Pros and Cons of Advanced Household Appliances
We are all familiar with basic household appliances: refrigerators, washing machines and dryers, dishwashers, microwaves, and vacuum cleaners. These appliances all make our lives a little easier by providing us with convenience and by reducing the amount of time we spend doing everyday tasks around our homes. We can keep a variety of foods in the house because we can keep them cold or even freeze them to preserve them for long periods of time. We can wash all of our dishes at once, rather than spending time after a family meal to clean the pots and pans used to cook the meal and the dishes used to eat our dinner. We can rotate laundry from the washer to the dyer in between episodes of a TV show. Nowadays, however, there are a host of additional household appliances that can make our household chores even easier and save even more time. There can be pros and cons to these appliances.
Roombas or other robotic vacuum cleaners have become a popular item. These small vacuum cleaners can be programmed to start themselves at a specific time of day and run on their own until they have finished cleaning the available floor space, after which they return to their charging station. All you have to do is empty the collection basket and occasionally clean or replace the filter. While these robot vacuums cannot usually handle heavy debris, they can be a great option for daily maintenance of your floors, especially if you have pets that shed or floors that tend to attract dust easily, and can really cut down on the number of times you have to run your full-sized vacuum cleaner. Some downsides to the robot vacuum can be that it tends to run for a longer time than a traditional vacuum and the noise can be distracting if you are home while it is running. It can also catch itself on items that may be left on the floor before it runs, which can cause it to automatically shut itself off and not finish the job, or even damage itself, so you have to keep in mind the need to take the extra step of ensuring the floor is clear each time you want to run it.
Crockpots, instant pots, and air fryers are kitchen appliances that help ease the amount of time you spend cooking meals. While crockpots or slow cookers have been around for a long time, instant pots and air fryers have risen in popularity more recently. The appeal of a crockpot or slow cooker is that you can put ingredients for a meal into the cooker and let it cook all day without having to check on it or attend to it much, if at all, without worrying about needing to frequently check on the food as it cooks. Instant pots or pressure cookers serve a similar purpose, but dramatically reduce the amount of time needed to cook the meal, making it easier to achieve the same results you could get from a slow cooker even if you weren’t able to put the meal on earlier in the day. Air fryers also cook food quickly and achieve a similar taste and texture as deep frying or other cooking methods that may be less healthy. The downsides of these devices are that they do need to be used with caution, and people can forget to pay attention to the devices themselves as much as they may tend to pay attention to the stove or oven. You should always make sure the devices are in good working order and that you are following all of the instructions carefully. Make sure they are placed in an appropriate location in your kitchen, are on a surface that can withstand the heat that they give off, and are not too close to walls or other items.
Steamers for clothing are another appliance that can be really helpful in reducing the time and effort needed to ensure your clothes are wrinkle-free and fresh. Unlike a traditional iron, steam cleaners do not require use of a board or flat surface to eliminate wrinkles from clothing. Clothes can just be hung on a regular hanger on the back of a door, a shower curtain, or other hook, and the handheld steaming device can be used from a freestanding position. Steamers can also be easily turned on and off without much time to heat up or cool down, reducing the risk for serious burns that a traditional iron can pose and reducing the time involved in freshening up your outfit.
One other possible downside for some is that, while these appliances reduce the time and effort of cooking, cleaning, or doing laundry, those activities can be a hobby or form of stress relief and use of these items eliminates that. Some people love having these appliances to free up more time to focus on work, participate in hobbies, or enjoy time with family and friends. Others enjoy taking the time to do household work or prefer the results that they get from doing things the “old fashioned way,” and these appliances do not appeal to them. Whichever route you prefer, it can be interesting to check out new appliances to see what options are available for maintaining your home!
;)
