Pictures cannot depict one of the most pleasant design features of the GE Monogram ZDT870SSF dishwasher: the sounds it makes!
GE has gotten a lot of attention and recognition for their attention to design lately, but their latest announcement is literally music to our ears.
As technology and design have evolved, we have built kitchens with intelligent appliances that can cook better and faster. The visual design of your kitchen is very much yours to create, making a visual space that combines separate elements that combine into a beautiful, soothing, and picturesque space.
And then your oven finishes cooking with a garish electronic beep, just as it and models before it have made for the past 30 or 40 years.
GE’s design team has addressed the issue by composing soundtracks for their appliances. The very first of these appliances, the GE Monogram dishwasher model ZDT870SSF, will be available in February 2014. Have a listen at just a few of the melodies that will replace the beep, buzz and other alarm noises we have gotten used to having in our kitchens:
GE Monogram Power On:
http://goedekers.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/Monogram_Interact_PowerOn.mp3GE Monogram Power Off:
http://goedekers.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/Monogram_Interact_PowerOff.mp3GE Monogram Alarm Mid:
http://goedekers.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/Monogram_Passive_AlarmMid.mp3GE Monogram Cycle Complete:
http://goedekers.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/Monogram_Passive_CycleComplete.mp3GE Monogram Soundtrack:
http://goedekers.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/Monogram-Sound_Track.mp3If our built-in audio player does not work on your browser, you can sample the entire Monogram sound collection in this multimedia PDF.
A New Era in ‘Sound’ Design
GE’s Industrial Design Operation developed individual soundtracks for each of the GE’s appliance brands. The GE Monogram ZDT870SSF is merely the first appliance from the new soundtrack project to become available to the public, even though this has been an ongoing project for the the past four years.
“Adding a complementary sound element can enhance everyday interactions with your appliances,” said Lou Lenzi, Director of the Industrial Design Operation. “The fit, feel, finish—and now sound—of the dishwasher evoke the luxury of the Monogram brand.”
Earlier this year GE announced that they had tripled their investment in design over the past two years, and laid out the visual trends to which they had responded. Despite the surprise in finding that future appliances were also going to have a unique and fitting sound design, it seems like the obvious step to making our appliances contribute even more to the atmosphere we want in our homes and kitchens.
GE reports that among the many other features of the Monogram ZDT870SSF dishwasher, it runs at a quiet 39dB, so that you can enjoy and hear the music that it plays.
Lenzi told Bloomberg BusinessWeek that the Artistry line will have more of a garage band sound, while the GE Café line of appliances will have a more techno or electronic sound, “because it’s kind of a technology-oriented line.”
Why Does Sound Matter?
With such a focus of late on quality visual design, it is good to see an appliance manufacturer turn their attention to the sounds we hear in our kitchen. After all, the more you and your family use your kitchen, the busier and noisier it gets.
Also, as Sarinne Fox from NoiseHelp.com told us in an interview earlier this month, the sounds and noise level in our homes and workplaces can have great impact on our moods and lives themselves.
In the past, choosing quiet appliances was about the only way your appliance purchasing could influence the soundscape of your home. GE’s new soundtracks for appliances, however, are going to change all that.
Luxury-Class Dishwasher
The GE Monogram Dishwasher model ZDT870SSF will have a third rack for flatware.
The GE Monogram ZDT870SSF dishwasher will have more than just cool musical notifications. As a “luxury” dishwasher, it has many features to make it a top of the line addition to your home.
As with many GE appliances, the ZDT870SSF has a great deal of visual appeal, including flush mounting in your cabinets, an LCD display, and LED lighting.
Among the practical features are a third rack for silverware and flatware, multi-position folding tines on the lower rack, and an upper rack that can be adjusted up or down by two inches to accommodate each load of dishes.
Would you want an appliance that makes more beautiful sounds as an alert?
