They're faster, they're sleeker, they're more convenient, they're wired, and they can be double to triple the price of the typical model. They're the next wave of appliances ---high-tech, gleaming masses of stainless steel and shiny glass surfaces that have consumers and homebuilding design centers clamoring for more. And, with what has become known as American forward-thinking ingenuity, appliance manufacturers are stepping up to the plate to offer the latest generation of time-saving and sanity-saving convenience.

Although we're still a ways off from George Jetson's kitchen, pressing a button to create and prepare and entire meal, appliance makers these days are continually betting on the future. Consumers who don't mind paying more not only to keep up with the Jones', but to become the Jones' may be installing catchily-named contraptions like SpeedCook, and CookSmart, and Catalyst.

To Americans who are becoming more and more concerned with immediate gratification mirroring their always-available corporate lifestyles, time is at a premium, but quality and convenience are more important than ever before. Speed cooking ovens, Internet-enabled refrigerators, stain-fighting washing machines, and whisper quiet dishwashers are just a few of the ideas that have become reality, now being manufactured by names with which we average Joes are familiar - Whirlpool, GE, KitchenAid (owned by Whirpool), and Maytag.

Fast Food

Move over microwaves. No more soggy bread, rubber chicken, and hot and cold- zoned meals. Speed cooking has arrived. With cooking times 25-75% faster than traditional ovens, this new cooking technology can brown and crisp, roast, bake and grill. Try to imagine a chicken roasted in eight minutes; two racks of lamb done in six minutes; lasagna in 15. In built-in ovens like Whirpool's Gold SpeedCook or KitchenAid's Ultima, a combination of convection, microwaves, quartz technology, light and air, can help your meals achieve take-off (or is it 'put on?') during dinner time. Maytag also offer the Gemini, a $1400 standard sized ranged with two ovens, marketing to busy consumers who want to be able to heat two dishes at different temperature settings simultaneously without sacrificing more cabinet space to two separate ovens.

Thermador offers CookSmart, allowing you to use pre-set times and cooking levels based on food groups and traditional baking times.

Don't Leave Home with It

Consumers who want to avoid trips to the drycleaners can do so with a Whirpool branded product, named, interestingly enough, the Catalyst. This $800 stain-fighting washer offers a fabric-care system that give consumers an alternative to dry cleaning. Sophisticated computer software has accelerated the creation of these mechanical washing robots.

Products from names like Sub-Zero and Bosch have been on the lips of the upper crust custom homeowners for some time, but it is only within the past few years that familiar names like Maytag have been able to claim prominence among these masses. Demand for their Neptune washing machine, priced at $1100, was so great when it was introduced three years ago, that there were waiting lists of consumers lined up to purchase them, making us realize that even the more affluent among us don't get hung up on brand names alone.

Crystal Clear and Germ-Free

KitchenAid now has an $850 dishwasher touting an anti-bacterial rinse cycle. The newer generation of dishwashers claims to be whisper-quiet during full blast wash cycles, but still fall short of taking dishes from the sink and loading them without human assistance (darn!). The facades of appliances such as these offer a variety of gleaming finishes, but are also easily hidden by permitting cabinet makers to match cabinet fronts, a touch formerly reserved for high-end model home kitchens.

Refrigerators that Take Inventory

Little did we realize when those pesky little bar codes took over our supermarket trips would they aid in our homes as well. GE, Whirpool, and Frigidaire plan to introduce Web-enabled circuitry that will permit bar-code scanners to tell you (on your office computer, no less) just what items are missing from your refrigerator for recipes you have in mind. With these mega-fridges linked to ovens or microwaves, they will also be able to send instructions for preparation.

While the idea of these appliances, their capabilities and their pleasant invasion into our lives may leave us slack-jawed, product manufacturers are firm in their belief that consumers both demand and expect technology such as this. Business as usual in the American home is indeed changing so quickly before our very eyes that it is difficult for us to imagine what even ten years from now has in store.

Our gadget-oriented society, however, seems ready, willing and able to spend money, depending on how well appliances like these work and how positively they can affect our daily lives.

Published: October 11, 2000

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A veteran of the real estate and homebuilding industries since 1986, Dena Kouremetis first joined Realty Times as a new homes writer in 1998. Since then, she has authored four books, written consumer columns on new homes issues for websites and newspapers all across the country, contributed to builder trade magazines, appeared as a guest expert on several radio shows and even created a ten-chapter podcast for LendingTree.com’s homebuilder website, iNest.com, now available on iTunes, entitled Uncharted Waters; Navigating the Purchase of a New Production Home. Kouremetis recently joined her local Folsom, CA Coldwell Banker office as a broker associate while continuing to write for the real estate industry. For the past three years, she has been training real estate agents for both the resale and new homes industries, putting her experience, research expertise and gift of expression to work to help others entering the business.