New from IFA – washing machine doors?

September 8th, 2015

Appliance News Appliance Talk Humour Laundry Washers & Dryers

Around this time each year, news filters out from Europe’s IFA trade show of the latest innovations in the wonderful world of consumer electronics and home appliances.

This year, some of the features that have impressed us most don’t involve complex gadgetry or Smart interconnectivity, but something much more low-tech:

Doors.

Specifically, doors on washing machines.

No, really hear us out:

More doors = more washing

If you have a ton of dirty laundry filling your home’s washing baskets, getting through it all may sound like an intimidating prospect.

source: Hyperbole and a Half

This can be especially tricky when you need to wash certain clothes using a specific cycle to get the best results – while tossing these items in with the rest of your laundry will save you time and effort, at best you’ll end up with a sub-par wash, and at worst you may actually damage some of your clothes.

With this in mind, Haier has debuted its new double front loader design, featuring an 8kg drum at the base and a 4 kg drum on top.

Much like a double oven with separate grill, or a fridge and freezer combination, this arrangement allows you to run two wash loads simultaneously, using different cycles to provide ideal cleaning results to each set of clothes.

source: Hyperbole and a Half

While you wait for the Haier Duo to be releases, we recommend that you do NOT attempt a DIY solution of getting two front loaders and stacking them on top of each other. Even using a shock-absorbing rubber mat, the vibrations of two washers running at the same time could unbalance this precarious stack, resulting in a messy and expensive disaster.

Doors within doors

We’ve talked before about the frustration of needing to add or remove something after the washing machine’s cycle has already begun. It’s one of the big advantages top loaders have over front loaders.

While some front loaders allow you to pause the cycle when the water level is still low and open the door to add a stray sock or retrieve your mobile phone, that’s not always an option.

source: Samsung Tomorrow

Samsung’s solution to this problem? The Samsung WW8500 AddWash, featuring a door within a door (so you can door while you door).

source: Know Your Meme

It’s a similar principle to that of door in door refrigerators – a smaller door built into the main door provides quick and easy access to the simple little things you need, allowing you to efficiently save time and effort. If you find you’ve left some socks out of the wash, you don’t need to drain the machine to add them – just pause the cycle, pop open the smaller door (which is childproofed for safety) and tos them in.

What’s next?

There have been plenty of other exciting appliance innovations to emerge from this year’s IFA conference – stay tuned for more!