Wait, like the same appliance washes AND dries clothes? I don't have to move them? I need one of those!
Eh, it's something that's not really good at either thing. It takes like 2 hours to dry a pair of jeans and a few socks. But they are popular in Europe because they save space - they are usually in the kitchen or bathroom.
My dryer sucks anyway. At least I wouldn't have to move anything!
I can believe it but in Europe they work shorter hours and have access to way more farmers markets than we do ! they have the time to stop en route home to check out the produce and decide what to make for dinner bc they're not at the office until 6-7-8p.
also apts and homes are smaller in Europe than here in the States .. that might account for the tiny fridges too !
I can tell you right now that my husband works until 7pm regularly as do my friends, so no, we don't work shorter hours (we may not all work until 8pm but still) and not all of us can stop by a farmers market on the way home from work - I just go to a normal supermarket if need be. Smaller fridges are definitely the norm for many of my friends, in London. I was so excited when I bought a house so I could have a 'big one' -
It's similar to this with the fridge on top & freezer down below, though we only have three freezer sections. It's still much smaller than what I grew up with, but you get used to it. What I like is that I use everything that I buy - very little waste. And you have to as things aren't 'preserved' the same way so they won't last (it was a shock to my system when I moved over here that bread went bad).
We also don't have a dryer and our washing machines tend to be in the kitchen as well. I'd rather hang my clothing up than have the combo washer/dryer as it rarely works. We don't own an air conditioner of any sort no less central air. Life is different in England (haven't lived elsewhere in Europe so don't know) but I love living in a smaller space and with 'less' stuff .
A drain on the environment? I could get behind that. An enabler of obesity though? Depends on what you put in it obv. I'd argue that the increasing tend of eating out more is the real contributor to obesity.
We had a tiny fridge in England (when I was a kid). But we also got milk and eggs delivered to our doorstep and a lot of things like meat were just not properly stored (imo).
Our fridge is pretty small by American standards yet we waste a fair amount of food. When we lived in the UK our fridge was a pretty good size by European standards but we wasted far less than we do now, despite not being any closer to fresh food than we are now.
I'm sure I'll covet an SUV sized fridge once my boys become teenagers, but for now I'm on Team Tiny Fridge.
Almost every apartment we looked at in SK had multiple fridges. I have a full size one plus a separate narrower fridge and freezer. There was a 3rd fridge I made the landlord take back. Kimchi obsessions FTW. The vast majority of people I see here are ridiculously fit and good looking. It's disgusting in its own way.
ETA: I am glad to know all that stuff that says "refrigerate after opening" isn't necessary. I forget to do that sometimes and get paranoid I'm cooking with gross things.
I didn't read the article but we have a smaller fridge. We just got a new one and moved up from an 8 cu ft to a 10 cu ft.
It works just fine for our family of 4 but we have a chest freezer in the basement. I don't think it would work out well for us without that. I love our small fridge and can't imagine what I would fill up a big fridge with, but I'm sure if I had one I would feel just the opposite.
Post by anastasia517 on Jul 29, 2014 20:26:23 GMT -5
I think the biggest issue is that people buy way too much. That results in having to stuff their fridge so it is overflowing, where things will naturally get pushed to the back and/or go bad before they can be used. This is definitely my MIL's issue, at the very least.
I have found that even having a big fridge, things don't disappear or go bad because I try to only buy what I will eat in a week or two. When I can see everything, I'm tossing less in addition to spending less. Win/win.
We tried like hell to buy a smaller LG fridge from Sears when we bought our current house. After 90 days of never getting it, we had to cancel the order - apparently they were hot items and they couldn't fulfill the orders for over 3 months out, but we needed a fridge. We'd still be open to it; I can see it helping economize food purchases.
Post by lasagnasshole on Jul 29, 2014 20:50:06 GMT -5
The single appliance washer-dryer thing is TERRIBLE.
We had one when I loved in London. It did NOT dry ANYTHING. I lived with three other women. Ergo, our flat had laundry hanging from any surface that would hold it.
Also, it turned all light colors clothes gray. I don't know how or why, but it did. I basically wore nothing but black, gray, and other dark colors for 4 months because the washer turned everything gray.
The single appliance washer-dryer thing is TERRIBLE.
We had one when I loved in London. It did NOT dry ANYTHING. I lived with three other women. Ergo, our flat had laundry hanging from any surface that would hold it.
Also, it turned all light colors clothes gray. I don't know how or why, but it did. I basically wore nothing but black, gray, and other dark colors for 4 months because the washer turned everything gray.
We had a separate washer and dryer in Paris. The washer did the SAME THING turning everything gray, and the dryer took over 2 hours to dry a normal small load.
Eh, it's something that's not really good at either thing. It takes like 2 hours to dry a pair of jeans and a few socks. But they are popular in Europe because they save space - they are usually in the kitchen or bathroom.
My dryer sucks anyway. At least I wouldn't have to move anything!
I used to have one of these in a city apartment and it was terrible at washing and drying so what was the point.
Post by rupertpenny on Jul 30, 2014 6:34:36 GMT -5
I have a lot of thoughts.
First, combined washer/dryers are the appliances of Satan. I have had pretty much any laundry situation you can imagine, and have a combined w/d was by far the worst.
I currently have a tiny fridge in the tiny kitchen of my tiny apartment and I haven't lost any weight since downsizing from my big, bad American fridge.
My small fridge cost nowhere near 1500 dollars. It was significantly less than 500 dollars.
To point with this article: I've been meaning to break down the 1/2 watermelon in my fridge for, like, a week. And now its going bad. So I wasted 1/2 a watermelon. If I had a tiny fridge, it wouldn't FIT half a watermelon, so I would have had to break it down and portion it out right away, which means I would have eaten it!