Saturday, June 12, 2010

Design Disappointment


Sometimes you ask yourself WHY?

Why would someone, who supposedly calls themselves a "designer' come up with something so silly and more importantly, UGLY that you question their ability.

The other question I ask myself is: why would someone give that design the go-ahead.

Beats me...




Let me explain.....we've been without a heater at Number 10 for some time now because we re-located the old one to Number 3. Check out the link and you'll see why.

The Rinnai Royale was terrific. It looked good, heated the house and we were really pleased with it.

The thing is, trying to find a new heater for Number 10 in this freezing Melbourne weather has been a lot harder than we imagined, because many of the current day units are either too large for our small fireplace cavity, or won't heat the area we need.

I considered going back and buying another Rinnai Royale and checked out the latest model....and that's where my REAL disappointment set in, because it's ugly. Instead of the controls being a couple of discreet black push-buttons at the base of the unit, it's now a control pad with a plastic cover, located on the top of it.

Why?

Why would you place the control pad on top of the heater that gets pretty hot and when you're trying to make it look as much like a real log fire as humanly possible?

Rinnai, it's UGLY. In fact it's worse than ugly.

The Rinnai Royale is a great heater and is (almost) perfect for Number 10... But you've lost yourself a sale Rinnai. The way you've got your control pad set out is just NOT ON...not for me anyway...even the person at the Gas shop turned up their nose at it...so that's saying something!

The fabulous old Number 10 heater.

So, we're now faced with the task of not only finding a new heater...we'll also have to re-model the entire fireplace/chimney to accommodate a larger one that will not only look good, but will warm the house as well.

I love renovating, but this is just plain annoying

I mean really...is it too much to ask to have something that looks good as well as performs well?

5 comments:

  1. Thanks for all your heater advice Lesley - sounds like we're dealing with very similar situations at the moment :) I was looking at Rinnai brands yesterday- the Rinnai Aspiration looked nice but the front glass got VERY hot (not so good with curious little Grace crawling around everywhere at the moment). I was told the Rinnai Royale was the most popular (and I can get a mesh screen for temporary safety with Grace at the moment) - I hadn't noticed the panel being on top until you said but I see what you mean about it spoiling the streamlined look on top. I'm glad you said it heated well though as that's a plus. We have since realised however that our cavity is not as deep as we had thought, so our options may end up being limited and the 'flat against the wall heater' I was imagining may not even be possible!! Grrr! I have an installation man coming out on Monday afternoon to advise me as to which model will actually fit in our space and we'll go from there. In terms of looks, I actually like the Cannon Fitzroy but I've never heard of that brand and all the product reviews I just read were negative so that's out. I really like the look of the Heat and Glo which I just Googled. You're right about price - there's such a range out there! Keep me posted as to your heater progress... Enjoy your weekend x

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yep, it sure is a bummer White Dove...MONT is right now, tinkering with the fireplace....or should I say ripping plaster off the front of it to see what we'll be up against.

    Amanda, there are so many options out there for heaters it's almost like there are too many choices!!

    It's good that you have someone coming out to advise you though. I've heard of Canon and just about every other darn brand. Some are simply for looks though, so make sure you get one that will do exactly what you want it too, not just look nice.
    Most of the gas log fires come with a mesh guard, apparently they're a legal necesity. Good luck and let us know how you go.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sorry, Lesley, that you can't find a "like" heater for your hearth, but I am just trying to wrap my brain around you all needing it there when it is 90 degrees here. I can't get use to that.

    Teresa

    ReplyDelete
  4. We'll get our man Teresa, it's just going to take some "tweaking" of the fireplace...read: demolition!

    ReplyDelete

I love to hear your thoughts.

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.