Tag Archives: appliance

Cleaning Your Coffee Maker

Coffeemakers require special attention and they must be well taken care of if they are to continue to provide the wonderful eye-opening and delicious liquid that they are conditioned to produce from the time they are baby coffee makers. No matter what kind of coffee maker you own or how many, these tips will help you keep them happy. Consider them, if you dare. Aluminum Percolators Aluminum percolators are not fond of bleach and shun its presence in their insides. Bleach really doesn’t work well with anything made of aluminum and plain old H20 and some spice is much more … Continue reading →

Cleaning Smaller Appliances

Cleaning is an art form even if for most of us it’s not one we particularly like to do. For toasters, kettles and many of their friends and associates, kitchen cleaning kind of passes them by most of the time. Pay attention to these metallic friends and they will appreciate you more. Consider the following tips when approaching your smaller but still significant kitchen appliances. Toaster Trick Nail polish remover to the rescue! Usually a toaster is kept on a counter and has a bread bag nearby. This often means that a piece of the plastic bag melts on one … Continue reading →

Organizing Your Fridge and Its Environs

Your refrigerator is your friend, but what kind of pal are you? Do you clean big white, black or almond-colored Sara or Frederick out every week or so to give it time to breathe and make way for new food friends to circulate? Your fridge has feelings too, even if they are mostly cold ones. Make the best of your friendship, if you dare, by considering the following suggestions. Place frequently used food items, like lunch-making supplies, in the shelves either on the refrigerator or the freezer door. This makes them quick and easy to find and will save you … Continue reading →

The Dishwasher As Energy-Saver and Friend

Here are some tips to save time, energy and money while operating the dishwasher in your home. (These tips will also work in your friends’ homes, but I am quite sure that YOUR dishwasher isn’t there.) 1. Run the dishwasher only when you have a full load. It’s much cheaper that way. 2. Save energy by using the air-dry method rather than heat dry. It may not be as fast, but is more energy-efficient. The door can be opened to speed up the drying process at the end of the cycle and if your dryer does no have such an … Continue reading →

Tivo For The Home, Anyone?

“It’s a bird. It’s a plane. No, it’s Tivo!” ~ Anonymous Someone of semi-importance said that once you own a Tivo, you will wonder how you ever managed to live without one. Without what? you might ask, looking like the rear end of an unsophisticated donkey, if you’re anything like me. I first heard about Tivo a year or so ago on the Oprah Winfrey Show, and had no idea that I was watching the birth not of the blues, but of a push button technological coup d’etat. Tivo users swear that the device has revolutionized their lives, altering domestic … Continue reading →

Plasma TV: Do You Need A Transfusion?

What is this thing called plasma television and why can’t I get it at the local blood bank? Wherever did it come from and why does it beckon from regions heretofore unknown? Read on, no matter what blood type you may be. July of 1964 marked the entrance of the very first prototype for a plasma display monitor. It was the brain-child of University of Illinois professors Donald Blitzer and Gene Slottow and then graduate student, Robert Wilson. The concept did not become possible however, until the advent of digital and other technologies many years later. Plasma is the name … Continue reading →

The Toaster In Your Home: Do You Know Where It Came From?

In the days of the Roman gladiators, toasting bread was a way to prolong its life (not the gladiator’s; the bread). In fact, the word “tostum,” from which toast derives, is actually Latin for scorching or burning. (In my house, the word would be synomous with ironing, but that’s information for another blog entirely.) In their conquests, the Romans took their love of toast with them and spread the custom as far away as Britain. Later, English colonists brought the tradition to the New World. In pre-electric times, there were a variety of methods employed to make toast. They ranged … Continue reading →

The Hands Free Can Opener: Use Your Feet!

Whoever heard of a can opener that didn’t need hands to open it? The next thing you know they will invent a can opener that doesn’t need a can! Seriously though, convenience has gone amuck with this new appliance, proving that moderation is fine in all things except moderation. This new appliance requires some close scrutiny. (Look, but do not touch!) This can opener is guaranteed to make you feel like a circus performer! No kidding! You can open a can, clean a counter, talk on the phone, and maybe even figure out a way to ride a horse or … Continue reading →

The Dishwasher As Energy Saver and Friend

Here are some tips to save time, energy and money while operating the dishwasher in your home. (Share these with your friends, but not the other machines in your home as they may become jealous and stop operating.) 1. Run the dishwasher only when you have a full load. It’s much cheaper that way. 2. Save energy by using the air-dry method rather than heat dry. It may not be as fast, but is more energy-efficient. The door can be opened to speed up the drying process at the end of the cycle and if your dryer does not have … Continue reading →

The Blender In Your Home: However Did That Happen?

Did you know that Stephen Poplawsky invented the blender in 1922? He used his unique appliance to make soda fountain drinks. In 1935, Fred Osius who called his creation, the famous Waring Blender, improved upon his idea. In 1910, Fred Osius, L.H.Hamilton and Chester Beach formed the Hamilton Beach Manufacturing Company. Gadgets always fascinated Fred Waring, an engineering student, and he achieved fame with his big band, Fred Waring and The Pennsylvanians. Osius held the patent for the blender, but did not have the money to thrust his new invention into the marketplace. He knew Fred Waring had both a … Continue reading →