We’ve been on the hunt for a good looking modern humidifier for a long time. Last year we finally bought the Air-O-Swiss which was lovingly dubbed “Eva” (from Wall-E”) by our 2 year old son. While we were happy with it, we ended up replacing our furnace and installing a whole house humidifier. The whole house humidifier is expensive but oh so convenient.

This year it looks like there is one more option when it comes to stylish humidifiers. The Cube steam humidifier like most other stylish humidifiers comes from Japan. WIth a 2.6 L tank and 8 hour capacity it sounds fairly equivilient to our Air-O-Swiss, minus the easy pour filing. Priced at $108 it seems like a good price for a good looking humidifier.

Available from Japan Trend shop for $108.

I’m always on the lookout for a good looking humidifier. I don’t know why really, last year when we bought our air-o-swiss humidifier it was the first humidifier I’ve ever had in my whole life. I think part of my obsession is based on the fact that there are so few good looking ones out there. That makes me want to find a good looking one even more. Well today on the MoMA store I stumbled across Oskar. Made by Swiss Style (what is it with the Swiss and good looking humidifiers?) Oskar will pump out 1.9 gallons a day and even includes an oil container for aromatherapy. Size 11.4″ W x 9.7″ H x 9.7″ D

Available from MoMA Store for $150.

Lately I have been finding all sorts of great stuff for sale through websites that typically specialize in fashion. First there was the Gilt groupe that had Areaware stuff for sale, now Haute Look has some great appliances for sale. Made by Kalorik, the line of appliances have a bit of retro look to them, but with a more modern contemporary flair. I was surprised by how complete the line of appliances was. They have everything from mixers to toasters to wine bottle coolers and all of them are for sale. The prices are quite reasonable considering the quality of the styling. For example the stainless steel and glass coffee pot above is $58, the blender $63 and the toaster $53. You have to sign up with Haute Look to be able to see the selection, but if all their deals are this good it may just be worth it.

Kalorik appliances available from Haute Look.

When I was in school, this thing would have prevented many a ridiculous spat – like when my roommate claimed the jam my parents gave me was hers. I’ll still never understand that one.

The Flatshare Fridge is one of nine finalists out of more than 600 entries from 49 countries in the Electrolux Design Lab 2008 competition. For creator Stefan Buchberger, a design student at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, the idea grew out of a semester-long theme about keeping personal space clean and tidy. “I decided to create Flatshare fridge because there is nothing more disgusting than a dirty fridge in a shared flat,” he says. “At the time, I was living in such a flat!”

The fridge consists of a base station and up to four stackable modules. The modules allow each individual user to have his or her own refrigerator space and can be customized with various colorful skins as well as with add-ons like a bottle opener or a whiteboard. Handles on the sides of the modules make them easy to transport. “If you move to new flat, you can just transport your module like a suitcase and hook it up to the base station in your new flat,” Buchberger explains.


Images via Electrolux

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I wrote about the Bodum BISTRO Toaster before, when they released the little chrome beauty exclusively for Crate & Barrel. Now you can get it in nearly every color imaginable, which may be particularly enticing for those with an adventurous side or a strict kitchen color scheme! I couldn’t spot a price for this new version, but if the chrome variety is any indication, chances are it will be affordable to most consumers. Check out it at Bodum.com.

Here are a few vintage ads that ought to put a smile on your face! Have a great weekend!
From Flickr group “I Love My Electric Appliance!“

Yowza! Check out this sleek little toaster (not to be confused with The Brave Little Toaster) from Bodum exclusively for Crate & Barrel.

Award-winning, retro-modern design in perforated brushed chrome, available exclusively at Crate and Barrel. Two-slice toaster features 900 watts of power, variable browning and temperature settings, defrost and cancel buttons, built-in warming rack and removable crumb tray. Footed base stores cord neatly.

That’s all good and well, but with a $69.95 price tag I really want to know if you can fit a bagel in there? If not, I just might have to pass on this sexy little chrome number.

How much would you be willing to spend on a toaster? Do you care if there is adequate space for a bagel? Or is that just me?

Bodum ® Bistro Toaster exclusively for Crate & Barrel – $69.95 (plus that blasted shipping fee!)

With the winter chill comes the joys of heating a house. Our old house had radiant, which was not only very efficient and comfortable, but also didn’t dry out our house to bad. Our new house has normal forced air and a house full of chapped and cracked lips has finally convinced me we need a humidifier. Of course the first one I thought of was the gorgeous plus minus zero humidifier. Try as I might though, I couldn’t talk myself into dropping $300 for it. Blomus also makes a good looking one but it is passive evaporation and I don’t think that is aggressive enough for our dry house. After a lot of searching I finally settled on the Air-O-Swiss evaporator. The $130 price tag is a little high, but it was the best compromise between high prices and good looks. One of the features I am excited about is the fact that you can fill it with a pitcher of water without having to open anything or carry anything to the sink. It should get here in about a week so I’ll let you know how it goes.

Available from Amazon for $139.

I was in a local kitchen store a couple of days ago when I came across this great looking toaster by Cloer. I had never heard of the brand before, but I am a huge fan of their styling. The toaster has a clean brushed steel look to it with a simple control interface. While it has the looks of a high end toaster, the price is quite reasonable at $50. Not surprisingly it looks like Target is one of the biggest retailers of Cloer products, although they are only available online. The rest of the line includes a double waffle maker, electric BBQ, coffee maker, roll baker and electric water kettle.

Cloer products available from Target online from $50 – $160.

We’ve been watching the classifieds for a while now to see if we could get any good deals on some of our kitchen appliances. We finally had some good luck the other day when we stumbled across this Siemens Avant Garde hood for only $450. It’s 36″ wide and normal prices are well above $1,000, so we feel like we got a pretty sweet deal. I actually really like the minimalist shape of it too.
We have drywallers coming in tonight to patch up the whole kitchen, hopefully they will be done by this weekend. We will probably start painting and putting in our Roppe rubber flooring sometime next week. Things are finally starting to come together.
One of the last things on the list is to order our countertops. We decided to go with laboratory counters from Trespa. At a quoted price of $15 a square plus fabrication, you just can’t beat the price.