"Today's moms lead a high-capacity lifestyle in which they have to juggle jobs, family, and home management," said Tim Baxter, president of Samsung America's consumer-electronics division. He explained that Samsung's new, bigger appliances might be able to simplify life for overtaxed moms by helping them do more laundry in less time or pack more food in the refrigerator.
Driving home Baxter's message was a panel of "mom consultants," including Nicole Feliciano, founder and editor of MomTrends, which offers "trends and tips for living a fashionable and fabulous life"; Michelle Sawatka-Fernandez, managing director of Mom Central, "a one-stop web resource dedicated to providing busy moms with smart household and parenting solutions"; and Kimberly Coleman, founder of Mom in the City, a blog about raising young kids in an urban environment. When asked what it means to be a "high-capacity mom," Feliciano replied, "It's all about being efficient so that I can experience as many small moments with my kids as possible."
I'd venture that most parents—including dads like myself and many of my friends and colleagues—have a similar goal. And that's why Samsung's focus on women seemed anachronistic, especially considering that the number of stay-at-home dads might have grown during the he-cession.
But Samsung's panelists defended the female-focused campaign. "I don't think it's antiquated," said Sawatka-Fernandez. "The majority of moms still set the tone and hold the purse strings." Added Feliciano: "I don't know anyone in my circle of blogger friends who says the man [of the house] made their last appliance decision."
Societal/family issues aside, Samsung did show some interesting products. And at the end of the day, no matter who you are, you want appliances that deliver top performance, good value, and strong reliability. Here's a look at some of Samsung's new gear. (We haven't tested any of these models.)
RF4287 Four-Door Refrigerator (shown)
The temperature-controlled middle "drawer within reach" on this French-door refrigerator, $2,700 to $3,000, is intended to let young kids easily access refrigerated food, and its Smart Divider lets you adjust how the drawer is organized. The refrigerator, with a stated capacity of 28 cubic feet, has LED lighting and through-the-door ice and water.
WF520/DV520 High Capacity Washer and Dryer
The front-loading washer features VRT-plus, which is supposed to be an enhanced version of the vibration-reducing technology standard on all front-loaders, including the WF448AA[W]. The 5-cubic-foot capacity washer also features "power foam technology," which infuses detergent with air to supposedly improve cleaning performance and gentleness. The 7.5-cubic-foot dryer is equipped with steam technology and a special setting for wool garments.
FE-N500 and FE-N300 Freestanding Hybrid Induction/Electric Radiant Ranges
The FE-N500, $1,700, has two induction elements and two conventional electric radiant elements, and the FE-N300, $1,600, pairs a single induction element with three conventional ones. This hybridization helps to keep the price of the ranges down, explained Eugene Seagriff, senior marketing manager for digital appliances.
DMT800 Dishwasher
A concealed motor and six-layer insulation system are supposed to make this one of Samsung's quietest dishwashers. Its "StormWash" wheel is designed to clean the messiest pots and adjustable racks promise easy loading and unloading.
—Daniel DiClerico
Essential information: If you're in the market for new appliances today, take advantage of cash for appliances rebates. Stay on top of the latest appliance news on our appliances page and at Twitter.com/CRHomegarden.
I will never buy a Samsung fridge again. Ours had a part that broke, couldn't be fixed, and couldn't be replaced. It was still under warranty with Best Buy, but they refused to deliver us a new fridge. I was 4-6 months pregnant (yes, without a fridge for 2 months) and no one could do anything. It took threatening a lawsuit to get a refund.
Sounds more like a problem with Best Buy rather than Samsung. Samsung has a good reputation in other product lines.
Wow! I was on that panel. I just thought that it was an all-mom panel, because it was the week of Mother's Day. You provide an interesting perspective though. Perhaps a home goods company can do a panel with dad bloggers around Father's Day (no sarcasm intended whatsoever - I know several great Dad bloggers that I would refer).
Having said that, I interact with thousands of families (mixture of online and off). Although the shifts that you mentioned are true, (whether fair or not) moms still do the majority of cooking and laundry...by far.
-Kimberly/Mom in the City
I love seeing the event through your eyes. Glad to know there are men out there who want to spend more time investigating kitchen updates and preparing school lunches. Can you please tell me where they hang out?
Seriously though, I thought the 4-door fridge was pretty slick and appreciate the design effort. Here's my take on the event:
http://momtrends.blogspot.com/2010/05/samsung-high-capacity-moms.html
Larger appliances don't fit in my existing kitchen. I would rather see improvements that don't require remodeling to utilize.
I recently purchased a Samsung electric range from Lowes The board and sensor were defective these were replaced by a contracted company .Unfortunately the problem persisted Samsung customer service was excellent in their follow up and have credited me with the purchase price But now I have a dilemma Do I repurchase the same range or do I look for a different brand The price was in the $900 range Any suggestions?
We just purchased a Samsung Dishwasher (model: DMR78 series) about a month ago (May 2010) from Lowes.
We are completely and absolutely satisfied to date. We DO follow instructions and use the special rinse product. So far our dishes, glasses, silverware, and pots/pans come out both sparkling clean and DRY.
Frankly, we cannot understand why others have experienced problems. Perhaps our model was up-graded somehow. Regardless, we are very pleased! We also purchased a Samsung refrigerator two months ago and are equally pleased with it.
BTW, our installer, an independent, said that our Samsung was an excellent product (for what it's worth).
We bought this fridge and LOVE it. Even though we do not have children yet and therefore, I am not a mom, we find the extra drawer great for sodas or even beer.
We also purchased the Samsung Induction stove and I am so very much amazed by it every time I use it.
I apologize, I also wanted to mention that it is worth shopping around. We looked at all the appliances at Best Buy, but felt more comfortable buying and having it installed by Lowe's. Lowe's not only price matched Best Buy's price (they had a 25% sale on Samsung appliances), they also took an extra 10% off of every item we bought. You can only imagine the amount of money we saved by waiting and checking different stores. So far Lowe's has been great working with us. Again, we bought the fridge, the induction range and the convection oven/microwave from Samsung and I would buy it again any day.
Bough a HDTV back in 2008. Used it for less than 2 years and the TV is acting up, clicking noises and repeating the power cycle. Samsung customer service have very nice unknowledgeable people that will only tell you that they can't help you because your product is out of warranty and you have to pay to repair it. This is a well known (viral i say) problem with all Samsung lcd tv's made between 2007 and 2009. The current class-action lawsuit only covers the models made after 10/2007 and mine was made 8/2007 so basically they told me i'm S(h*t)O(ut)L(uck)! Don't buy Samsung, shop around you'd probably get a better deal from another company. This feels like I paid for a Ferrari but got one with a Yugo engine! Just so that you know, I paid 1/3 of the price for an Apex LCD TV and it's still working fine.
I am looking at buying a Samsung Dryer, DV410, anyone else have one of these? Can anyone share comments on their satisfaction with Samsung dryer/washer experiences? Got a better suggested brand?
3. Wow! You are definitely a magician. I have always liked to know others feelings and thoughts, but I must say your article is one of the best I have read. And I suggest others to read it.
basement finish
Previous
