miami.

Sometimes its better to be lucky...