GE Right Height Washer and Dryer

It’s the reason I was set up with my now-fiance: height. He’s tall, I was told. But I digress…

I’m not the only one who thinks height matters. GE just got taller.

GE’s newest laundry innovation acknowledges that only 60% of consumers buy the washer dryer pedestals recommended to front-load laundry owners to prevent uncomfortable bending and hunching when loading and unloading.

white laundry pedestal

The RightHeight washer and dryer’s built-in risers raise the machines 7 inches off the ground, making it just under 4 feet tall. A traditional laundry pedestal will raise the top of the machine to about 4-½ feet tall, which GE argues limits the function of the top of the machine to storage space instead of a folding surface, as illustrated below:

laundry-pedestal

*Disclaimer* Laundry-doing man & well-behaved child sold separately.

There are a lot of other features that are worth considering, but my favorite is single-item wash, promoted like this:

“Ditch the environmental guilt with this uniquely designed cycle that offers great wash performance for single items.”

In my house it’d be more like:

“Stop feeling like a failure for never getting around to the laundry and just wash outfits on demand!”

Perhaps most importantly, the RightHeight washer and dryer come in fun colors that either match a beautiful, trendy laundry room or grant respite from a hideous basement dungeon area like mine. Introduce some tall and handsome to your dark laundry room 😉

Colored Viking Ranges

Increasing my skepticism toward Pantone’s choice of orangish hue Tangerine Tango for color of the year is Viking’s choice to replace Pumpkin and other less-popular choices for  colored appliances with finishes that sound like they were plucked straight from the pantry.

Viking nearly doubled its colored appliance choices in 2008 to 24, including Metallic Silver, Oyster Gray and Golden Mist. But Dijon, Wasabi, Cinnamon and Kettle Black — as called by Viking, not the pot (couldn’t resist) — will overtake those four come March.

Coincidentally, I featured Pumpkin and Golden Mist in a previous roundup of kitchen appliance colors because I thought them so…distinctive. (Turns out I wasn’t alone.)

If you’ve always dreamed of a Cinnamon kitchen, Viking appliances such as microwaves, ovens, refrigerators and ranges can be paneled in the colored finishes.