Washers that talk to dryers, refrigerators that can be programmed to tell you what foods you’re out of, stoves that do everything but prepare the meal. It seems there’s no end to what our appliances can do – and what we’re willing to pay for them.
When homemaker Mary Ellen Mottola decided to upgrade her home appliances, she did her research and looked at a range of prices and brands. In the end, she bought a $2,200 Kenmore washer and dryer, and plans to buy a $1,000 Asko dishwasher, a $1,300 Dacor kitchen stove and a $4,500 GE Monogram built-in refrigerator.
“I know it’s pricey … but I was finicky about wanting specific things,” Mottola said.
She isn’t the only one.
Interior decorating television shows and home magazines have exposed consumers to the kind of appliances once reserved for serious chefs. And three years of low interest rates – which have fueled home improvement-driven refinancings and lines of credit as well as home buying – have put the stainless steel gee-whiz appliances in reach for many consumers.
The end result: healthy sales growth for appliance retailers the past few years.
Since 2000, total annual sales for major home appliances have increased more than 13 percent, from $16.5 billion to $18.8 billion, according to the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers.
A good many of those have been high-priced models. For instance last year, sales of washers costing $700 or more increased 68.5 percent, and they made up 15.6 percent of the market, according to NPD Group, a sales and marketing research firm in Fort Washington, N.Y.
“Appliances have been one of the key growth categories,” said Bob Baird, global product merchant for appliances for Home Depot.
Baird said that although Home Depot still offers lower-end appliances that work just as well as some of expensive ones, many people choose the higher-priced ones.
“All machines are going to wash your clothes,” Baird said. “In most cases you’re not buying more quality, you are getting additional features.”
For Mottola, the features were the selling points. For example, she chose a front-load washing machine to save on her energy bills.
While researching her purchase, she learned that front-loading machines use less water and detergent to clean a larger amount of clothes. Because they spin more water out of clothes than conventional washers, they also reduce dryer time.
“It’s going to pay for itself in months,” she said.
She was drawn to the GE Monogram refrigerator because it will completely blend in with her cabinets.
“There are very few refrigerators that can accept paneling and hide completely,” Mottola said. “It just looks like a cabinet.” She also likes that it has an area inside to chill wine.
The growing demand for luxury appliances has prompted a number of manufacturers to expand their appliance lines.
Over the past three years, Home Depot has beefed up its appliance departments. Kitchen & Bath Galleries in Raleigh, N.C., has added several high-end brands, including Bosch, Gaggenau and Thermador, in the past few years, said Stephen Barker, assistant manager.
Customers can buy a GE Harmony washer, which sends electronic signals to its companion dryer telling it what settings to use to dry the clothes. The cost? About $1,700, said Barker.
The store also sells the $1,800 Whirlpool Polara Refrigerated Range. It works like this: Place dinner in the oven in the morning and set it to start cooking at 3 p.m. The oven keeps the food cool during the day, then warms up and starts to cook so dinner is served when you get home from work. If you’re late, the oven automatically switches back to warm. If you’re really late, the oven refrigerates the food again.
One popular item, Barker said, is the $1,600 Maytag Gemini stove that has two self-cleaning ovens that let people, for example, cook a big turkey and a casserole at the same time. In the future, Barker said consumers will see refrigerators with built-in television sets, or an Internet connection that lets people leave messages for family members and track what food they need to buy. It’s a high-tech version of Post-It Notes.
From Delaware Online