Olychick, I grew up with a similar refrigerator, best fridge ever.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have the beer and juice and milk near the glasses and cereal bowls and coffee mugs, the prepped salads and sandwich items near the plates, and the meat and dinner vegetables near the prep area?

Eye level for me is the bottom of the cabinet so this would be horrible for me.

I do like the turntable idea. I would not want all shelves to be turntable though.

With the truly exorbitant cost of higher end kitchen renos - heck, even not that high end - we should think outside the box to get something really cool and special for our $150,000 or whatever the cool kids are splashing out on their kitchens.

Why, for instance, are we piffling around with mere walk in pantries? You know how restaurants have walk in coolers and freezers? Any space large enough can be made into a fridge or a freezer, with remote compressor as needed, if not fully walk in then equipped with revolving or sliding shelves, in whatever shape is most ergonomic, be it horseshoe or cylindrical.

I’d make my domestic robot “live” in the walk in freezer.

And, as long as I’m free-associating about household features for the future, I’m thinking that for my personal future, probably about when humanoid robots are surplusing many or most of us, the most useful household feature is going to be a domestic elevator. No AI operation please, just buttons.

The thought of walk-in fridges and freezers in homes with young children, is scary. I can see the gruesome news headlines now.

Thanks, but I’ll stick with my 42” FD SubZero. No bending required in the fridge. Can locate anything in there easily. Only bending necessary is for the rarely used bottom freezer. And, that’s mainly for ice cubes.

And, I prefer to store my dishes in upper cabs. Easier to bring them down, than to bend and lift from a lower drawer.

We looked at a house a few years ago that had a raised dishwasher! It was about 3 feet off the floor. On the one hand, it looked to my uninformed eyes like a huge leak hazard; on the other hand, it looked way easier to unload.

Um... Don't you have a walk-in? Or am I remembering someone else?

Me? No walk in. Four Square houses have such compact floorplans.

The only unused volume in my house is the void under the stairs. Someday I’ll build drawers there. It could be a ”walk in” pantry, cooler, wine cooler, freezer, for Little People, or if we include ”duckwalk” in ”walk”.

The depth of a hanging frig using existing options is a drawback . 12-15" deep works over a counter. 24" protrudes too much over a counter. It could work in an oven stack minus the ovens with drawers below counter height.

Hanging fridge…never knew!

I'm sorry! I wonder who it was? But you do have the commercial DW, right?

Historical:

https://retrorenovation.com/2013/04/08/ge-wall-refrigerator-freezer/

Implication is that it's for bottles, not turkeys and pumpkins. :)

https://www.chefsdeal.com/blog/wall-mount-fridges?srsltid=AfmBOorBhJpvpAYTuhCcWjMaM-qzJtc10deYXENieC2VS8oKpoRilNG9

Total guy-design for refreshments and (guys please explain to me...)

https://www.metalartofwisconsin.com/products/refrigerated-chill-daddy?srsltid=AfmBOooCbCakWlCHC6M6c2Bg4Ji93Fho9GO8Qd05sVMIh4vvYFCfnY40

I can’t explain that last one :-) The 1950s GE is fantastic! and seems quite practical really. And the current-day commercial unit would, with sparking glass fronted doors and impeccably tasteful drink and food inside, really make a kitchen “pop” in an entirely unique way.

Hmm. Horm. Humm. I actually have the open wall for this. I could remove the Julia Child stainless steel wall of copper pots, and hang that True beverage cooler up there. I shall have to cogitate, not least about how this might be sold to SWMBO.

The carrot might be that we could then replace the current refrigerator with a dual temp machine such as

https://www.truemfg.com/product-subcategory/reach-in-dual-temp/?_sft_product_main_subcategory=reach-in-dual-temp

and then ice cream would be in the kitchen rather than in the basement. Although I’m quite used to the latter, best to keep ice cream at arm’s length after all.

She would, of course, like to finish the kitchen, within this decade please. I, contrariwise, think it will never be finished, and that’s a good thing.

Yes, I have the commercial undercounter dishwasher, which is currently awaiting transport to a repair place, as it needs a drain valve solenoid. I can’t get at the part, the two halves of the machine need to be separated to access the guts, and I think while it’s open, I might as well have Hobart gone over professionally. It is a Hobart LX30H high temp ware washer, that I bought for $250 from my friend’s bar that was going out of business.

Commercially this is a light-duty machine, meant to live under a bar or in a very small cafe, but for home use it is a beast. In DD’s future cafe I think we’ll have two of these undercounter machines, perhaps of a less expensive make (Hobarts cost $6,000, other makes can be $2,000). Unlike larger commercial dishwashers, these do not require a steam hood or dedicated dishtable, one will be more than able to keep up with a small cafe, and two will give redundancy.

When I was remodeling my kitchen, I saw on the Internet upper cabinets that mechanically moved down the wall to counter height on tracks of some kind. I would have loved to install something like that since I am very short. I don't think they are available readily in North America though.

I like the idea of the raised dishwasher, maybe not quite as high as the one posted, but at least a foot off the floor.

As for refrigeration, I'm happy with my built-in depth SZ. I can reach the back of the shelves easily, except the top shelf. I use containers up there for things like condiments so I can lift the whole container down. Nothing gets lost in the back.

Hanging the frg above the counter could work with part of the unit through the wall to limit the amount over the counter.

RATS!! I was hoping you'd know. A whisper from a woman may be right or just snark: It's for toy haulers. Plenty of shallow blank wall space, and with the vehicles out for play, they bring out the foldaway seating (or just sit on the atv's) and watch games and swill beer.

Re the True reach ins, remember commercial units can be a lot louder than residential. But, yes, if the wall hung is for pretties and there's a self standing for the turkeys (and ducks), that could work. Caveats still about being able to reach. Re finished, how about aiming for looks finished?

“Looks finished” - yes ma’am.

I do need to get back to the kitchen.

Household robots? Damm! Another darned thing to have to repair and replace as they become like so many other appliances and devices...... no longer able to update. What drawer are we going to keep that obsolete device in until we find someplace to recycle it?

Are we still going to have a personal relationship with it as it becomes unable to recieve or send communication ?

"This device will no longer recieve updates. Please upgrade your Operating System to OS1000. You will no longer recieve updates or support."

Robotic automobiles (driverless cars) are already on the road. These cars have been proven to be safe to operate in any road, street, highway, day or night, snow, storm, any traffic situations ----.

With the frantic international competition going on, 3 (or 2) nanometer chips will be available in the next few months. This will give domestic robots unimaginable AI sophistication.

It is not a fantasy ( all has been done), robots can, in addition to do everyday normal tasks, from cleaning to cooking, it can teach you to dance cha cha, or the newest robot moves, :-)

Depending on you health conditions, a robot can lift you out/in from your wheelchair, to go to the bathroom to do #1 and #2, to scrub your back, to give you a shampoo and dry you hair ---- much cheaper than going to an assisted living facility--- .

I think the first generation of domestic robots will not be perfect, the conditions inside your home may need to be optimized, but that's a different topic.

dcarch

I knew two people who had these and they didn't work very well, especially the freezer. And they are actually pretty shallow so they didn't hold things with a larger footprint. And someone mentioned a large turkey.. impossible.

One family used their fridge sections but put a separate freezer and separate refrigerator down in the basement and ran up and down stairs a lot. They eventually squeezed in a Subzero.

The other family had long given up on theirs and used it like upper cabinets.

They had a fridge squeezed in the eating area. In my small sample reliability was poor. And the other aspect was replaceability. Neither kitchen had a spot for a conventional fridge and would have required complete remodels. This fridge didn't

share typical appliance standards.

This was offered by GE from 1955-60 I think. There was another piece in the line: below counter drawers which I think were all freezer, these are pretty rare I think.

Some days I’d like a sort of automatic access to the dishes, pots and pans, spices, refrigerated and pantry items in my small kitchen.

Ever see those revolving racks and hangers at the dry cleaners?

Skipping down to add that we toured a nearby 1950s/60s house that had one of those wall fridges - it was in aqua too. It wasn't as high up as people might assume - at my eye level and I'm 5'5".

Unfortunately, it wasn't working any more, so I'm assuming it was ripped out when the house was bought and remodeled. They also had the same GE enamelled oven and drop-in cooktop - in aqua - as all the other original homes in the development.

Like this - controls go in the front of the counter:

Ours was yellow, but its matching cooktop was replaced in the 70s, I think:

Our old oven worked perfectly (over 50 years!) until it didn't and the only reason we replaced it was because the serial number had been worn off and there was no way to look up the schematics to repair it.

FWIW

If I could have a reliable robot to dust and mop, I would be in heaven!

I have used Roombas for a long time, and think a sweep, vacuum, mop, dust robot would be quite doable today.

“Some days I’d like a sort of automatic access to the dishes, pots and pans, spices, refrigerated and pantry items in my small kitchen.

Ever see those revolving racks and hangers at the dry cleaners?”

Yes, those are terribly cool. Someone should make a slimline luxe version for home use.

I’ve always wanted a motion display case like this. They are designed for small items but the concept could be adapted for larger items.

The tall revolving display cases used in some retail stores show another concept that could be used in a pantry.

“In my small sample reliability was poor. And the other aspect was replaceability. Neither kitchen had a spot for a conventional fridge and would have required complete remodels. This fridge didn't share typical appliance standards.”

Commercial units + unfitted kitchen = solves both reliability and placement!

JL, there is a home version of the dry cleaner conveyor, but it does require the space to make it work. If there's nowhere out of the closet, there's no point. For just height, more space efficient is the drop down hanging bar. Most are on a simple lever, but they can be motorized. I've seen them in two and three levels: Similar drop down shelves are used in high kitchen cabinets. Of these, many of the DIY versions are also not space efficient and are not well designed for rambunctious users or those who don't have regular spry help to clean up what may fall. In general they work fine, but not optimally. The hanging rods have the advantage of hooks on the hangers. ;)

There are also vertically rotating shoe racks like the display cases in 1970's head shops, rotating closet shelves, rotating cabinet storage (some very good, some awful), multilayer pantry cabinet storage (front carriers for small items that swing out and rotate with fixed shelves in the back). Protty much, if you can imagine something that doesn't require vapor tech, somebocy has probably made it.

We have a Roomba. It only works in one room because our house has four floors, lots of stairs and none of it is open plan. It can't do crevices or corners and it brushes rather than sucks. It gets stuck on thresholds and chews up anything left loose on the floor. It often gets marooned since it can't find its way back to base. It's ok for a quick tidy but not for a thorough clean. I think it will be a very long time before a robot can clean a real home with all its different nooks, crannies, mouldings, mess and materials. Our stairs, for example, comprise polished mahogany, white painted wood and wool carpet. They need three different vacuum attachments, a cloth with a bucket of soapy water, wood polish and cloth and a feather duster. All need to be carried up and down the five flights. Quite a complicated bit of programming. And could the same robot dust the antiques, clean the toilets and scrub the 200 year old stone floors?

Thank-you, Floral! I have always wondered. In the late '80's I had an "electric cat". It basically looked like a furry, domed Roomba. When Roomba first came out it looked like the same chassis. that thing behaved the same way, including pushing wroght iron chairs across the floor. I sent it back. That wasn't fun! But it soured me on anything that looked like it. It seems that, while being a nice carnival rid for bored kitties, it lives down to the electric cat.

OTOH, I'd take Rosie from the Jetsons, snark and all, if she'd clean up the mess made when one of the minions put a decorative bottle of oil with stems of herbs that must be a dozen years old, onthe tail of the grain mill. The only good thing is that it was on the counter next to some empty jars, raather than falling on the floor. I'm going to make the minions clean it up (I did the initial blotting). I'm tired. And it stinks. But a Rosie who's always here and trustable not to break things or set booby-traps, would be very useful. :D

When we bought our first house in 1997, it had all original appliances from 1957, or close to it. I actually loved the GE ”spacemaker” brown fridge with the lazy susan shelves. The shelves were awesome. It was a bottom freezer model with a semi-automatic icemaker. It would fill up automatically, but you had to manually flip the ice tray over to release the ice. It died a year or so later.

I wanted to do this 20 years ago at the beach home. 2 office/dorm type fridges on the counter would fit perfectly where the small fridge is now. I would gain built-in new set of drawers and telescopic lowers...much more usefull than what is there now. Back then we were getting a Sears catalog on our door knob. Small walk-in-closet sized office where we ordered....4-6 weeks later when they had enough orders, pick-up in the parking lot. Thought i made a good choice at the time but ended up with the-worst-fridge-known-to-man and the worst small box freezer. No room for a full size fridge/freezer so picked a small all-fridge for the kitchen and box freezer for the mudroom. The crisper at the bottom froze everthing within hours so it now lives at the warmer zone top. A dozen+ water bottles on the bottom for ice packs and hikes, boat lunches...and the door does not stay shut, pops open every few hours. Water bottles still always frozen.

Renovations, new plan is two beverage fridges side by side. Counter height. Better and new freezer.

Reading reviews, some use their wine/beverage coolers for excess garden harvest...waiting for canning days. Under counter for juice boxes, yogurts and snacks for after school. We have never had a need for a full fridge and no room anyway.

Intrigued to see Marmite in that fridge door. Also flapjacks, cookies and jam. None of these need to be kept in a fridge.

I agree that the current robotic floor care machines don't work that well. I tried a vacuum one and spent more time tending to it than I would have vacuuming. I've yet to see one that gets the edges and corners with good suction.

As for the pull-down shelves for the kitchen, I had one installed in this kitchen. It's only half the depth of a standard shelf, so you lose half of your cabinet space. Additionally, that's not deep enough for plates and the protective front and back grids mean you can't stack things very high because they would tumble off when you move the shelf. Consequently, I wasted over $500, not including installation labor, to test the concept.

I get irritated at constantly rescuing my stranded Roomba, but then when I empty its bin I think well all that dirt and etc could still be on the floor and it’s not, so Roomba does something right. When we had more cats, it was especially handy to keep the carpet fur-free.

A true house cleaning robot, I’d pay for . . . but how much? $400/mo x 60 mo at 7% is about $5,600 present value. So if the ’bot costs less than $6,000 and lasts 5 years, it would be price competitive with or cheaper than G____, our lovely housecleaner, but unlikely to do as good a job as she does or be a pleasant to interact with. With the amount of tech and computing required to make such a ’bot, no way it will cost that little. Probably 5X that even with the bot company burning VC money and selling at a loss. And then we wouldn’t know G____.

Tech is supposed to improve humans’ lives, not replace them.

Heaven help me, I really want a hanging refrigerator now.

I sent SWMBO a photo (she's away attending to yet another ailing friend) and her response: "I love it! Someone needs to bring this back." Maybe I can be the heroic bringer-backer? Maybe I should stop spending effort/money on kitchen weirdness?

There are shallow depth undercounter-type refrigerators - as shallow as 18" from Summit, see link Search Beer, Wine & Beverage > Beverage Centers | Summit® Appliance

Or pick up a generic undercounter beverage cooler for $250, hang it from the wall, and see how it feels. If good, hang a few more. If not good, you've got a beverage cooler - perfect to refrigerate one's makeup products in the bathroom or for bedside or grill-adjacent duty.

I love the concept of eye level refrigerators, but when I imagine living with them, several in a row, I picture how annoying it would be to remember WHICH set of doors held what I want or has room to place what I'm holding in my hand. It seems, except for knowing exactly where the milk and the condiments on the door are, I get mildly annoyed when I open the wrong door on my french door style refer to find something. If I had 4 to choose from, I'd be apoplectic in no time.

I think in the current day you would need the bottom drawer units to hold larger things in their greater depth. One refrigerator, set, one freezer set.

The problem with the generic small refrigerator units is poor temperature control. We had to go with a "apartment sized" fridge in our kitchen after the old 28" died, that stood in for a while during the post C---D backlog and Subzero, and the difference between how must longer things last and how much better they taste because they don't seem to be "aging" as much in really significant. Is it $9000 significant? I dunno.

And here's this

Elvis and Priscilla Honeymoon Hideaway kitchen

Olychick, if I do this ridiculous thing, it will be with glass doors.

I think what I’d want to store at eye level behind glass doors would be things you tend to grab often, as a snack or during prep, and/or that are smaller and more easily lost in the big refrigerator, and/not-or are reasonably attractive.

Maybe like: juice, beer, Prosecco, milk, cream, cheese, butter, jellies, sauces, eggs, miso, yoghurt, leftovers in nice looking containers, pretty fruit.

Probably best left in the big solid door reefer: poultry, meat, fish, other cadavers, veg and other bulky messy things, icky toxic looking stuff, evidence of crime.

"I love the concept of eye level refrigerators, but when I imagine living with them, several in a row, I picture how annoying it would be to remember WHICH set of doors held what..."

Not sure how something gets lost with glass front counter depth. As my plan posted above. I see stuffed fridges all the time like my MIL's. Full of dressings, old condiments, tid-bits of rotting left-overs...moldy bread.

JL, I thought you were going to do the bar style one on your blank wall, especially with Mrs. JL's enthusiastic approval!

Given that you have the place, I think this is a lot better than your average point of use residential mini-fridge, which is low and hard to get into. Drawers for lower fridges are optimal.

I have an issue with eye-level however. It's not ergonomically valid, though good looking. Optimal for both seeing and using is shoulder height. I think from your travel photos Ms. MBO isn't of a hugely different height, and the kids are young and able enough to expect to just deal with it. If the bottom of the unit is at Ms. MBO's shoulder level, you both should have easy access. This would be more important for heavy things, and perhaps you're not going to have anything heavier than a jeroboam of champaigne, but, especially chilled and slippery with condensation, six pounds and slick could use a little flexion.

SWMBO’s “enthusiastic approval”, eh?

It is true that she has continued to respond to further photos of groovy 1960s hanging refrigerators with “thumbs-up” and even “heart” emojis, but as a scarred and suspicious veteran of such things, I am Wary of A Trap.

You see, sometimes SWMBO replies in the affirmative without actually assenting to anything or foreclosing the option to deny prior approval and unleash beration upon a hanging refrigerator or similar What Were You Thinking folly.

To be safe, I will have to produce detailed drawings, representative photos, and a cardboard mockup in situ, with a written endorsement for her witnessed signature.

I think I’ll start working on having that ready for her return.

Actually I think what might be more suited to want you want would be more like the old Revcos. Counterdepth, mountable at any height, 36"(?) wide.

Who exactly do you think will be able to afford a household robot when 80% of current jobs are automated?

I expect that we will gain a lot of efficiency in food delivery and people will get their food for a meal or two and not have so many leftovers.

There are food delivery robots. They're actually kind of cute. They have them in denser neighborhoods where delivery parking isn't practical.

Do they ever get mugged? I have this image of a teen gang, switchblades out, cornering the robot in an alley, your bento or your life.

“Who exactly do you think will be able to afford a household robot when 80% of current jobs are automated?”

The wealthy, the very affluent, and the well-retired.

The same people who can afford what the other 99% can't just like now.

From Google AI: Yes, food delivery robots are sometimes targeted for vandalism and theft. While they are equipped with security measures like cameras and sirens, some individuals still attempt to steal from or damage these robots. Viral videos and reports show people kicking, pushing, and breaking into the robots to steal food.

So sad. :(

In case anyone is inspired to put one in their kitchen... one for sale on my local FB marketplace.

Wall mounted refrigerator