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My most-desired design feature for a washing machine

By Rain Noe - February 26, 2010

in Object Culture

New York's currently buried under 8 inches of snow, which is not a lot to you Swedes, Canadians and Tibetans, but it's enough to make our sidewalks a mess. This morning I spotted some poor soul slogging through the slush while hauling a laundry sack either to or from the laundromat.

Which reminded me: One of the best purchases I ever made was the washing machine I bought, over ten years ago. In that time it has paid for itself many times over. But it's not the prettiest thing in the world, and I live in a city apartment, not some suburban house with a laundry room, so I can't tuck the thing away--it sits out in the open, next to my kitchen sink.

One trend that I hope trickles down from the luxury to the regular consumer market is the simple design feature on Teka's LSI 1260-S combo washer-dryer: A door. That's it, a simple, clean cabinet door so you don't have to see the console and a window filled with your dirty socks doing acrobatics.

I even thought about covering mine with a door, DIY-style--God knows I've got the hinges for it--but as I stood in front of it with a power drill, I thought "Hmm, you're about to drill holes in something that holds water. What could go wrong?"

So I'll continue having staring contests with my ugly washing machine. And even though it always wins, it's better than hauling my dirties through the snow.

via appliancist

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Fraggle

14 years ago

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This is quite standard here in the UK (and therefore I would guess most of Europe). Just search google for "built in washing machine" or "integrated washing machine". Here are some links to get you going:

http://images.google.co.uk/images?um=1&hl=en&safe=active&tbs=isch:1&sa=1&q=integrated+washing+machine&btnG=Search&aq=&oq=hotpoint+integrated+washing+machine&start=0

http://homeappliances.wordpress.com/2008/01/07/wxli-4240-eu-built-in-washing-machine/

http://www.johnlewis.com/230630264/Product.aspx?source=14798

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Androo

14 years ago

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If you aren't super concerned with the finish (presumably not, since you were only offput by the drilling only by potentially catastrophically leaky failure) you could go with some metal epoxy. That stuff is crazy strong if you do the surface prep properly.
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Luis

14 years ago

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While we are at it, I'd like to be able to fill an internal container with detergent and have the machine dispense it for each load. Like fuel. I'd still keep the current method of pouring for a single load but this would let me fill it up once and get rid of the freaking containers. Save space and probably detergent.
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stefan Friedl

14 years ago

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since we have our washing mashine covered behind a door, we forget emptying it regularly! no flashing lights!
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Chris Loughnane

14 years ago

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A door seems hacked.

Switchable privacy glass is the way to go.
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Paul Smith

14 years ago

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Wow. Love this feature. Would magnets and some lightweight board solve your problem to disguise a machine w/o drilling in to it? Would make a nice kit for any machine?

I really enjoy the site. thanks.

Cheers.
Paul
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