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APPLIANCES RECENT NEWS

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Samsung adds a Sodastream dispenser to its new refrigerator

 

If you like sparkling water or homemade soft drinks flavored with syrup, the Samsung RF31FMESBSR four-door refrigerator might deserve a spot in your kitchen. Samsung partnered with Sodastream, manufacturer of the countertop soda makers that have become popular in recent years. The refrigerator’s dispenser uses the same CO2 cylinders as the countertop devices. The cost of the sparkling water works out to about 25 cents per liter, if you get 60 liters to the cylinder, according to Sodastream. Syrups, available in more than 60 regular and diet flavors, are an additional cost. The cylinders and syrups are available online and at 10,000 locations, so you shouldn’t have to travel far for replacements.

KitchenAid dishwasher recycles water as it washes

Twenty years ago, it wasn’t unusual for a dishwasher tested by Consumer Reports to use 10 gallons of water or more for a normal cycle. Today, because of tighter federal efficiency standards, half that amount is common. And this week, Whirlpool introduced a KitchenAid dishwasher that’s even more of a water miser, using up to a third less water with a water-recycling system made available two years ago in Europe.

The AquaSense Recycling system, which will appear first in Whirlpool’s KitchenAid, filters the water from the last rinse of one load of dishes and uses it to prerinse the next load. It stores the extra water in a slim tank on the side of the dishwasher (at right in photo), which holds a little more than three quarts of water, without the need to enlarge the dishwasher cavity. The rinse water is mostly clean, company representatives said, but contains a residual amount of detergent that makes the water slightly alkaline and discourages mold growth.

And AquaSense has other ways to keep the system clean. If you don’t use your dishwasher again within three days, or if you lose power for a period, the dishwasher drains the holding tank. And every 30 days (or 30 cycles), the unit adds an extra 30 minutes to a cycle to flush out the tank and lines with hot water.

HYBRID APPLIANCES

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In these modern times, wouldn’t you figure that everything that needs to be invented already has been invented? There are now more than 7 million patents. And that should be plenty, right? Perhaps.

But as the world changes, so does the need for innovation. For instance, we’re running out of fresh water, so many new inventions come on the market in an effort to save water. We’re also running out of clean air, food, space and time, so new inventions aim to save those as well.

And that’s why so many hybrid appliances are either on the market or on the drawing board. Hybrid appliances are devices that have several purposes, like a combo toaster and egg cooker, or a clothes hamper that also washes and dries the clothes in it. Some are just for fun, like a refrigerator equipped with a keg.