Whirlpool introduces first refrigerated range

Posted 7:03AM on Friday 8th February 2002 ( 22 years ago )

BENTON HARBOR, MICHIGAN - Whirlpool Corp. came up with a cool idea for its newest kitchen appliance. The Polara, which the company describes as the world's first refrigerated range, is to be introduced Friday at the National Association of Home Builders' 2002 International Builders' Show in Atlanta. ``We're really allowing convenience, flexibility really delivering on some needs our consumers have in a very unique way,'' said Philip Pejovich, vice president of growth and innovation for Benton Harbor-based Whirlpool North America. ``So it's real exciting to us.'' Besides offering stovetop and oven functions, the Polara has a refrigeration feature capable of cooling food inside the oven until it's ready to bake or broil. A consumer can pop a casserole into the oven before heading to work, then program the Polara to keep it cool throughout the day until switching into baking mode at a chosen time. The dish is hot and ready when the consumer arrives back home. Running late because of a flat tire? After baking the casserole, the Polara will automatically shift into warming mode for up to an hour. If the tire takes too long to change, the range will then kick into refrigeration mode again, cooling the food for up to 24 hours. Sue Jennings, a 38-year-old mother of three young children who runs a day-care center from her Stevensville home, has been testing a Polara in her house since early October. Before that, part of her busy daily routine included cooking a meal for her family early, putting it in the refrigerator until it was time to pick up her daughter at school, placing the meal in the oven before heading out the door and rushing back home before the food burns. Those frantic times are over at least until Whirlpool returns to her house and takes back the range. ``With the Polara, what I can do is make my meal, put it in the cooled oven and be totally done with it,'' Jennings said. ``You program it to cool for, say, seven hours and then maybe it's going to bake for two hours. ``The nice thing about it is, after the baking, you can make (the food) warm for however long you'd like it to, and if you don't touch it for an hour, it will automatically convert to cooling again.'' Another Polara tester, Julie Langdon, 38, a St. Joseph resident with a hospital job as a critical-care nurse, said Thursday her 12-hour work shifts give her an appreciation for the Polara's cooling and programming features. ``You don't realize how much it helps your life, especially if you have children and you worry about their nutrition,'' said Langdon, the mother of two young sons. ``You don't have to worry about what fast-food restaurant you're going to hit that night because mom and dad are too tired to cook.'' Diane Ritchey, editor of Appliance magazine, a trade publication, questioned whether American consumers, who tend to be conservative when it comes to technological advancements in the kitchen, will warm up to the Polara or give it the cold shoulder. She also wondered how many people feel comfortable allowing their oven to bake for hours at a time while they are away from home. ``I'm completely for something like this because the industry needs innovation,'' Ritchey said. ``Whether or not this is the answer remains to be seen.'' People contacted by Whirlpool researchers expressed great interest in owning a refrigerated range, company officials said. The Polara, which will be in U.S. stores in July, will retail for $1,799 in white, black or biscuit and $1,899 in stainless steel. ``On one side, it's a new-to-the-world kind of product, so it's going to take a little bit of time for consumers to get comfortable with that,'' Pejovich said. ``On the flip side, from what I've seen from consumers that have had the product, you're going to see a lot of brand advocacy on the consumers' part as soon as they get this product. There's going to be a lot of word of mouth."

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