Cooktop for Visually Impaired

If you are familiar with induction cooking you know it is the safest. Now Diva de Provence has made it even safer for the 10 million blind individuals in North America by offering a tactile marking kit for its line of induction cooktops. The kit includes a choice of either raised letters or Braille symbols, as well as 3M Bumpons™ that can be placed on the controls for easier reading and identification. Since Diva cooktops use electromagnetic energy to heat only the cookware, the cooking/burner surface remains cool* to the touch.*The cook top will only reach a maximum temperature of 482° F (as compared to halogen at 1,112º F). The heat from the pan will transfer to the surface and cause it to be hotter the longer you cook.

August 25, 2007July 26, 2023

Kohler Pedicure Spa

Kohler’s new Pedicure Spa will make your home feel like a Day Spa. This Kohler package is complete with a deep whirlpool footbath, a teak client chaise lounge, a technician chair and all the needed faucet/drain components. The Pedicure Spa can be customized with your choice of layout and tile selections. The only thing it is missing is the soothing music and the person to pamper your feet.

August 23, 2007June 20, 2017

Jade French Door Wall Oven

My previous post about the French Door Wall Oven from American Range seemed to draw a lot of interest so I couldn’t wait to report the news that Jade Appliances is working on their own French door model for shipment in 2008.

The tandem doors open to 135 degrees on both sides, providing easy access. The doors are also spring-loaded from the 90 degree position to the fully open position to ensure that they never close inadvertently. The oven will have convection bake and broil capabilities with electronic controls and roller racks.

August 20, 2007June 20, 2017

Get the Most Life out of your CFL

Here’s an excerpt from a great article about how switching CFLs on and off can shorten their life and how long you should burn your CFL.

“Switching CFLs on and off does shorten lamp life, but [the] conclusion that they need a three- to five-hour on-cycle to maintain a reasonably long life does not appear to be correct. Robert Clear, a staff scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, told Enviromental Building News that it has been difficult to get data on this question, but a 1998 study of electronically ballasted CFLs found a 20% reduction in lamp life if the on-time was reduced to one hour. With significantly shorter on-times, the lamp life is dramatically reduced: with 15-minute on-time cycling, lamp life dropped 70% and with five-minute on-time lamp life dropped 85% (which brings the lamp life close to that of incandescent light bulbs). “This suggests that you should consider replacing incandescents with CFLs in any application where the lamp is on an average of [at least] about 10 minutes per start,” said Clear. He added that “every switch cycle is equivalent to about 6 minutes of lamp life. This means that you should turn a CFL off if you think it won’t be turned on again for another five minutes or so.” This approach should also maximize electricity and cost savings.”