31 ms·

A fridge from 70 years ago has better features than the fridge I own now

361 points by zhte415 3y ago

mongol 3y ago
I don't think it is better where it matters. Modern fridges circulate the air to manage humidity and temperature better for different zones (meat, vegetables etc). Also, less energy usage and no ozone-destroying coolants.
- cde-v 3y ago
  Having to throw a fridge in the landfill every 5 years negates the energy usage and ozone issues.
  - rsynnott 3y ago
    Where are you buying these fridges that fail every five years? Perhaps consider a different brand next time; that's not normal. Modern fridges probably will not last 50 years (or at least only a tiny fraction of them will) but you should be getting a lot more than 5.
dahwolf 3y ago
The more awkward differences compared to now are much larger families and home cooking being the standard.
SteveNuts 3y ago
It's sad that when I see things like this I think "wow all I see is more shit to break"
sdflhasjd 3y ago
I would hazard a guess and say this was probably expensive by today's standards.
- forgetfreeman 3y ago
  Sure, but you'd buy once and that fridge problem was sorted for a few decades. Over the long term you paid significantly less because you weren't replacing a broken fridge every few years. If problems did crop up appliance repair was a cost effective long term fix. Ain't designed obsolescence a wonder?
  - DSMan195276 3y ago
    I think the point is more that you can buy expensive fridges today that could last that long - people don't because they care more about spending less on a fridge.
    - js8 3y ago
      > people don't because they care more about spending less on a fridge I don't think so. First of all, there are lots of quality improvements that could make life longer, at almost zero additional cost per unit. Also, repairability could be improved. Second, there is an ecconomic problem with information asymetry - while I know the pricetag, I have no idea what the life expectancy is. So you get https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Market_for_Lemons https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Market_for_Lemons ; that's not the customer's preference. The latter could be possible to fix if we mandated producers to publish "expected usage per lifetime" (MTBF) numbers and also show price/usage ratio to customers.
      - DSMan195276 3y ago
        > I don't think so. First of all, there are lots of quality improvements that could make life longer, at almost zero additional cost per unit. Also, repairability could be improved. I don't entirely disagree, but there's always going to be a weakest link when you're targeting a low price point. It doesn't seem to take a whole lot of research to find that better fridges with those issues fixed _are_ available if you're willing to spend a bit more, people commenting on this article even linked to some. > The latter could be possible to fix if we mandated producers to publish "expected usage per lifetime" (MTBF) numbers and also show price/usage ratio to customers. I support this idea, but I'd also say the numbers presumably would not be significantly different from the warranty already offered on these things. I feel like it's not much of a secret that the warranty is intended to last the minimum lifetime of the product and not more. If they were confident in their product lasting longer, they'd sell you a longer warranty. I think there's also an unmentioned detail here, which is that many people probably won't own the same fridge for 20 or 30 years anyway - when you move, you commonly leave your fridge behind. There's not a huge incentive to buy an expensive fridge that could last a long time if you think it's likely you'll move before then anyway.
starbugs 3y ago
> Thing is, producing crappy, cookie-cutter, uninspired, overpriced junk that falls apart within 5 years (generously speaking) pays more to the shareholders. That's how we got from there to here. This summarizes it quite well for me.
- vGPU 3y ago
  See: Samsung fridges. A huge touchscreen and a water pump/ice maker that will fail in <5 years are standard.
  - drcongo 3y ago
    My Samsung fridge is the worst thing I've ever bought.
    - firesteelrain 3y ago
      Agree. Mine lasted 6 years. Replaced with a Whirlpool. Lowe's sales rep told us at the time that the Samsung's were great. I went back 6 years later and told him that we bought a Samsung from him 6 years ago when he told us 6 years later not to buy a Samsung. Needless to say, he was apologetic. Now, my Bosch dishwasher has been solid. No issues.
      - usefulcat 3y ago
        > Now, my Bosch dishwasher has been solid. No issues. Seconded, and also confirmed by an appliance repair tech when I asked him about his opinion of the reliability of our various kitchen appliances.
        pfdietz 3y ago
        We've had very good experience with Bosch dishwashers.
        brewdad 3y ago
rascul 3y ago
A lot of those features are available in today's fridges. Also, they use less power today. And you really don't have to get one with wifi and a touchscreen.
- faitswulff 3y ago
  I just really want that vegetable box. Any recommendations?
  - nimajneb 3y ago
    You could get a clear plastic shallow bin with relevant dimensions to fit on a shelf in your fridge. Then you can take it out and put it back as needed. I just use the vegetable drawer in my fridge though.
  - jxramos 3y ago
    OXO Good Grips GreenSaver Produce Keeper is a pretty good lil product.
  - bombcar 3y ago
    The vegetable box on mine makes things last a long time with a filter for ethylene gas, perhaps something like these could help: https://www.amazon.com/ethylene-gas-absorber-fridge/ https://www.amazon.com/ethylene-gas-absorber-fridge/
    - Phrenzy 3y ago
      How will that help? Does the dog inhale the ethylene gas?
      - bombcar 3y ago
        Stupid amazon will give you URLs that then stop working, maybe this will work: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=ethylene+gas https://www.amazon.com/s?k=ethylene+gas
- ImHereToVote 3y ago
marricks 3y ago
Some of those fridges are refurbished and still around[1]! It's my dream to own one someday when my fridge from the 90's dies. Every couple years there's a HN link to a blog post about how those appliances were built better in the day. Couple highlights I remember were: - Parts were dipped in paint rather than sprayed leading to fuller and thicker paint coverage - Motors had some changes so were actually built to last Got to imagine fewer electrical/mechanical parts that can fail as well. [1] https://carolinasantiqueappliances.com/Web/index.php/restored-refrigerators/ https://carolinasantiqueappliances.com/Web/index.php/restore...
- vsareto 3y ago
  >Parts were dipped in paint rather than sprayed leading to fuller and thicker paint coverage Hopefully not lead paint?
  - SuchAnonMuchWow 3y ago
    It probably is: lead paint is much more durable and resistant, which is why it was everywhere in the 50s
    - MichaelZuo 3y ago
      Aren't there some fancy synthetic paints nowadays that are just as durable as lead paint? (At a much higher price of course)
  - marricks 3y ago
    Well that's a compelling point in favor of modern fridges.
- ethbr0 3y ago
  There was a motor teardown linked on HN at some point. Essentially: electric motors from the 50s were vastly over designed, which meant they were extremely robust to physical failures The larger point about stuff now vs then is likely the use of capacitors. And specifically, cheap capacitors in consumer electronics. Absent electronics, you're talking an order of magnitude longer lifespan.
lakomen 3y ago
Not found the requested resource could not be found
dustincoates 3y ago
This reminds me of the same types of complaints around air travel now versus the 50s/60s. Both ignore the relative costs and the fact that you can still buy high-end fridges or first class tickets if you are willing to spend the same amount of money that you would have had to back then.
- phren0logy 3y ago
  True, but even most high-end brands these days are more about fashion and high markups for the illusion of luxury than actually better quality. Though at least they generally have far better customer service, which makes a big difference.
  - oblio 3y ago
    It probably depends on where you are, but you can absolutely find brands where the production quality is higher. It's like with electric bikes. You can buy VanMoof (bling) or Gazelle (quality).
    - dagw 3y ago
      but you can absolutely find brands where the production quality is higher The problem is that those are mostly targeting professional kitchens and generally aren't what people want in their home kitchen. Finding something that will perform and last like a professional grade piece of kit, while still work and look good in your designer home kitchen is very hard.
      - oblio 3y ago
        That's always been the case.
- imchillyb 3y ago
  There is no real world comparison between air travel in the 50’s with anything else, except perhaps rampant enshitification. Double decker airframes, a standing lounge, smoking on board, unrestrained pets at the lounge… Nothing compares to the removal of these standards on all domestic flights. No industry did the consumer as dirty.
idlewords 3y ago
My girlfriend's mom has a teaching oven (used in home economics classes) from the 1950s. The 'teaching' part mostly means it has a more accurate and detailed temperature gauge. This gas oven is so heavy that light in the kitchen gravitationally lenses around it, but it's still going strong and the best oven I ever used.
- PartiallyTyped 3y ago
  On a serious note, how heavy does an object have to be for gravitational lensing or bending to be noticeable with a naked eye? s/visible/noticeable s/noticeable/noticeable with a naked eye s/lensing/gravitational lensing
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - leidenfrost 3y ago
    Depends on how you define "noticeable". If you can measure a small enough distance, you can see the lensing effect of any object.
    - idlewords 3y ago
      Comments like yours are what keep this site great.
    - PartiallyTyped 3y ago
      Noticeable with the naked eye.
    - LorenPechtel 3y ago
      Only in a Newtonian world--but there wouldn't be lensing in a Newtonian world. Once you consider Heisenberg and quantum mechanics you find your signal swamped by noise for smaller objects. Now, figuring out this limit is left as an exercise for the reader as it's way beyond my abilities.
bayindirh 3y ago
The most enlightening comment is "capitalism breeds innovation" (told sarcastically), but it's incomplete. The complete version is "Capitalism breeds innovation for getting consumers' money out of their hands".
- CamperBob2 3y ago
  What system do you recommend instead?
  - bayindirh 3y ago
    The shortest answer is "a system with strong pro-consumer regulations where you can't buy people and laws legally and illegally". This idea proved to be a nice one, but unfortunately it includes humans. In a more broader sense, we needs checks and balances. A better version of this idea is a "bigger government", where government not only regulates, but builds the baseline products which pushes other companies to compete to build better goods. But this generates tons of brouhaha. It's called "communism", "non-free markets", "government intervention", etc. In reality, private companies hate and despise real competition, because a corporation is (or has become) an establishment for generating shareholder value, not make customers happy beyond the level required to keep the company afloat.
    - momirlan 3y ago
      i think "consumer protection" laws is a good start. "bigger government doesn't quite correlate with "better product".
- ilyt 3y ago
  Yup, competition breeds innovation but captialism will do everything it can to not have to compete. Patents, secrets, pirce fixing, and walled gardens, anything but trying to compete on actual product
ethbr0 3y ago
1950-1970 seems like a local optimum in UX that we've yet to surpass. My personal, completely-unsupported theory is it was a combination of 3 qualities. (1) New types of things, while unlike anything that came before, were still simple and understandable enough that someone without formal engineering training could understand their use and offer improvements. (2) Engineering was still seen as something that was approachable by anyone, and so more people availed themselves of the design tools it presented. (3) Manufacturing was physically colocated with design, increasing agility to implement improvements. Since then, we've moved into geographically disparate manufacturing of such optimized and tightly-packaged systems that as simple of an ask as "Could that light be red instead of green?" requires overwhelming machinations to design and implement, resulting in "Let's just leave it green." (Repeat for every UX component of a system)
- gonzo41 3y ago
  Also, everything was new. Now everything has been done, so people 'innovate' on silly crap in the UX space. Or they try and eek out margins resulting in intended obsolescence
- ilyt 3y ago
  I think for any long term products the designers of interface after they get to the optimum are just changing shit to keep themselves employed, while long time or professional users are just getting annoyed on having to re-learn stuff.
- pikahumu 3y ago
  (4) "Optima" is plural, "optimum" is singular. So, 1950-1970 seems like a local optimum.
  - ethbr0 3y ago
    Fixed! Thanks. Sans coffee typing
- user3939382 3y ago
  There probably are a mix of factors. A big one that I see is that consumers moved away from "pride in ownership". Modern consumer culture weighs absolute price more than price per quality, so you get products that reflect that priority. Real inflation is also about double the rate of the official numbers IMHO, so the resources to invest in quality aren't as available.
toss1 3y ago
Very true. Many solid comments deriding the current generations of wifi-enabled (and randomly disabled when they shut off the servers) carp, but the seventh comment down nails it: >> "capitalism breeds innovation" haha Indeed, in many areas, 'capitalism' has not produced innovation that benefits anyone using the products, but merely increases the ratio of cash extracted from buyers in return for reduced value provided by sellers.
- CamperBob2 3y ago
  What system do you recommend instead?
  - toss1 3y ago
    Well-regulated capitalism, with strong anti-trust regulations and enforcemet. The idea of a "free market" is an absolute fallacy. Every market has some set of rules and regulations. At the definitional level, it is irrelevant whether the regs are written, spoken, or tacitly understood, or whether they are enforced by law or self-imposed limits. Without regulation, no market lasts. The question is what regulations exist and how they are enforced. With very little regulation, markets coalesce to monopolies; the strong/wealthy get stronger & wealthier, and buy out or force out the smaller players. Even without explicit collusion among large players, they have the ability to sustain predatory practices to kill upstarts or buy out any promising ones. With collusion, they can enforce predatory low quality and high pricing on entire nations. Which is what we see here. The barriers to entry are high and the competition is so little that the entire appliance market has been massively enshittified — there is literally only crap available (unless you want to go full professional restaurant or hotel equipment). Even multiple different brands are literally made to the same specs in the same factories. I don't recall the details, but this was the case over a decade ago when we last looked for appliances, when it was bad enough that we found a couple new-old-stock from a previous mfg year of some units we knew were good. And I repair them when they need maintenance b/c it's only worse. This is only one of many industries, and tech is even worse, where incumbent positions and insane piles of capital effectively kill off any upstarts. Anti-trust needs to be a LOT stronger, more clear, and rapidly enforced.
epolanski 3y ago
And how much power did it consume? What were the materials used for those fridges and paint? How much did they weight? How stable was the temperature in the freezer and refrigerator? Did those fridges had any mechanism to avoid frost formations? How much did they cost? Point is, the needs of a fridge barely changed in 70 years, the only real expectation we had was that they would become cheaper to buy and run and easier to operate and maintain, all things modern fridges achieved to do. I would also argue that the ice cube breaker is a non-feature and that shelves being so easily removable is a minus rather than a pro. The ones on the door would easily break and the other ones could be easily pulled (sending every other thing on that shelf on the floor) if something got stuck. The door shelves also having all of those compartments lead to much poorer local cooling and are arguably worse for hygiene. In other words: there's reason why we moved from these designs, they had pros and cons and the focus was price and power efficiency.
- hoosieree 3y ago
  These are valid points, yet anecdotally it seems like modern fridges are less reliable and require more frequent replacement. Old fridges were "inefficient" because they didn't have an integrated variable speed motor and control board. But modern fridges seem to suffer a critical failure of some mysterious component 2 months after their warranty expires. This component can only be fixed by replacing the entire control board, and that's half the cost of a new one. Wouldn't you rather just buy a new one? But if you zoom out, is it globally more efficient to trash the whole fridge every 5 years, or use an "inefficient" fridge with replaceable parts for 40 years? Modern appliances are all slowly heading in the same direction. It starts with DRM on replaceable items like water filters. Then un-mutable advertisements playing on the screen. Then subscription fees for "options". Then subscription fees for things like being able to open the doors. Then fridge-as-a-service where you rent the entire fridge and the fridge vendor resells your personal information to anyone and everyone. There will be a "vintage replica" premium market for rich hipsters to enjoy the luxury of a fridge without any of these features. But this market will be short-lived. The vintage fridges are just modern fridges dressed up in vintage sheet metal. They buy their critical components from the same wholesalers as the DRM vendors, so eventually they'll be compelled to put in the same features. Maybe they'll be permitted to use an old-timey font on a round touchscreen with a chrome bezel, to maintain the vintage vibe. I picture the execs of these companies studying Black Mirror episodes in darkened boardrooms... "Are you writing this down, Dave? This show is a gold mine!"
quartz 3y ago
Wait is this actually better? It's well presented in the ad but: - that removable veggie holder in the door looks crazy heavy and super awkward to put back in place (lining up at a sharp angle while gripping likely slick sides) - you have to open the refrigerator door to get at the freezer - the door compartments are narrow and probably can't handle odd sized containers - the shelves have holes in them so anything that drips off that uncovered plate of food gets all over everything below it - the ice ejector is completely unnecessary in our current world of ice makers. I doubt that fridge has a water line coming into it - the shelves don't look like they have adjustable height so you're stuck with 3 shelves that can't fit a gallon of milk
- mongol 3y ago
  Agree. It gives that "nifty!" impression, but I don't think it would be so useful in practise. Especially, I don't think the vegetables would keep well in that box. When I replaced my older (90s) fridge, vegetables kept much better in the new one, which had ciculation of air that the older fridge missed, and thus better humidity control. I suspect that tight box would not be good for durability of freshness.
- UncleMeat 3y ago
  Yeah the only two features that this fridge has that my fridge doesn't have are the pull out shelves and the removable bin for vegetables. I've got no idea why you'd really want the removable bin for vegetables. Carry all my veggies over to the sink first and then pick out the ones I want? And look at how small that thing is. Pull out shelves seem nice I guess, but they'd only be useful on lower shelves. My fridge seems to be about a foot taller than the one in the video. This person wouldn't be tall enough to see all the stuff on the top shelf if it were pulled out.
  - masklinn 3y ago
    Does your fridge not have crisper bins for veggies? I've had that in pretty much all my fridges, and the bins are always easily removable. Pull-out shelves not so much (all the fridges I've had, had adjustable but "locked" glass shelving, I would assume for hygiene as a glass shelf is much easier to clean regularly or after a spill, plus they don't block light so much), but they are available on expensive or professional fridges.
_fat_santa 3y ago
My grandfather had one of these fridges that still worked in his basement. While it had those cool space saving features like slide out shelves, it was also significantly smaller than modern refrigerators (and I'm talking about a "basic" fridge, not those fancy french door fridges that are even bigger). The other thing is the freezer section was not a separate compartment from the fridge. This meant that if you stored anything on the top shelf it would freeze just like the stuff in your freezer, not to mention all the cold you lost every time you opened the door (and speaking of the door, it was effing heavy).
nathancahill 3y ago
Just today I was using my soldering iron passed down from the 1960s. Heats up to full heat in 2 seconds and has fantastic flow control. Nothing similar exists today under $600 (although that's likely the inflation-adjusted price).
- CamperBob2 3y ago
  So, it's a soldering gun with a wire tip? Those are still available.
Apreche 3y ago
The fridge from 70 years ago was an extreme luxury item. Most people could not afford one. Nowadays we have refrigeration so cheap and accessible to all. If you want a fair comparison, go spend $20k+ on big fancy commercial refrigerator. I guarantee it will be better than the '50s model. Just to throw one more comparison. It is not shocking to say that a Rolex watch or a Leica camera from decades ago is better than a Swatch or a cheap point+shoot today. TL;DR: It's not true that they were better at making things in the olden times. It's true that luxury high end goods are superior to mass produced goods.
MeteorMarc 3y ago
In Europe there are energy consumption regulations for household equipment like fridges, see: https://commission.europa.eu/energy-climate-change-environment/standards-tools-and-labels/products-labelling-rules-and-requirements/energy-label-and-ecodesign/energy-efficient-products/fridges-and-freezers_en https://commission.europa.eu/energy-climate-change-environme... . What energy label would your fridge from 70 years ago have?
- ilyt 3y ago
  It actually might be pretty decent one as it was using freon which is very good at its job. The process didn't change all that much, neither did engines used in compressor so it is mostly "how well isolated the fridge is"
  - pfdietz 3y ago
    Current refrigerants are also very good, they're just more expensive. I doubt the refrigerator from 70 years ago had blown foam insulation (polyurethane insulation was introduced in refrigerators in the mid 80s), so it probably had terrible efficiency. It may have clawed some of that back by lacking automatic defrosting. https://dura-foam.com/assets/images/2-0/energy-consumption.png https://dura-foam.com/assets/images/2-0/energy-consumption.p...
helsinkiandrew 3y ago
70 years ago a fridge would cost $250-$400 - about a months salary, that's about $4k in todays money. If you pay $4k for a fridge instead of $400 today you can get one with a fair amount of gadgets too.
- lopis 3y ago
  But that's the thing. We don't want today's gadgets. We don't need internet connected fridges, apps and other breakable IoTs. We just want more usable fridges.
  - jasonlotito 3y ago
    I can quickly go out and buy a fridge that is far cheaper than a month's salary, and that has the same effective features. I was honestly waiting for the feature that I couldn't do on a normal, non-internet-connected fridge these days. So, really I don't understand what this post is referencing. The fridges from today are vastly better than that thing, especially when you consider things like temperature control, power usage, space, and usability. Can you buy worse fridges? Sure. You can spend substantially less and get something more barebones.
  - m463 3y ago
    I have also wondered if internet-connected fridges use more electricity. Having a computer and touchscreen and wifi collecting data 24/7 and sending it to samsung can't be cheap power-wise.
    - Shawnj2 3y ago
      It’s probably negligible compared to the cost of running a condenser
    - nateb2022 3y ago
      > Having a computer and touchscreen and wifi collecting data 24/7 and sending it to samsung can't be cheap power-wise. I would probably estimate that those additional components consume about as much power as a typical low-powered laptop, or about ~20W. You're likely not going to be paying more than $1/month for that, electricity wise.
criley2 3y ago
This fridge looks way worse than my current one. Much smaller and poorly designed. The ice machine looks annoying and inferior (mine automatically drops ice and dispenses it through the door, no touching or work required). Mine also dispenses purified water through the door, a major feature missing here. Over-use of door space for temperature sensitive goods is a classic refrigerator mistake as it's the warmest section. Combined with the inability to control humidity for fruits vs veg, it's clearly an inferior produce storage system. I do also have a removable container for fruit/veg, but mine is much better designed for real world use. I can't imagine what a huge and thin door-cage-system would offer you. Total gimmick. What we don't get to see is how well the temperature is controlled ESPECIALLY between the fridge and freezer. This isn't easy to pull off (and we have degree-accurate settings today) and it's likely that this model runs a lot warmer than we are used to today, especially in the freezer compartment. There's also questions about frost-free operation as many classic units required manual defrost cycles (taking all your food out) while my unit has automatic defrost cycles and guaranteed frost-free operation. Finally this fridge would have cost $5000+ in todays money. Mine is better in basically every way I can think of and I paid 1/5 the price. I bet mine will last twice as long, use a fraction of the electricity (cost significantly less to operate), and have a fraction of the environmental impact, too.
c-linkage 3y ago
My wife is a brute[1]. She's broken two of the plastic refrigerator drawers -- the vegetable drawer and the deli drawer -- which were impossible to repair. Yes, I tried super glue, but the bond never held. It's cost me $400 to replace both drawers -- 1/3 the cost of a new refrigerator. I wish I had one of these refrigerators; they look virtually unbreakable! And even if it did break, I could hammer it back into shape or weld it back together at home. [1] She's bent both her house key and her car key, and broken the car's shifter twice!
- avereveard 3y ago
  You need something for cold temperatures like two component epoxy based glues, not cyanoacrylates
- globular-toast 3y ago
  Yeah, women tend to break stuff for some reason.
francisofascii 3y ago
The ice cube extraction feature is pretty cool. Have never seen that before. Do modern refrigerators have that? (I get that we have ice cube maker features, but those can fail before the refrigerator does.)
- rascul 3y ago
  I'm not aware of any fridges that use an ice extraction mechanism like that. Seems unnecessary and extra work compared to an ice maker that just dumps ice into a container. If the ice maker fails, it's often replaceable.
vpastore 3y ago
and it cost like 5k$
Pxtl 3y ago
I bought a series of matching Whirlpool/Maytag appliances like 5-10 years back. They're all garbage. I already had to replace an element in the oven, it burns its own insulation sometimes and the glasstop takes eons to heat but then blows through the desired temperature and incinerates my food, the fridge has a light that flickers and it accidentally freezes stuff stored in the back near the vents, I had to replace a piece of plastic in the door that broke with some washers, the dishwasher fails to scrub things clean despite me following the best "Technology Connections" practices for dishwasher ownership despite how difficult it is to reassemble after cleaning (the clips almost fit together). My kitchen is overdue for a remodel. I'm going to end up breaking the bank on a full set of Bosch appliances or something, these American-Chinesium products are clownshoes.
toldyouso2022 3y ago
Fiat money vs sound money. With fiat money if you produce things that last you get money that devalues over time but no recurring income. Your company fails. With sound money, money don't devalue as easily, you can produce things that last. Also there may be a psychological effect on giving money more value and therefore wanting more from the things you exchange them for. Just some thoughts
no1groyp 3y ago
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locallost 3y ago
The slide out shelves and the ice tray are nice, but the rest I would not want. It has a too specific use, e.g. ok you have a butter tray but what if you don't want to eat butter. What if a brand shows up that makes butter twice the size, now it doesn't fit anymore. Etc.
ReptileMan 3y ago
What about microwaves - two buttons - power and time. Right now you have 100000 buttons and everything is confusing.
renewiltord 3y ago
Well, the patents on that fridge can't be still in action, so why don't you go build it? I suspect no one actually wants it because: - vegetable shelf is in door - veg shelf is hard to handle - ice makers beat ice scraper - fixed height shelves - Freezer shelf pull out feature is how they are today, but you need to open this fridge to access them - much lower capacity Essentially, this fridge is worse than present day fridge but you could build it today if you wanted and have a failed fridge company that made shitty fridges.
techdmn 3y ago
Certainly not the first to mention this, but see also: microwaves. I worked at a restaurant that had a microwave with precisely one input: a timer dial. To start the microwave, you turned the dial to the desired time. To stop the microwave, you open the door (ok, that's two inputs). To add time, you turned the dial further. It didn't beep a million times either.
- philipkglass 3y ago
  I had a microwave from the 1990s that had one power level dial and one timer dial. That interface was the best I've ever used. It took two seconds to start the heating process after I knew what power and time I wanted. If I could get a modern inverter based microwave oven with a two-dial interface I would love it. I just want the basic power and time controls to be fast and tactile. I'll happily give up sensor based cooking and the other extras in exchange for that.
  - tzs 3y ago
    My beef with power level settings on microwaves is that they usually don't tell you what they mean. Say I want to microwave something in my 1250 watt inverter microwave but the instructions are based on an 800 watt oven. What power setting in closest to 800 watts? All the manual tells me is there are 10 power settings, 10 is full power, and 3 is best for defrosting. It would be nice if it said something like "When following instructions written for an 800, 1000, 1100, or 1200 watt over use power level 7, 8, 9, or 10 respectively". I did some measurements of heating water on my Panasonic inverter microwave, and based on that it looks like the power levels 1-10 are roughly 140, 230, 300, 380, 620, 720, 800, 960, 1140, and 1250 watts.
- vel0city 3y ago
  I prefer my microwave. I often just press the "Reheat" button once and its practically always perfectly cooked. It'll even suggest turning or stirring if it thinks it needs it, which is usually only for large things. I don't even have to think about how far to turn the dial.
gpvos 3y ago
Relevant classic: The antique toaster that's better than yours: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OfxlSG6q5Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OfxlSG6q5Y [video]
cmsonger 3y ago
I wonder what it would cost to make / sell.
K0balt 3y ago
But, those are all physical features that cost money to produce each one! Surely an app that can be cobbled together from some no code framework that we will stop maintaining in 18 months (but you can’t defrost or adjust your temperature without it) will add just as much value, but at zero marginal cost! Plus, we can’t harvest data from useful physical features! Bits > bolts! But the worst part is , bits>bolts is actually very applicable in many cases. It’s just universal enshitification that has made that axiom in to a sad joke.
gok 3y ago
Besides being power hungry and small, these fridges also had mechanical latches, which trapped and killed dozens of children per year.
erremerre 3y ago
This video from technology connections shows exactly the same but with microwaves, specifically one from 1997. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiS27feX8o0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiS27feX8o0 What I don't understand is, you have done the development, the cost of the rest of things is marginal. Why don't keep giving those features into all microwaves manufactured by the same company?
- NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
  Don't forget the obligatory and very obvious hour-long video about a vintage fridge that "broke him": https://youtu.be/8PTjPzw9VhY https://youtu.be/8PTjPzw9VhY
deleted 3y ago
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talkingtab 3y ago
I think companies could build refrigerators like this if they wanted to. And by wanted to, I mean if it would make economic sense for them. What makes economic sense for companies is to make the cheapest thing they can sell. If you think about that last sentence, what they can sell is not "what customers want". And therein lies the problem and the question. Why is it that those two things are not equivalent? The ratio of things that are what I want to buy compared to what I buy is surprisingly low. That ratio is probably highest at Ikea. I use Amazon a lot and searching for "things as I want them" is surprisingly hard. I often search for something then try to find the best lowest price ones that have the highest ratings. Like which refrigerator has the most stars and the most reviews at the lowest price. Amazon does not want you to shop that way, because it would affect their bottom line. (thanks a lot amazon!). So my take is that how we shop determines what companies can sell and that - in turn - determines what kind of things we can buy. The stupidest example of the problem that I can think of is a dish rack for washing dishes. The number of really bad/over priced products is enormous at both Amazon and IRL Walmart. One day (out of many) Walmart actually had a FUNCTIONAL REASONABLY PRICED DISH RACK. I bought it. Best dish rack ever. Best price (and yes it did come with a drain tray and eating utensil holder). In my opinion it is stupid that it is so hard to find and pay a reasonable price for a simple functional item.
gbraad 3y ago
And the feature is: "still operational after decades" Built like a tank. Imagine Indiana Jones getting onto a fridge from now and try to survive a nuclear blast.
nickdothutton 3y ago
Next time you speak to an appliance repair guy, ask him what appliances he tends to visit most and least often and what the failure modes are.
- rascul 3y ago
  You might also check with the delivery guys to see which brands come back the most. It was LG and Samsung when I was delivering and installing appliances. Interesting thing about LG and Samsung is that they wouldn't accept returns. So if we delivered a brand new $4500 fridge but the fan didn't work when we plugged it in, then we took it back, talked to LG or Samsung, they told us to scrap it. So many easily and cheaply repairable Samsung and LG fridges went to scrap.
- 1970-01-01 3y ago
  That's worse than anecdotal data, because you're only seeing what they're trained and contracted to repair. It's like asking a mechanic if he's seen any Ferraris in the shop this week, and then assuming they must be reliable cars if he's seen none.
ElectronBadger 3y ago
It's also freon-propelled and contains elements made of lead. Thanks, but no.
seer 3y ago
A side not I always wondered why don't we have refrigerator models that are "split system" as we have with ACs. As it stands now it's a heat pump that pumps the heat from your refrigerator into your home. Wouldn't it be possible to create way more energy efficient model that has an outside body? Or even better connects to the AC body you already have outside? Like in the summer it would "help" the AC by being another AC itself, and in the winter it would effectively be "free" as it got its cold from the outside. I'm sure there's a reason nobody has attempted this (complexity / price) but was just wondering what the data point on something like this would be? Presumably with modern buildings this could be reduced accommodated, especially with geothermal AC being on the rise right now, would be cool to have all your heat pump systems connected to a single loop, sharing efficiency.
- rtkwe 3y ago
  Most residential units match one outside compressor to a single interior evaporator because to use one exterior unit for both you'd need way more complex valves to control which unit is receiving cooling. Even if your matching one to one you have the added cost of running all the lines associated with that including having a trades person coming out to install and charge the extra piping between the two units and installing the exterior unit that will need power. It's just massively simpler to have a complete unit you can drop down and optionally connect to water.
- not_the_fda 3y ago
  Because you have to worry about cycle times. Central AC is sized to cool the entire house and is only used when its hot outside. Tying a fridge to the central AC would give frequent and very short cycle times because it doesn't require the removal of as many BTUs. The AC system's life expectancy would then be shortened.
- ajot 3y ago
  > Wouldn't it be possible to create way more energy efficient model that has an outside body? Lots of shops (think mostly of butchers, charcuterie or take-away restaurants) here in Argentina do this, I think mostly to avoid all that heat and noise being trapped in the premises.
pfdietz 3y ago
Many of the failures I've seen in modern appliances are failures of the control board. It ends up not worth repairing them.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
uhtred 3y ago
But my fridge today has wifi and an app so i can check it's still on when i'm on vacation.
sampo 3y ago
I put a high value on inverter compressor, so the fridge's heat pump can run at low power all the time. Instead of being regulated on and off, with that loud "thunk" sound.
aaron695 3y ago
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LocalH 3y ago
Modern capitalism is about figuring out exactly how much you can enshittify something, and how much money you can charge for those enshittified products. The old ideal of "make really good, quality products and you'll prosper" has given way to "make really shitty products that people will pay for anyway, and you'll prosper more"
someguy7250 3y ago
I recently found my old HTC phone and it had a "fastboot" feature. The boot time is just 4 seconds. I hope old tech gets a comeback. I hope it creates more local jobs for phone repairs and software customizations. But it's probably just me being stupid.
sva_ 3y ago
You mustn't compare your low budget car with a Lamborghini?
hindsightbias 3y ago
There was some initiative years back that so many world problems would be solved by giving everyone access to a fridge. But does that still work out if it's a crappy fridge that fails every few years?
oliwarner 3y ago
I think people are taking exactly the wrong things from this. In demonstration, this fridge full of drawers and runners looks great. In practice, as soon as those metal slides, bearings, runners, etc get cold, normal household air will condense on them. They get wet, they rust, they're suddenly the worst and need replacing. Bearing runners in fridges are just the absolute worst idea. In the opposite vector, this is why older laundry machines were great: they were simple, powerful machines that never failed because they were just a motor and a rubber band.
johnea 3y ago
To use the Mastodon web application, please enable JavaScript.
sproketboy 3y ago
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brenainn 3y ago
I bought a Mitsubishi fridge about 2 years ago that's been going good. 470L french door model (MR-WX470F but I think that's an Australian SKU). No touch screen but the controls are capacitive which is a bummer. The ice maker isn't plumbed, you fill up an internal container so no water line to worry about. Little details I like about it like how the ice draw is lined with foam to dampen the noise when the ice drops in. It has this weird "super cooling" metal-lined draw, intended for storing leftovers without freezing them. I never used it until I realised it's really good at chilling beer. Made in Japan for what that's worth. Time will tell if it craps out early but I have a good feeling about it.
spacecadet 3y ago
You can definitely still buy dumb fridges, TVs, toasters, etc that are all well made and when adjusted for price are similar in cost... Its just hype noise selling bottom line Internet of Shit, dont listen.
jpl56 3y ago
Last year I almost needed to replace my 20-yo fridge because of temperature issues, condensation and short bulb life. New equivalent fridges didn't even had a door for spreadable butter, so I didn't buy any without continuing searching bot the best one. Then I realized the lamp never turns off when I close the door. The door sensor isn't easy to replace, I just removed the bulb and bought a rechargeable closet lamp with a movement sensor online. 12 euros. Problem solved. Btw I read here I should check the power consumption, we have a rather easy way to do it in France.
- HeyLaughingBoy 3y ago
  Temperature and condensation issues sounds like a leaking door seal. Should be easy enough to replace.
LorenPechtel 3y ago
Why would I want this fridge?? Why is the ice ejector in the cold space at all? That should be a countertop tool, it's just wasting space. Slide-out shelves increase the chance of knocking things off and they're almost certainly not adjustable. I see *one* good feature--everything in the door has covers which means it doesn't warm up as much when you open the door. I'd like to see that in the whole fridge--everything is behind doors to minimize air spill and make it clear exactly where the load limit is.
MostlyStable 3y ago
I agree with some of the comments that this fridge doesn't actually seem that much better than modern fridges (other than _not_ having some of the worst modern features, but you can still get fridges without those). However, it does seem to me like _lots_ of things are getting worse over time, through a combination of removal of features (phones: IR blaster, FM radio, headphone jack, etc), addition of features (kitchen appliances: wifi connectivity, touchscreens, etc.), or lack of repairability (everything).
bastardoperator 3y ago
My mom still has the fridge from my childhood in the garage. It's been working at this point for at least 40 years. I bought a brand new Samsung fridge, and it completely broke down within 9 months. Thankfully the State of New Jersey sued the pants off Samsung and made it where consumers could recoup their losses.
Vicinity9635 3y ago
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JohnFen 3y ago
In my opinion, most (but certainly not all) manufactured things from 70 years were much better than the same manufactured things now are. Things now are cheaper, of course. But I'm far from convinced that's a good thing. It means that the things are disposable, and it's one of the things that is advancing ecological destruction.
- momirlan 3y ago
  thank planned obsolescence
rhaway84773 3y ago
I’m curious what features in that fridge in the ad the authors current fridge doesn’t have?
kozzz 3y ago
The failure mode for pre-80s compressors was to continue heating up until the windings short out.
shagie 3y ago
One of the YouTube channels that I watch from time to time is a guy who is ranting/passionate about technology. The Antique Toaster that's Better than Yours - https://youtu.be/1OfxlSG6q5Y https://youtu.be/1OfxlSG6q5Y and How to design an actually good toaster with lessons from the 1940's - https://youtu.be/bLk1cjZ4ll0 https://youtu.be/bLk1cjZ4ll0 It's not a fridge... but similar design thoughts. There is a recent video about a fridge... This goofy fridge has a really clever design. It's also kinda terrible. - https://youtu.be/8PTjPzw9VhY https://youtu.be/8PTjPzw9VhY
sireat 3y ago
In Europe you can not buy a home vacuum with decent power simply because it is the law. https://commission.europa.eu/energy-climate-change-environment/standards-tools-and-labels/products-labelling-rules-and-requirements/energy-label-and-ecodesign/energy-efficient-products/vacuum-cleaners_en https://commission.europa.eu/energy-climate-change-environme... You can argue that the law is well intentioned and even necessary. The end result is the same, my old cheapo Scarlett 1500W vacuum from 20 years ago does a better job that, AEG, Electrolux and even my new Miele. All of them are hard limited to 900W. Then again is it really saving power if you spend 2x time using 900W vacuum instead of 1500W one?
- s1artibartfast 3y ago
  Similar story in California. My pet peeves are water conserving toilets and washing machines that are so finicky to calibrate that they usually require two flushes or Cycles, defeating the entire purpose and wasting your time.
  - shortrounddev2 3y ago
    Plus I'm pretty sure agriculture is the worst offender of water waste in a drought, not toilets
dirtyid 3y ago
Decades of value engineering reduced cost of appliances that consumer electronics makers need to add bell and whistles to capture more value i.e. there's recent article about Samsung wanting to milk billions in live services from smart appliances. It's dumb but it is what it is when fridge design reach marginal returns on core features like keeping things cold.
raydev 3y ago
Nice to see reposted previously viral tweets+videos on Mastodon. Mastodon has finally made it as a social network, I guess. https://twitter.com/search?q=fridge%2070%20years&src=typed_query https://twitter.com/search?q=fridge%2070%20years&src=typed_q...
alberth 3y ago
People love cheap things. Cheap things mean there are made disposable. We have way more options today to make cheap disposable goods than what existed 70 years ago.
culebron21 3y ago
I think 2 of 3 of the shown features are a bad idea. First, the sliding shelves. I can see a package get stuck in the upper shelf, and then when the shelf moves, fall down behind, onto the lower shelf, making it impossible to push the moved shelf back and close the fridge. And it's not something rare -- sometimes I have plastic bags freeze to the back wall. Or something sticking up into the upper shelf. With still shelves nothing wrong happens to these, but with moving one it does and would annoy consumer. Second, the box in the door on hinges... As soon as someone lets it drop-open, they'll have it break both the hinges and stopping points, and get feet injure. I had a similar thing happen with a piece of furniture. This will require a big repair of the entire door. The ice cubes feature is interesting. But you have those in your fridges today with some bottle dispenser, etc. I mostly saw these features being idle. So, as usual the featured fridge has nice features that failed the test of life. My current fridge of choice is Liebherr brand, which makes them simple (no digital stuff), with very convenient shelves, and very quiet.
neuralRiot 3y ago
I hink the only feature that one has than not modern one does is that it will work for 20 years. Probably would be 0.25x the efficiency of a modern one though.

361 points by zhte415 3y ago

I don't think it is better where it matters. Modern fridges circulate the air to manage humidity and temperature better for different zones (meat, vegetables etc). Also, less energy usage and no ozone-destroying coolants.

cde-v 3y ago
Having to throw a fridge in the landfill every 5 years negates the energy usage and ozone issues.
- rsynnott 3y ago
  Where are you buying these fridges that fail every five years? Perhaps consider a different brand next time; that's not normal. Modern fridges probably will not last 50 years (or at least only a tiny fraction of them will) but you should be getting a lot more than 5.

dahwolf 3y ago

The more awkward differences compared to now are much larger families and home cooking being the standard.

SteveNuts 3y ago

It's sad that when I see things like this I think "wow all I see is more shit to break"

sdflhasjd 3y ago

I would hazard a guess and say this was probably expensive by today's standards.

forgetfreeman 3y ago
Sure, but you'd buy once and that fridge problem was sorted for a few decades. Over the long term you paid significantly less because you weren't replacing a broken fridge every few years. If problems did crop up appliance repair was a cost effective long term fix. Ain't designed obsolescence a wonder?
- DSMan195276 3y ago
  I think the point is more that you can buy expensive fridges today that could last that long - people don't because they care more about spending less on a fridge.
  - js8 3y ago
    > people don't because they care more about spending less on a fridge I don't think so. First of all, there are lots of quality improvements that could make life longer, at almost zero additional cost per unit. Also, repairability could be improved. Second, there is an ecconomic problem with information asymetry - while I know the pricetag, I have no idea what the life expectancy is. So you get https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Market_for_Lemons https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Market_for_Lemons ; that's not the customer's preference. The latter could be possible to fix if we mandated producers to publish "expected usage per lifetime" (MTBF) numbers and also show price/usage ratio to customers.
    - DSMan195276 3y ago
      > I don't think so. First of all, there are lots of quality improvements that could make life longer, at almost zero additional cost per unit. Also, repairability could be improved. I don't entirely disagree, but there's always going to be a weakest link when you're targeting a low price point. It doesn't seem to take a whole lot of research to find that better fridges with those issues fixed _are_ available if you're willing to spend a bit more, people commenting on this article even linked to some. > The latter could be possible to fix if we mandated producers to publish "expected usage per lifetime" (MTBF) numbers and also show price/usage ratio to customers. I support this idea, but I'd also say the numbers presumably would not be significantly different from the warranty already offered on these things. I feel like it's not much of a secret that the warranty is intended to last the minimum lifetime of the product and not more. If they were confident in their product lasting longer, they'd sell you a longer warranty. I think there's also an unmentioned detail here, which is that many people probably won't own the same fridge for 20 or 30 years anyway - when you move, you commonly leave your fridge behind. There's not a huge incentive to buy an expensive fridge that could last a long time if you think it's likely you'll move before then anyway.

starbugs 3y ago

> Thing is, producing crappy, cookie-cutter, uninspired, overpriced junk that falls apart within 5 years (generously speaking) pays more to the shareholders. That's how we got from there to here. This summarizes it quite well for me.

vGPU 3y ago
See: Samsung fridges. A huge touchscreen and a water pump/ice maker that will fail in <5 years are standard.
- drcongo 3y ago
  My Samsung fridge is the worst thing I've ever bought.
  - firesteelrain 3y ago
    Agree. Mine lasted 6 years. Replaced with a Whirlpool. Lowe's sales rep told us at the time that the Samsung's were great. I went back 6 years later and told him that we bought a Samsung from him 6 years ago when he told us 6 years later not to buy a Samsung. Needless to say, he was apologetic. Now, my Bosch dishwasher has been solid. No issues.
    - usefulcat 3y ago
      > Now, my Bosch dishwasher has been solid. No issues. Seconded, and also confirmed by an appliance repair tech when I asked him about his opinion of the reliability of our various kitchen appliances.
      - pfdietz 3y ago
        We've had very good experience with Bosch dishwashers.
        brewdad 3y ago

rascul 3y ago

A lot of those features are available in today's fridges. Also, they use less power today. And you really don't have to get one with wifi and a touchscreen.

faitswulff 3y ago
I just really want that vegetable box. Any recommendations?
- nimajneb 3y ago
  You could get a clear plastic shallow bin with relevant dimensions to fit on a shelf in your fridge. Then you can take it out and put it back as needed. I just use the vegetable drawer in my fridge though.
- jxramos 3y ago
  OXO Good Grips GreenSaver Produce Keeper is a pretty good lil product.
- bombcar 3y ago
  The vegetable box on mine makes things last a long time with a filter for ethylene gas, perhaps something like these could help: https://www.amazon.com/ethylene-gas-absorber-fridge/ https://www.amazon.com/ethylene-gas-absorber-fridge/
  - Phrenzy 3y ago
    How will that help? Does the dog inhale the ethylene gas?
    - bombcar 3y ago
      Stupid amazon will give you URLs that then stop working, maybe this will work: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=ethylene+gas https://www.amazon.com/s?k=ethylene+gas
ImHereToVote 3y ago

marricks 3y ago

Some of those fridges are refurbished and still around[1]! It's my dream to own one someday when my fridge from the 90's dies. Every couple years there's a HN link to a blog post about how those appliances were built better in the day. Couple highlights I remember were: - Parts were dipped in paint rather than sprayed leading to fuller and thicker paint coverage - Motors had some changes so were actually built to last Got to imagine fewer electrical/mechanical parts that can fail as well. [1] https://carolinasantiqueappliances.com/Web/index.php/restored-refrigerators/ https://carolinasantiqueappliances.com/Web/index.php/restore...

vsareto 3y ago
>Parts were dipped in paint rather than sprayed leading to fuller and thicker paint coverage Hopefully not lead paint?
- SuchAnonMuchWow 3y ago
  It probably is: lead paint is much more durable and resistant, which is why it was everywhere in the 50s
  - MichaelZuo 3y ago
    Aren't there some fancy synthetic paints nowadays that are just as durable as lead paint? (At a much higher price of course)
- marricks 3y ago
  Well that's a compelling point in favor of modern fridges.
ethbr0 3y ago
There was a motor teardown linked on HN at some point. Essentially: electric motors from the 50s were vastly over designed, which meant they were extremely robust to physical failures The larger point about stuff now vs then is likely the use of capacitors. And specifically, cheap capacitors in consumer electronics. Absent electronics, you're talking an order of magnitude longer lifespan.

lakomen 3y ago

Not found the requested resource could not be found

dustincoates 3y ago

This reminds me of the same types of complaints around air travel now versus the 50s/60s. Both ignore the relative costs and the fact that you can still buy high-end fridges or first class tickets if you are willing to spend the same amount of money that you would have had to back then.

phren0logy 3y ago
True, but even most high-end brands these days are more about fashion and high markups for the illusion of luxury than actually better quality. Though at least they generally have far better customer service, which makes a big difference.
- oblio 3y ago
  It probably depends on where you are, but you can absolutely find brands where the production quality is higher. It's like with electric bikes. You can buy VanMoof (bling) or Gazelle (quality).
  - dagw 3y ago
    but you can absolutely find brands where the production quality is higher The problem is that those are mostly targeting professional kitchens and generally aren't what people want in their home kitchen. Finding something that will perform and last like a professional grade piece of kit, while still work and look good in your designer home kitchen is very hard.
    - oblio 3y ago
      That's always been the case.
imchillyb 3y ago
There is no real world comparison between air travel in the 50’s with anything else, except perhaps rampant enshitification. Double decker airframes, a standing lounge, smoking on board, unrestrained pets at the lounge… Nothing compares to the removal of these standards on all domestic flights. No industry did the consumer as dirty.

idlewords 3y ago

My girlfriend's mom has a teaching oven (used in home economics classes) from the 1950s. The 'teaching' part mostly means it has a more accurate and detailed temperature gauge. This gas oven is so heavy that light in the kitchen gravitationally lenses around it, but it's still going strong and the best oven I ever used.

PartiallyTyped 3y ago
On a serious note, how heavy does an object have to be for gravitational lensing or bending to be noticeable with a naked eye? s/visible/noticeable s/noticeable/noticeable with a naked eye s/lensing/gravitational lensing
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- leidenfrost 3y ago
  Depends on how you define "noticeable". If you can measure a small enough distance, you can see the lensing effect of any object.
  - idlewords 3y ago
    Comments like yours are what keep this site great.
  - PartiallyTyped 3y ago
    Noticeable with the naked eye.
  - LorenPechtel 3y ago
    Only in a Newtonian world--but there wouldn't be lensing in a Newtonian world. Once you consider Heisenberg and quantum mechanics you find your signal swamped by noise for smaller objects. Now, figuring out this limit is left as an exercise for the reader as it's way beyond my abilities.

bayindirh 3y ago

The most enlightening comment is "capitalism breeds innovation" (told sarcastically), but it's incomplete. The complete version is "Capitalism breeds innovation for getting consumers' money out of their hands".

CamperBob2 3y ago
What system do you recommend instead?
- bayindirh 3y ago
  The shortest answer is "a system with strong pro-consumer regulations where you can't buy people and laws legally and illegally". This idea proved to be a nice one, but unfortunately it includes humans. In a more broader sense, we needs checks and balances. A better version of this idea is a "bigger government", where government not only regulates, but builds the baseline products which pushes other companies to compete to build better goods. But this generates tons of brouhaha. It's called "communism", "non-free markets", "government intervention", etc. In reality, private companies hate and despise real competition, because a corporation is (or has become) an establishment for generating shareholder value, not make customers happy beyond the level required to keep the company afloat.
  - momirlan 3y ago
    i think "consumer protection" laws is a good start. "bigger government doesn't quite correlate with "better product".
ilyt 3y ago
Yup, competition breeds innovation but captialism will do everything it can to not have to compete. Patents, secrets, pirce fixing, and walled gardens, anything but trying to compete on actual product

ethbr0 3y ago

1950-1970 seems like a local optimum in UX that we've yet to surpass. My personal, completely-unsupported theory is it was a combination of 3 qualities. (1) New types of things, while unlike anything that came before, were still simple and understandable enough that someone without formal engineering training could understand their use and offer improvements. (2) Engineering was still seen as something that was approachable by anyone, and so more people availed themselves of the design tools it presented. (3) Manufacturing was physically colocated with design, increasing agility to implement improvements. Since then, we've moved into geographically disparate manufacturing of such optimized and tightly-packaged systems that as simple of an ask as "Could that light be red instead of green?" requires overwhelming machinations to design and implement, resulting in "Let's just leave it green." (Repeat for every UX component of a system)

gonzo41 3y ago
Also, everything was new. Now everything has been done, so people 'innovate' on silly crap in the UX space. Or they try and eek out margins resulting in intended obsolescence
ilyt 3y ago
I think for any long term products the designers of interface after they get to the optimum are just changing shit to keep themselves employed, while long time or professional users are just getting annoyed on having to re-learn stuff.
pikahumu 3y ago
(4) "Optima" is plural, "optimum" is singular. So, 1950-1970 seems like a local optimum.
- ethbr0 3y ago
  Fixed! Thanks. Sans coffee typing
user3939382 3y ago
There probably are a mix of factors. A big one that I see is that consumers moved away from "pride in ownership". Modern consumer culture weighs absolute price more than price per quality, so you get products that reflect that priority. Real inflation is also about double the rate of the official numbers IMHO, so the resources to invest in quality aren't as available.

toss1 3y ago

Very true. Many solid comments deriding the current generations of wifi-enabled (and randomly disabled when they shut off the servers) carp, but the seventh comment down nails it: >> "capitalism breeds innovation" haha Indeed, in many areas, 'capitalism' has not produced innovation that benefits anyone using the products, but merely increases the ratio of cash extracted from buyers in return for reduced value provided by sellers.

CamperBob2 3y ago
What system do you recommend instead?
- toss1 3y ago
  Well-regulated capitalism, with strong anti-trust regulations and enforcemet. The idea of a "free market" is an absolute fallacy. Every market has some set of rules and regulations. At the definitional level, it is irrelevant whether the regs are written, spoken, or tacitly understood, or whether they are enforced by law or self-imposed limits. Without regulation, no market lasts. The question is what regulations exist and how they are enforced. With very little regulation, markets coalesce to monopolies; the strong/wealthy get stronger & wealthier, and buy out or force out the smaller players. Even without explicit collusion among large players, they have the ability to sustain predatory practices to kill upstarts or buy out any promising ones. With collusion, they can enforce predatory low quality and high pricing on entire nations. Which is what we see here. The barriers to entry are high and the competition is so little that the entire appliance market has been massively enshittified — there is literally only crap available (unless you want to go full professional restaurant or hotel equipment). Even multiple different brands are literally made to the same specs in the same factories. I don't recall the details, but this was the case over a decade ago when we last looked for appliances, when it was bad enough that we found a couple new-old-stock from a previous mfg year of some units we knew were good. And I repair them when they need maintenance b/c it's only worse. This is only one of many industries, and tech is even worse, where incumbent positions and insane piles of capital effectively kill off any upstarts. Anti-trust needs to be a LOT stronger, more clear, and rapidly enforced.

epolanski 3y ago

And how much power did it consume? What were the materials used for those fridges and paint? How much did they weight? How stable was the temperature in the freezer and refrigerator? Did those fridges had any mechanism to avoid frost formations? How much did they cost? Point is, the needs of a fridge barely changed in 70 years, the only real expectation we had was that they would become cheaper to buy and run and easier to operate and maintain, all things modern fridges achieved to do. I would also argue that the ice cube breaker is a non-feature and that shelves being so easily removable is a minus rather than a pro. The ones on the door would easily break and the other ones could be easily pulled (sending every other thing on that shelf on the floor) if something got stuck. The door shelves also having all of those compartments lead to much poorer local cooling and are arguably worse for hygiene. In other words: there's reason why we moved from these designs, they had pros and cons and the focus was price and power efficiency.

hoosieree 3y ago
These are valid points, yet anecdotally it seems like modern fridges are less reliable and require more frequent replacement. Old fridges were "inefficient" because they didn't have an integrated variable speed motor and control board. But modern fridges seem to suffer a critical failure of some mysterious component 2 months after their warranty expires. This component can only be fixed by replacing the entire control board, and that's half the cost of a new one. Wouldn't you rather just buy a new one? But if you zoom out, is it globally more efficient to trash the whole fridge every 5 years, or use an "inefficient" fridge with replaceable parts for 40 years? Modern appliances are all slowly heading in the same direction. It starts with DRM on replaceable items like water filters. Then un-mutable advertisements playing on the screen. Then subscription fees for "options". Then subscription fees for things like being able to open the doors. Then fridge-as-a-service where you rent the entire fridge and the fridge vendor resells your personal information to anyone and everyone. There will be a "vintage replica" premium market for rich hipsters to enjoy the luxury of a fridge without any of these features. But this market will be short-lived. The vintage fridges are just modern fridges dressed up in vintage sheet metal. They buy their critical components from the same wholesalers as the DRM vendors, so eventually they'll be compelled to put in the same features. Maybe they'll be permitted to use an old-timey font on a round touchscreen with a chrome bezel, to maintain the vintage vibe. I picture the execs of these companies studying Black Mirror episodes in darkened boardrooms... "Are you writing this down, Dave? This show is a gold mine!"

quartz 3y ago

Wait is this actually better? It's well presented in the ad but: - that removable veggie holder in the door looks crazy heavy and super awkward to put back in place (lining up at a sharp angle while gripping likely slick sides) - you have to open the refrigerator door to get at the freezer - the door compartments are narrow and probably can't handle odd sized containers - the shelves have holes in them so anything that drips off that uncovered plate of food gets all over everything below it - the ice ejector is completely unnecessary in our current world of ice makers. I doubt that fridge has a water line coming into it - the shelves don't look like they have adjustable height so you're stuck with 3 shelves that can't fit a gallon of milk

mongol 3y ago
Agree. It gives that "nifty!" impression, but I don't think it would be so useful in practise. Especially, I don't think the vegetables would keep well in that box. When I replaced my older (90s) fridge, vegetables kept much better in the new one, which had ciculation of air that the older fridge missed, and thus better humidity control. I suspect that tight box would not be good for durability of freshness.
UncleMeat 3y ago
Yeah the only two features that this fridge has that my fridge doesn't have are the pull out shelves and the removable bin for vegetables. I've got no idea why you'd really want the removable bin for vegetables. Carry all my veggies over to the sink first and then pick out the ones I want? And look at how small that thing is. Pull out shelves seem nice I guess, but they'd only be useful on lower shelves. My fridge seems to be about a foot taller than the one in the video. This person wouldn't be tall enough to see all the stuff on the top shelf if it were pulled out.
- masklinn 3y ago
  Does your fridge not have crisper bins for veggies? I've had that in pretty much all my fridges, and the bins are always easily removable. Pull-out shelves not so much (all the fridges I've had, had adjustable but "locked" glass shelving, I would assume for hygiene as a glass shelf is much easier to clean regularly or after a spill, plus they don't block light so much), but they are available on expensive or professional fridges.

_fat_santa 3y ago

My grandfather had one of these fridges that still worked in his basement. While it had those cool space saving features like slide out shelves, it was also significantly smaller than modern refrigerators (and I'm talking about a "basic" fridge, not those fancy french door fridges that are even bigger). The other thing is the freezer section was not a separate compartment from the fridge. This meant that if you stored anything on the top shelf it would freeze just like the stuff in your freezer, not to mention all the cold you lost every time you opened the door (and speaking of the door, it was effing heavy).

nathancahill 3y ago

Just today I was using my soldering iron passed down from the 1960s. Heats up to full heat in 2 seconds and has fantastic flow control. Nothing similar exists today under $600 (although that's likely the inflation-adjusted price).

CamperBob2 3y ago
So, it's a soldering gun with a wire tip? Those are still available.

Apreche 3y ago

The fridge from 70 years ago was an extreme luxury item. Most people could not afford one. Nowadays we have refrigeration so cheap and accessible to all. If you want a fair comparison, go spend $20k+ on big fancy commercial refrigerator. I guarantee it will be better than the '50s model. Just to throw one more comparison. It is not shocking to say that a Rolex watch or a Leica camera from decades ago is better than a Swatch or a cheap point+shoot today. TL;DR: It's not true that they were better at making things in the olden times. It's true that luxury high end goods are superior to mass produced goods.

MeteorMarc 3y ago

In Europe there are energy consumption regulations for household equipment like fridges, see: https://commission.europa.eu/energy-climate-change-environment/standards-tools-and-labels/products-labelling-rules-and-requirements/energy-label-and-ecodesign/energy-efficient-products/fridges-and-freezers_en https://commission.europa.eu/energy-climate-change-environme... . What energy label would your fridge from 70 years ago have?

ilyt 3y ago
It actually might be pretty decent one as it was using freon which is very good at its job. The process didn't change all that much, neither did engines used in compressor so it is mostly "how well isolated the fridge is"
- pfdietz 3y ago
  Current refrigerants are also very good, they're just more expensive. I doubt the refrigerator from 70 years ago had blown foam insulation (polyurethane insulation was introduced in refrigerators in the mid 80s), so it probably had terrible efficiency. It may have clawed some of that back by lacking automatic defrosting. https://dura-foam.com/assets/images/2-0/energy-consumption.png https://dura-foam.com/assets/images/2-0/energy-consumption.p...

helsinkiandrew 3y ago

70 years ago a fridge would cost $250-$400 - about a months salary, that's about $4k in todays money. If you pay $4k for a fridge instead of $400 today you can get one with a fair amount of gadgets too.

lopis 3y ago
But that's the thing. We don't want today's gadgets. We don't need internet connected fridges, apps and other breakable IoTs. We just want more usable fridges.
- jasonlotito 3y ago
  I can quickly go out and buy a fridge that is far cheaper than a month's salary, and that has the same effective features. I was honestly waiting for the feature that I couldn't do on a normal, non-internet-connected fridge these days. So, really I don't understand what this post is referencing. The fridges from today are vastly better than that thing, especially when you consider things like temperature control, power usage, space, and usability. Can you buy worse fridges? Sure. You can spend substantially less and get something more barebones.
- m463 3y ago
  I have also wondered if internet-connected fridges use more electricity. Having a computer and touchscreen and wifi collecting data 24/7 and sending it to samsung can't be cheap power-wise.
  - Shawnj2 3y ago
    It’s probably negligible compared to the cost of running a condenser
  - nateb2022 3y ago
    > Having a computer and touchscreen and wifi collecting data 24/7 and sending it to samsung can't be cheap power-wise. I would probably estimate that those additional components consume about as much power as a typical low-powered laptop, or about ~20W. You're likely not going to be paying more than $1/month for that, electricity wise.

criley2 3y ago

This fridge looks way worse than my current one. Much smaller and poorly designed. The ice machine looks annoying and inferior (mine automatically drops ice and dispenses it through the door, no touching or work required). Mine also dispenses purified water through the door, a major feature missing here. Over-use of door space for temperature sensitive goods is a classic refrigerator mistake as it's the warmest section. Combined with the inability to control humidity for fruits vs veg, it's clearly an inferior produce storage system. I do also have a removable container for fruit/veg, but mine is much better designed for real world use. I can't imagine what a huge and thin door-cage-system would offer you. Total gimmick. What we don't get to see is how well the temperature is controlled ESPECIALLY between the fridge and freezer. This isn't easy to pull off (and we have degree-accurate settings today) and it's likely that this model runs a lot warmer than we are used to today, especially in the freezer compartment. There's also questions about frost-free operation as many classic units required manual defrost cycles (taking all your food out) while my unit has automatic defrost cycles and guaranteed frost-free operation. Finally this fridge would have cost $5000+ in todays money. Mine is better in basically every way I can think of and I paid 1/5 the price. I bet mine will last twice as long, use a fraction of the electricity (cost significantly less to operate), and have a fraction of the environmental impact, too.

c-linkage 3y ago

My wife is a brute[1]. She's broken two of the plastic refrigerator drawers -- the vegetable drawer and the deli drawer -- which were impossible to repair. Yes, I tried super glue, but the bond never held. It's cost me $400 to replace both drawers -- 1/3 the cost of a new refrigerator. I wish I had one of these refrigerators; they look virtually unbreakable! And even if it did break, I could hammer it back into shape or weld it back together at home. [1] She's bent both her house key and her car key, and broken the car's shifter twice!

avereveard 3y ago
You need something for cold temperatures like two component epoxy based glues, not cyanoacrylates
globular-toast 3y ago
Yeah, women tend to break stuff for some reason.

francisofascii 3y ago

The ice cube extraction feature is pretty cool. Have never seen that before. Do modern refrigerators have that? (I get that we have ice cube maker features, but those can fail before the refrigerator does.)

rascul 3y ago
I'm not aware of any fridges that use an ice extraction mechanism like that. Seems unnecessary and extra work compared to an ice maker that just dumps ice into a container. If the ice maker fails, it's often replaceable.

vpastore 3y ago

and it cost like 5k$

Pxtl 3y ago

I bought a series of matching Whirlpool/Maytag appliances like 5-10 years back. They're all garbage. I already had to replace an element in the oven, it burns its own insulation sometimes and the glasstop takes eons to heat but then blows through the desired temperature and incinerates my food, the fridge has a light that flickers and it accidentally freezes stuff stored in the back near the vents, I had to replace a piece of plastic in the door that broke with some washers, the dishwasher fails to scrub things clean despite me following the best "Technology Connections" practices for dishwasher ownership despite how difficult it is to reassemble after cleaning (the clips almost fit together). My kitchen is overdue for a remodel. I'm going to end up breaking the bank on a full set of Bosch appliances or something, these American-Chinesium products are clownshoes.

toldyouso2022 3y ago

Fiat money vs sound money. With fiat money if you produce things that last you get money that devalues over time but no recurring income. Your company fails. With sound money, money don't devalue as easily, you can produce things that last. Also there may be a psychological effect on giving money more value and therefore wanting more from the things you exchange them for. Just some thoughts

no1groyp 3y ago

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locallost 3y ago

The slide out shelves and the ice tray are nice, but the rest I would not want. It has a too specific use, e.g. ok you have a butter tray but what if you don't want to eat butter. What if a brand shows up that makes butter twice the size, now it doesn't fit anymore. Etc.

ReptileMan 3y ago

What about microwaves - two buttons - power and time. Right now you have 100000 buttons and everything is confusing.

renewiltord 3y ago

Well, the patents on that fridge can't be still in action, so why don't you go build it? I suspect no one actually wants it because: - vegetable shelf is in door - veg shelf is hard to handle - ice makers beat ice scraper - fixed height shelves - Freezer shelf pull out feature is how they are today, but you need to open this fridge to access them - much lower capacity Essentially, this fridge is worse than present day fridge but you could build it today if you wanted and have a failed fridge company that made shitty fridges.

techdmn 3y ago

Certainly not the first to mention this, but see also: microwaves. I worked at a restaurant that had a microwave with precisely one input: a timer dial. To start the microwave, you turned the dial to the desired time. To stop the microwave, you open the door (ok, that's two inputs). To add time, you turned the dial further. It didn't beep a million times either.

philipkglass 3y ago
I had a microwave from the 1990s that had one power level dial and one timer dial. That interface was the best I've ever used. It took two seconds to start the heating process after I knew what power and time I wanted. If I could get a modern inverter based microwave oven with a two-dial interface I would love it. I just want the basic power and time controls to be fast and tactile. I'll happily give up sensor based cooking and the other extras in exchange for that.
- tzs 3y ago
  My beef with power level settings on microwaves is that they usually don't tell you what they mean. Say I want to microwave something in my 1250 watt inverter microwave but the instructions are based on an 800 watt oven. What power setting in closest to 800 watts? All the manual tells me is there are 10 power settings, 10 is full power, and 3 is best for defrosting. It would be nice if it said something like "When following instructions written for an 800, 1000, 1100, or 1200 watt over use power level 7, 8, 9, or 10 respectively". I did some measurements of heating water on my Panasonic inverter microwave, and based on that it looks like the power levels 1-10 are roughly 140, 230, 300, 380, 620, 720, 800, 960, 1140, and 1250 watts.
vel0city 3y ago
I prefer my microwave. I often just press the "Reheat" button once and its practically always perfectly cooked. It'll even suggest turning or stirring if it thinks it needs it, which is usually only for large things. I don't even have to think about how far to turn the dial.

gpvos 3y ago

Relevant classic: The antique toaster that's better than yours: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OfxlSG6q5Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OfxlSG6q5Y [video]

cmsonger 3y ago

I wonder what it would cost to make / sell.

K0balt 3y ago

But, those are all physical features that cost money to produce each one! Surely an app that can be cobbled together from some no code framework that we will stop maintaining in 18 months (but you can’t defrost or adjust your temperature without it) will add just as much value, but at zero marginal cost! Plus, we can’t harvest data from useful physical features! Bits > bolts! But the worst part is , bits>bolts is actually very applicable in many cases. It’s just universal enshitification that has made that axiom in to a sad joke.

gok 3y ago

Besides being power hungry and small, these fridges also had mechanical latches, which trapped and killed dozens of children per year.

erremerre 3y ago

This video from technology connections shows exactly the same but with microwaves, specifically one from 1997. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiS27feX8o0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiS27feX8o0 What I don't understand is, you have done the development, the cost of the rest of things is marginal. Why don't keep giving those features into all microwaves manufactured by the same company?

NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
Don't forget the obligatory and very obvious hour-long video about a vintage fridge that "broke him": https://youtu.be/8PTjPzw9VhY https://youtu.be/8PTjPzw9VhY

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talkingtab 3y ago

I think companies could build refrigerators like this if they wanted to. And by wanted to, I mean if it would make economic sense for them. What makes economic sense for companies is to make the cheapest thing they can sell. If you think about that last sentence, what they can sell is not "what customers want". And therein lies the problem and the question. Why is it that those two things are not equivalent? The ratio of things that are what I want to buy compared to what I buy is surprisingly low. That ratio is probably highest at Ikea. I use Amazon a lot and searching for "things as I want them" is surprisingly hard. I often search for something then try to find the best lowest price ones that have the highest ratings. Like which refrigerator has the most stars and the most reviews at the lowest price. Amazon does not want you to shop that way, because it would affect their bottom line. (thanks a lot amazon!). So my take is that how we shop determines what companies can sell and that - in turn - determines what kind of things we can buy. The stupidest example of the problem that I can think of is a dish rack for washing dishes. The number of really bad/over priced products is enormous at both Amazon and IRL Walmart. One day (out of many) Walmart actually had a FUNCTIONAL REASONABLY PRICED DISH RACK. I bought it. Best dish rack ever. Best price (and yes it did come with a drain tray and eating utensil holder). In my opinion it is stupid that it is so hard to find and pay a reasonable price for a simple functional item.

gbraad 3y ago

And the feature is: "still operational after decades" Built like a tank. Imagine Indiana Jones getting onto a fridge from now and try to survive a nuclear blast.

nickdothutton 3y ago

Next time you speak to an appliance repair guy, ask him what appliances he tends to visit most and least often and what the failure modes are.

rascul 3y ago
You might also check with the delivery guys to see which brands come back the most. It was LG and Samsung when I was delivering and installing appliances. Interesting thing about LG and Samsung is that they wouldn't accept returns. So if we delivered a brand new $4500 fridge but the fan didn't work when we plugged it in, then we took it back, talked to LG or Samsung, they told us to scrap it. So many easily and cheaply repairable Samsung and LG fridges went to scrap.
1970-01-01 3y ago
That's worse than anecdotal data, because you're only seeing what they're trained and contracted to repair. It's like asking a mechanic if he's seen any Ferraris in the shop this week, and then assuming they must be reliable cars if he's seen none.

ElectronBadger 3y ago

It's also freon-propelled and contains elements made of lead. Thanks, but no.

seer 3y ago

A side not I always wondered why don't we have refrigerator models that are "split system" as we have with ACs. As it stands now it's a heat pump that pumps the heat from your refrigerator into your home. Wouldn't it be possible to create way more energy efficient model that has an outside body? Or even better connects to the AC body you already have outside? Like in the summer it would "help" the AC by being another AC itself, and in the winter it would effectively be "free" as it got its cold from the outside. I'm sure there's a reason nobody has attempted this (complexity / price) but was just wondering what the data point on something like this would be? Presumably with modern buildings this could be reduced accommodated, especially with geothermal AC being on the rise right now, would be cool to have all your heat pump systems connected to a single loop, sharing efficiency.

rtkwe 3y ago
Most residential units match one outside compressor to a single interior evaporator because to use one exterior unit for both you'd need way more complex valves to control which unit is receiving cooling. Even if your matching one to one you have the added cost of running all the lines associated with that including having a trades person coming out to install and charge the extra piping between the two units and installing the exterior unit that will need power. It's just massively simpler to have a complete unit you can drop down and optionally connect to water.
not_the_fda 3y ago
Because you have to worry about cycle times. Central AC is sized to cool the entire house and is only used when its hot outside. Tying a fridge to the central AC would give frequent and very short cycle times because it doesn't require the removal of as many BTUs. The AC system's life expectancy would then be shortened.
ajot 3y ago
> Wouldn't it be possible to create way more energy efficient model that has an outside body? Lots of shops (think mostly of butchers, charcuterie or take-away restaurants) here in Argentina do this, I think mostly to avoid all that heat and noise being trapped in the premises.

pfdietz 3y ago

Many of the failures I've seen in modern appliances are failures of the control board. It ends up not worth repairing them.

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uhtred 3y ago

But my fridge today has wifi and an app so i can check it's still on when i'm on vacation.

sampo 3y ago

I put a high value on inverter compressor, so the fridge's heat pump can run at low power all the time. Instead of being regulated on and off, with that loud "thunk" sound.

aaron695 3y ago

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LocalH 3y ago

Modern capitalism is about figuring out exactly how much you can enshittify something, and how much money you can charge for those enshittified products. The old ideal of "make really good, quality products and you'll prosper" has given way to "make really shitty products that people will pay for anyway, and you'll prosper more"

someguy7250 3y ago

I recently found my old HTC phone and it had a "fastboot" feature. The boot time is just 4 seconds. I hope old tech gets a comeback. I hope it creates more local jobs for phone repairs and software customizations. But it's probably just me being stupid.

sva_ 3y ago

You mustn't compare your low budget car with a Lamborghini?

hindsightbias 3y ago

There was some initiative years back that so many world problems would be solved by giving everyone access to a fridge. But does that still work out if it's a crappy fridge that fails every few years?

oliwarner 3y ago

I think people are taking exactly the wrong things from this. In demonstration, this fridge full of drawers and runners looks great. In practice, as soon as those metal slides, bearings, runners, etc get cold, normal household air will condense on them. They get wet, they rust, they're suddenly the worst and need replacing. Bearing runners in fridges are just the absolute worst idea. In the opposite vector, this is why older laundry machines were great: they were simple, powerful machines that never failed because they were just a motor and a rubber band.

johnea 3y ago

To use the Mastodon web application, please enable JavaScript.

sproketboy 3y ago

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brenainn 3y ago

I bought a Mitsubishi fridge about 2 years ago that's been going good. 470L french door model (MR-WX470F but I think that's an Australian SKU). No touch screen but the controls are capacitive which is a bummer. The ice maker isn't plumbed, you fill up an internal container so no water line to worry about. Little details I like about it like how the ice draw is lined with foam to dampen the noise when the ice drops in. It has this weird "super cooling" metal-lined draw, intended for storing leftovers without freezing them. I never used it until I realised it's really good at chilling beer. Made in Japan for what that's worth. Time will tell if it craps out early but I have a good feeling about it.

spacecadet 3y ago

You can definitely still buy dumb fridges, TVs, toasters, etc that are all well made and when adjusted for price are similar in cost... Its just hype noise selling bottom line Internet of Shit, dont listen.

jpl56 3y ago

Last year I almost needed to replace my 20-yo fridge because of temperature issues, condensation and short bulb life. New equivalent fridges didn't even had a door for spreadable butter, so I didn't buy any without continuing searching bot the best one. Then I realized the lamp never turns off when I close the door. The door sensor isn't easy to replace, I just removed the bulb and bought a rechargeable closet lamp with a movement sensor online. 12 euros. Problem solved. Btw I read here I should check the power consumption, we have a rather easy way to do it in France.

HeyLaughingBoy 3y ago
Temperature and condensation issues sounds like a leaking door seal. Should be easy enough to replace.

LorenPechtel 3y ago

Why would I want this fridge?? Why is the ice ejector in the cold space at all? That should be a countertop tool, it's just wasting space. Slide-out shelves increase the chance of knocking things off and they're almost certainly not adjustable. I see *one* good feature--everything in the door has covers which means it doesn't warm up as much when you open the door. I'd like to see that in the whole fridge--everything is behind doors to minimize air spill and make it clear exactly where the load limit is.

MostlyStable 3y ago

I agree with some of the comments that this fridge doesn't actually seem that much better than modern fridges (other than _not_ having some of the worst modern features, but you can still get fridges without those). However, it does seem to me like _lots_ of things are getting worse over time, through a combination of removal of features (phones: IR blaster, FM radio, headphone jack, etc), addition of features (kitchen appliances: wifi connectivity, touchscreens, etc.), or lack of repairability (everything).

bastardoperator 3y ago

My mom still has the fridge from my childhood in the garage. It's been working at this point for at least 40 years. I bought a brand new Samsung fridge, and it completely broke down within 9 months. Thankfully the State of New Jersey sued the pants off Samsung and made it where consumers could recoup their losses.

Vicinity9635 3y ago

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JohnFen 3y ago

In my opinion, most (but certainly not all) manufactured things from 70 years were much better than the same manufactured things now are. Things now are cheaper, of course. But I'm far from convinced that's a good thing. It means that the things are disposable, and it's one of the things that is advancing ecological destruction.

momirlan 3y ago
thank planned obsolescence

rhaway84773 3y ago

I’m curious what features in that fridge in the ad the authors current fridge doesn’t have?

kozzz 3y ago

The failure mode for pre-80s compressors was to continue heating up until the windings short out.

shagie 3y ago

One of the YouTube channels that I watch from time to time is a guy who is ranting/passionate about technology. The Antique Toaster that's Better than Yours - https://youtu.be/1OfxlSG6q5Y https://youtu.be/1OfxlSG6q5Y and How to design an actually good toaster with lessons from the 1940's - https://youtu.be/bLk1cjZ4ll0 https://youtu.be/bLk1cjZ4ll0 It's not a fridge... but similar design thoughts. There is a recent video about a fridge... This goofy fridge has a really clever design. It's also kinda terrible. - https://youtu.be/8PTjPzw9VhY https://youtu.be/8PTjPzw9VhY

sireat 3y ago

In Europe you can not buy a home vacuum with decent power simply because it is the law. https://commission.europa.eu/energy-climate-change-environment/standards-tools-and-labels/products-labelling-rules-and-requirements/energy-label-and-ecodesign/energy-efficient-products/vacuum-cleaners_en https://commission.europa.eu/energy-climate-change-environme... You can argue that the law is well intentioned and even necessary. The end result is the same, my old cheapo Scarlett 1500W vacuum from 20 years ago does a better job that, AEG, Electrolux and even my new Miele. All of them are hard limited to 900W. Then again is it really saving power if you spend 2x time using 900W vacuum instead of 1500W one?

s1artibartfast 3y ago
Similar story in California. My pet peeves are water conserving toilets and washing machines that are so finicky to calibrate that they usually require two flushes or Cycles, defeating the entire purpose and wasting your time.
- shortrounddev2 3y ago
  Plus I'm pretty sure agriculture is the worst offender of water waste in a drought, not toilets

dirtyid 3y ago

Decades of value engineering reduced cost of appliances that consumer electronics makers need to add bell and whistles to capture more value i.e. there's recent article about Samsung wanting to milk billions in live services from smart appliances. It's dumb but it is what it is when fridge design reach marginal returns on core features like keeping things cold.

raydev 3y ago

Nice to see reposted previously viral tweets+videos on Mastodon. Mastodon has finally made it as a social network, I guess. https://twitter.com/search?q=fridge%2070%20years&src=typed_query https://twitter.com/search?q=fridge%2070%20years&src=typed_q...

alberth 3y ago

People love cheap things. Cheap things mean there are made disposable. We have way more options today to make cheap disposable goods than what existed 70 years ago.

culebron21 3y ago

I think 2 of 3 of the shown features are a bad idea. First, the sliding shelves. I can see a package get stuck in the upper shelf, and then when the shelf moves, fall down behind, onto the lower shelf, making it impossible to push the moved shelf back and close the fridge. And it's not something rare -- sometimes I have plastic bags freeze to the back wall. Or something sticking up into the upper shelf. With still shelves nothing wrong happens to these, but with moving one it does and would annoy consumer. Second, the box in the door on hinges... As soon as someone lets it drop-open, they'll have it break both the hinges and stopping points, and get feet injure. I had a similar thing happen with a piece of furniture. This will require a big repair of the entire door. The ice cubes feature is interesting. But you have those in your fridges today with some bottle dispenser, etc. I mostly saw these features being idle. So, as usual the featured fridge has nice features that failed the test of life. My current fridge of choice is Liebherr brand, which makes them simple (no digital stuff), with very convenient shelves, and very quiet.

neuralRiot 3y ago

I hink the only feature that one has than not modern one does is that it will work for 20 years. Probably would be 0.25x the efficiency of a modern one though.