Panasonic cordless phone

This is the Panasonic cordless phone located in my living room. It was the cheapest cordless I could find, with a price tag of 2-digit RM only.



It doesn't have much fancy features, but good enough for my family. With a cordless phone, my family member can talk over the phone comfortably anywhere in the house, even walking around. It can also easily be passed around to other people since it is cordless.

I purposely chosen this model which is quite big in size with big buttons, because my parents prefer the big one so that they can easily see and press the buttons without hassle.

My Panasonic washing machine

This is my 9 kg Panasonic washing machine with filter for water inlet.



Here are some of the considerations when buying washing machine:

• You need to plan for the location to put the washing machine carefully during renovation, because the washing machine requires 1 electrical plug point, 1 water inlet (pipe) and 1 water outlet (drain).
• Front loading washing machine can work better and use less water than top loading one. However, their price is still expensive. It is less convenient to put in and take out the clothes. When the clothes are being washed half way, you cannot open the door (even when electricity or water supply failure), else the water will flush out. Therefore, I still chosen the top loading one.
• Generally, the top end models have stainless steel tubs which is more durable than plastic tub. The tub should have anti-mold feature.
• If you buy a washing machine with bigger capacity, then you can gather the clothes of your family for a few days before washing, and hence can wash the clothes less frequently, which mean less work to hang, dry and collect the clothes, also iron, fold, and organize back into the wardrobe. Using the washing machine less frequently also means lesser electricity and water consumption.
• It is better to have a washing machine that can wash and spin dry in the same tub.
• If you don't have an outdoor water filter, consider buying a washing machine with a small water filter to prevent your white shirts become yellow or brownish due to poor water quality. Even if you have an outdoor water filter, it is no harm to have filter in washing machine too, and the price difference is around RM50 only from the model without this feature.
• The washing machine should have as many water levels as possible, working together with fuzzy logic machinism, to ensure its efficiency.
• The washine machine should work with minimal noise level.
• Other general considerations including programmable washing modes, timer function, child lock, etc. Besides, only certain model of washing machine supports hot and cold water inlet and perform washing with different water temperature.

My Toshiba 3-doors fridge

This is the 470 litres Toshiba 3-doors fridge in my kitchen. Toshiba fridge has been famous for their Hybrid Plasma technology which can effectively keep food fresher, kill bacteria and eliminate bad odour.



When buying a fridge, storage capacity is an important consideration. You should look at the net (internal) storage capacity instead of the gross (including its walls). For example, this 470 litres fridge has a net storage capacity of 395 litres, comprises the freezer on top (104 litres), the refrigerator (201 litres), and the vegetable compartment at the bottom (90 litres). This is lower than the 2-doors model of same family from Toshiba, which has net storage capacity of 410 litres.

Below are the pros and cons of having a 3-doors fridge instead of the 2-doors.

Pros:

• Bigger compartment to store vegetables.
• Drawer-type lower compartment which can pull out widely, convenient to put in and take out the vegetables.
• Save electricity - When you open the fridge door, the cool air escapes and the fridge need to work hard to maintain back the temperature in the compartment. By dividing the vegetable compartment from the refregerator, the refregerator's door is smaller hence less cool air escaped when you open the door just for a while, and the temperature in vegetable compartment is also not affected when the refregerator's door is opened. This is the same that opening the bottom compartment will not affect the refregerator compartment's temperature.

Cons:

• Net storage capacity smaller by 15 litres.
• Less space to store drinks as the bottom row of drinks shelf behind the door was compensated to the vegetable compartment.