REFRIGERATOR REVISIONS Cool new trends can open doors

Continual consumer research drives manufacturers to improve their products.
By ALAN J. HEAVENS
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
Why can't they leave well enough alone?
If that was everyone's way of thinking, we might all still be driving Model T Fords, wearing celluloid collars and whalebone corsets, and waiting for the iceman to show up.
Appliance manufacturers would quickly go out of business if they left well enough alone, so that is why each year sees some change -- even an improvement -- to last year's product.
Such is the case with the refrigerator, but this year's "improvement" is not so much future as past: The freezer is back on the bottom.
It is a Generation X thing. While the aging baby boomer is finding it tougher to bend over to get something that may be way in the back, Gen-Xers want the bottom freezer because "it reminds them of their grandmother's refrigerator," said Dory Anderson, who represents Maytag appliances.
That's not all
The bottom freezer is not the only change, though. The technocrats would not let a year go by without messing with the internal workings.
How about "temperature management"?
For example, the Amana Messenger side-by-side, which retails for $1,699 to $1,799 depending on model, size and color, has a "Temp-Assure Control System." There are two temperature sensors, one in the freezer and one in the fresh-food section, so there is no chance of ice cream going soft or lettuce turning into real icebergs.
Whirlpool's side-by-side uses foam in the doors and double-tub construction to create its "Accu-Chill" system, which accomplishes the same thing as the Temp-Assure. (The 25.5-cubic-foot Conquest retails for $2,299 in stainless steel.)
GE's Arctica side-by-side has the ClimateKeeper system, which uses electronic sensors and a multiflow air system and has digital controls to help keep temperatures precise.
"CustomCool express settings" let you chill wines in minutes and thaw meats in hours. A TurboCool setting quickly cools the refrigerator after frequent door openings, or when hot items are placed inside.
The name game
Who, you may ask, comes up the names for these things?
"The product and specific feature names that we use are created internally, with a significant amount of research," said Leslie Redford of GE Appliances. "We do thorough trademark studies to prevent the use of a name that is already on the market, and to ensure it's not in use elsewhere."
Grant Deady, who represents Whirlpool and KitchenAid, said: "A lot of the time, Whirlpool engineers will come up with these names on their own, but they do have an outside agency that helps if it's a feature they really want to make some noise about."
And what about the features?
"Our features are driven by consumer research," said Jill Spiekerman of Maytag Appliances, which also produces the Amana and Jenn-Air brands.
"We do a tremendous amount of research in consumers' homes," she said. "We shop with them. We watch them put away their groceries. We listen to their concerns."
Capacity complaints
For example, Spiekerman said, Maytag research found that 76 percent of consumers questioned were unhappy with the storage capacity of their refrigerators.
So the company came up with the Wide-By-Side, which is configured to make storing deli trays, leftover pizzas and sheet cakes easier.
Manufacturers finally recognized that different foods cannot be stored at the same temperatures, so they have come up with devices that compartmentalize cooling.
Most of these new models have EnergyStar ratings from the Environmental Protection Agency, meaning they exceed federal standards for energy savings.