A Quick Comparison

Look at this GE Cafe slide-in...

It was state of the art when first introduced 4 years ago, and why not? It has 5 burners, convection, as well as a second oven. At $2500, it seems like a competitive price for such a well designed and styled range. But can you buy smarter? Maybe...

Electrolux: Nicer range. Induction technology is faster to boil and simmer and Electrolux has an intuitive control panel with any kind of mode. But at $3300 plus, it should be better. So how about something better for less dough...

Frigidaire: Not exactly better, but at $1800+, this range has two induction burners, convection and a warming drawer. So you add induction, but remove the second oven from Cafe, as well as $700.

Frigidaire also has additional incentives for packages.

Pricing

While Pat is logging in 10 days of posts, there are some pricing updates for this industry. First Bosch was incredibly aggressive in January. 10% of these interlocking rebates expire today.

Electrolux, Whirlpool and GE have announced a 8.8% increase starting in March. Bosch is expected to announce a similar increase this week(that would be an 18% difference between March and January).

A Big Mistake

The introduction of the Maytag Neptune was the biggest mistake in the history of this industry. It was on the forefront of front-loading, energy-saving technology. It was even marketed properly and was introduced at Radio City in New York.

Only problem was a 60% fail rate. That they didn't address the issue was the real tipping point for consumers depending on their heritage of reliability. Four years later, Maytag ceased to exist as an independent company with thousands of jobs lost in Iowa.

Flash forward 10 years, Bosch has recently announced that they will no longer be in the laundry business.

Unlike Maytag, this is a great machine marketed and distributed poorly. They cited competition from the Korean companies as the reason. Currently, at $549, their machine sells for $100-250 cheaper with much better reliability. The real reason may very well be Bosch's lack of market penetration in box stores, especially Sears. Thus, they cannot derive volume needed to maintain a factory.

So, do you as a consumer knowingly buy a machine which will be discontinued in 2011? Only if it is good and cheap...and right now Bosch is both.

A Bad Twin

Have a look at KitchenAid's new range...

This is actually an old range. It was first marketed by Maytag and was called the Gemini, for two ovens. As history has shown, nothing designed by Maytag between 1995-2001 was any good. In fact, their new products; the wide by side refrigerator, the infamous Neptune and to a lesser degree the Gemini were instrumental in Maytag's destruction and sale to Whirlpool.

Some people will say, "two ovens are a great idea!" To that, I say...look again.

Oven is way too low...Better design is oven on top with the smaller lower oven below