A SLAP for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

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westytoploader

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I was watching tonight's new episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition about a family with seven kids (9-year-old boy and a set of sextuplets), and they're literally redesigning their house from the ground up. All well and good, so far...what they did on this episode is a big no-no in the classic appliance world...prepare yourselves because this was shocking.

In the kitchen was a BEAUTIFUL 1950's Westinghouse stainless wall oven with bottom-mounted controls, and in a show where everyone is obsessed with new, it wasn't going to stay. They (the designers) had some crazy idea about using the oven door for one of the kids' beds, and of course had to show the camera that they could get it out in less than a minute. Everyone literally JUMPED on the oven door and broke it off, nearly ripping the poor thing out of the wall! What a shame...there aren't very many of these left.

Did anyone else catch this? They deserve a slap 10 times over...
 
This show is great for what is does (helping people)

but trashing old appliances like they do is not part of that greatness. While some ignoramuses think it's funny, we don't here. Kind of like when gallagher used to smash veggies and fruits-I never thought that was funny. That was food that could have been used to feed the hungry. Same as with appliances-restored and used again or sold on Ebay and made money to support ongoing projects. This stuff really isn't funny to me. Somedays I think we have it too good in this country. I love America with all my heart, but we are indeed a wasteful folk.
 
Extreme Makeover

That's why I never watch that show exactly for that reason. Just what I've seen them tear down in the promo spots makes me ill. In a lot of cases, we're not talking about run-down gheto stuff.

Sometimes I when I watch Designers Challenge, they will be re-designing a kitchen or replacing appliances that I'd be proud to have in my house. They'll go into a kitchen and I'll say to myself "wow, that's a nice kitchen" then they tear it out. This isn't to say that some of the kitchens DID need to be re-done.
 
I don't watch the program-but my question was--How do you make a childs bed from an oven door?? sounds like it would be uncomfortable?and???I must be missing out on something.Perhaps the machine could have been DONATED to someone who would be interested in it.Yes-what is "funny" to them could be distasteful to someone else-mabe they should learn(producer of the program) they are people who like and DO USE vintage machines.-and APPRECIATE them!!
 
Be Consoled Westy!!

I concurr; a rotten shame to trash those remnants of bygone days. One of us should write to the producers and have them convey to the principals that there is a market for the retro apps. I am happy to say I have one of those, and the
matching surface unit. Also,I have a newer one from about 1959/1960 that I snatched right out of my Grandparents house
in mid escrow in late 1996. Controls left vertically arranged,
even has a rotisserie and meat temp probe!!!
 
Westy oven

Westy also had a cool oven that the door was hinged on the side. This would of been around 1967. (built in type unit).
 
I watch many of the shows on HGTV and here of late I have seen them trash three vintage Kitchen Aid Dishwashers. Makes me want to scream everytime I see it happen. Terry
 
Don't want to watch the show after hearing these things-Trashing working older machines is despicable!Throw the producers of this show into the compactor and see how funny that would be?Grind them into Soylent Green??Were the three KA washers they trashed still usable??Someone else could sure use them and ENJOY them.
 
This is the reason why I don't watch that type of show. The whole obsession with trends and newness makes me sick. I remember a promo for a show called "Kitchen Accomplished" that showed a rather goregous avocado green kitchen, with a snide voiceover rattling on about how "your kitchen was state of the art...in 1973!" Then it showed the kitchen updated, with commercial stainless appliances and blonde cabinets, no personality, total slavery to what's "in." The update craze indicates a lemming-like obsession with group-think. Don't people have personal preferences anymore?

Sorry to rant, but this is a subject that really gets me.
 
I saw the Extreme Makeover show too- did't see the part about the oven door. They really went over the top with the house. They made the kids room wardlike- with a circus themed room & back yard. A tent like ceiling with stripes would literally make me nautious! The family was in shock. I would be too!
Jerry
 
Extreme Makeover

Why doesn't someone contact the producers of the show. Tell them about our website and how it's users are committed to preserving classic appliances.

If the producers would be willing to ship these to one of our nearby members, who might be willing to act as a clearinghouse, and collect these. They could then be offered to users of this website.

I know this is a wild idea, but it's a wild show and the producers might like it's a neat twist. Would give this website some free publicity and let people know the value of classis appliances and that there are people out there who want them preserved.
'
 
I can't stomach that show anymore because it is one big Sears and Ford advertisement. God bless them for helping people in need and all the donations they get for those families, but they don't have to make us jealous with a new garage completely outfitted with Craftsmen tools, 2 HE4t sets, a new F150 and a 500 sedan. That's a pretty crappy message for some people out there who are just looking for a way to defraud the system. Yes, sit on your butt, come up with a sob story, live like a pig and then they will come and rebuild your house brand new for you.

Oven doors for a bed? That's pretty sick on a number of levels. Handsel and Gretel? I hope the family wasn't Jewish.
 
I think they overloaded the last house with appliances as well. Yes, they might be a family of eight, but do they still need two Kenmore Elite tall-tub dishwashers?

Regardless, I still can't get over the fact that the designers didn't like the Westinghouse oven. They re-did the kitchen in stainless anyway; what difference would it have made?!?!?
 
Questions on the "Extreme Makeover" program-If they "donate" tools and appliances to worthy causes-how 'bout "donating" the old machines removed from "Makeovers"to folks who could use them?
Maybe they should redraw their storyboards to be like this-Family has old kitchen and appliances and they want to remodel.They do so and SAVE the old machines.Now they show the new kitchen and the folks enjoying it.Next the OLD machines are advertised as available to someone who would want them(metal cabinets as well from GE or whatever)Family "B" answers Extreme Makeovers request on the old units. They are then sent to them-installed in their kitchen and we see scenes of them using and enjoying the old appliances in their NEW home! Could someone from Applianceville contact the Extreme Makeover group and request means of getting the old appliances BEFORE they are slaughtetered?
 
Minor concern-could that family that was on the program in 3-6 afford to pay the utilities and taxes to run and own those new machines?Looked up the program on the web.The charactors on the program seem to "makeover" homes of less well to do folks or those that suffered some sort of problem.Are the owners of the home in charge of the "Extreme Makeover" crew-I would think they should be treated as "contractors" and the homeowners are still the boss as to what is done to the building or what goes in it.I wanted to see film clips of the show but the video player doesn't work for my computer or they won't let you see it since it ran on regular TV.I was trying to access the scenes of that poor nice "Westy" oven being brutalized for no reason.
 
I agree, gleefully destroying useful things of any kind is disgusting. It's basically the same spirit as overt vandalism and/or looting.

I have some doubt that you could get the producers of that show to arrange for orderly donations of old appliances on their own. Too reasonable, too deliberate, not chaotic enough. Remember, chaos makes "good television."

However, I can think of a way it *might* work. There is a practice that is common in major construction projects, whereby if you find something of archaological relevance, you contact the local university, and they send out the graduate students who literally go in just ahead of the excavators to remove and map what they can. It's work under time pressure, because delays can add huge cost-overruns to construction projects of those types (skyscrapers, highways, etc.), but it does the job: artifacts get saved, sites get mapped, much is learned and preserved.

So how 'bout this. Offer to set up a "salvage squad" that could deploy to these TV home renovation sites on short notice, and remove the vintage equipment as quickly as possible without visibly slowing down the show. It might even get you on TV:-). Here you have three appliance geeks quickly unscrewing and carting off the wall-oven, unbolting the Bendix washer from the garage floor and getting it into a pickup truck, taking the old turquoise-enameled steel kitchen cabinets out and handing them out the back door like a bucket brigade, etc.

If you do it often enough you'll start to look as well-choreographed as a ballet or a basketball game. That will make for good TV.

As for "what to do with the stuff." Widely-publicized auctions, no. Those would only have the effect of causing a generalized price increase for these things, putting them out of the reach of many folks such as those on this site who don't have bottomless budgets. In my estimation one of the criteria for a good hobby is that the entry price isn't impossible, so folks who enjoy buying a couple of vintage pieces and restoring them for use shouldn't have to pay "antique mall" prices.

More interesting I think, to try to arrange for some kind of trade or donation, whereby it's one old machine for a comparable new one; or perhaps direct donation of the old ones to poor folks who want the retro look (after all, why should being poor disqualify someone from having a few nice things anyway?).

This could also turn into "good TV" by having the show say, at the end (for example), "And all the old stuff that came out of this kitchen is now making the Smith family of Midville Nebraska very happy!" and show a quick still-photo of the Smiths in their newly-remodeled vintage kitchen.
 
Terrific Idea!

Designgeek:

A wonderful idea! Wouldn't it be great to have a "Recycling Squad" on hand to get these useful appliances? If someone in our forum can't use them, surely Habitat for Humanity or another organization can. I'm sure the Texas contingent would join forces here.

I have to admit, it was painful (very) to watch Ty and his group jump on that oven door to try to remove it. What a waste. Why didn't they go to the junkyard and get a hood off of a small car if that's the look they wanted to simulate for the young boy's bed? What a gorgeous oven to destroy. Austin and I were both justifiably enraged >:0
 
Another

A coppertone KitchenAid by Hobart Superba dishwasher was yanked from its cubby and unceremoniously dumped next to the coppertone Frigidaire drop-in electric cooktop with its distinctive trapezoid burner layout.

Oh, and on all of those makeover shows, the homeowners don't pay for the renovation but they DO pay income tax on the cost in the same way one would pay income tax on a game show prize. Thus, a $75,000 renovation raises their reported income by $75,000. The tax rate is the same as for free-lance work, about 39%.

Quite a shock when April 15 rolls around.
 
It's not just "Extreme Makeover".I've seen other shows,like "This Old House","Hometime",and others,where they throw away older WORKING appliances,just to get new ones.Not offer them to a local thrift store,or even give them away in a newspaper. They get the biggest dumpster they can find,and usually fill it twice.

The other thing they throw away a lot of is good salvagable wood,like 2X4's,2X6's,plywood,etc.

kennyGF
 
Extreme Takeover

OK You guys and gals! You know its just a tv show, Its not real! ( What my Mom used to tell me after watching the Outer Limits!) Appliance companys sponsor these shows and if everyone was like us they would be out of buisness, plus everyone would be fighting over the old ones! But I have seen several of the shows where they take out perfectly good appliances because there to lazy to clean them up.
 
Any websites where I could see them destroying the "Condemned" oven?Also I have "dumpster-Dived" at the worksites-Goatfarmer is right about all of the "Good" lumber being thrown out-esp beautiful HARDWOOD wall panels-You can't get that anymore.I would rather KEEP those than replace them with some ugly imitation.
the tax on the $75,000 makeover would be about $30,000.do you really think that family could afford to pay that?-Suppose the "Taxman" gets all those goodies!and do the people they gave the Crafsman Power tools to know how to use them?I am starting to see that program as a tax "Write-Off" for the ABC network and the providers of the goods "donated" to that family.Then the sponsers pay toward having the show run on prime time TV! pretty neat for them!!
 
It may be TV and "not real," but it *does* encourage people to emulate that kind of behavior. Which is a damn shame, for the overt waste of working equipment, and the fact that the equipment thereby wasted is usually vintage stuff with high value to the right person.

What ever happened to "waste not, want not"..? Or being a "clean-plate eater" for that matter (i.e. eating everything on your plate aside from bones & fat trimmings)...?

In a few years when oil production peaks and we start getting $3 a gallon gasoline and the economy stalls out, a lot of those people who joyfully ripped out viable appliances and threw away platefulls of food every night are going to be having second thoughts. As in, serious regrets. Or they're going to demand some form of communism or fascism to bail them out. God help us.
 
I always grew up being taught to take care of things, and not to waste. This, obviously goes against the modern economy which is to spend spend spend. It seems like everyone today needs the most newest thing of whatever it is, and will go into severe debt to get it.

More often than not, I see others replacing things, be it appliances, electronics, clothing, automobiles, or practically anything that can be bought simply because it is "old". These materials do not need to be malfunctioning to be replaced in the minds of the general public for some reason. I just can't understand why someone would want to replace something that is perfectly functioning an in good condition!

Still, it seems like nobody these days wants to maintain what they have either, and manufacturers are encouraging this activity. Still, as a repair tech myself for electronics, I see people have trouble with equipment that is brought on by obvious lack of maintaince or misuse and abuse. I constantly see people heavy-handing controls, or bumping and banging around delicate componets. Forcefully shoving tapes into machines, banging on switches & buttons, leaving projectors in the damp trunks of cars, spilling food inside, etc Something as simple as cleaning the dust off a control panel goes a long way toward helping things last longer.

This country is so wasteful. Behind my house, they are building some new homes, and the contstruction workers are terribly wasteful. I have hauled considerable amounts of scrap home from their dumpsters and used it to finish off my own attic. Out and about on service calls, I always take time to scout out a contstruction dumpseter when a building is being renovated. I have found some nice marble that I have used for countertops in my kitchen, and some awesome mahogany paneling. along with some chrome trim from the old Blue-Cross building here in my hometown when it was "renovated" (it used to be a real jewel of mid-century modern design until it was hacked up to look like the more modern building they built beside it)

I drive up Broad street, the main drag in town, and see business and parking lotslit up like ballparks after they are closed for the day. Gallons of purified, treated water gushes out of sprinklers during the night, and perfectly fine buildings are torn down to replace them with newer buildings. All the while I am turning off lights and other electrical stuff around the house, trying to recycle, and maintaining my 60 year old home.

...I just don't get what drives people to waste materials, enery, and MONEY they way they do!
 
We are indeed wasteful

I couldn't agree more with cybrvanr and design geek about being wasteful. unfortunately, it is a fact of life. I find wastefulness outrageous and extremely greedy, selfish behavior. Of course, its always been with us in one form or another always. The things I see and hear everyday on the road tell that nuttiness is overtaking the world. Seemingly intelligent, talented people just loosing it. I never used to see or here of the things going on nowdays. Maybe I'm turning into an early old fogie (I'll be 50 in April), but things have really changed since I was a kid (yes they have). I really don't know what's goin' down anymore-stop children; watch that sign! Is anybody safe? Thanks for allowing me to vent(rite)LOL
 
poor westy!

I absoloutely HATE it when people destroy vintage appliances, especially the rare and hard to find ones!
the older they are, the more I cringe when they treat them that way! the least they could do is put them up for sale so someone who appriceates them could have them...What is wrong with people these days!!!
 
I can go along with Cybervanr as well-I have to fix things around the workplace as well-esp when I worked at the Wash DC plant of the agency I work for.Abuse of apparatus was rampant-from ignorance-not caring(its NOT MINE so why should I care)Folks shoving tapes or discs into machines-not using RR tape machines properly-now all that WORKING analog gear has been replaced with DIGITAL gear for those folks to CRASH.It happened on one of our nets-it was down for about 10Hrs.The bosses asked us to turn off the transmitters for that net(no use wasting electricity to broadcast "House Music") while they were fixing their system.Crashed on a Sun night-someone doing PM-and hit the wrong machine?Digatal equipment is great-its great when it works-but when it BREAKS-its a big job to patch up!I see the waste in Govt since I work in it.Unbeleivable!Our tax dollars at work!So I am not the only one that dumpster dives at work sites.Good someone else does to-nice to rescue those good things that are nice or still work.-and that you can't GET anymore!I suppose the buildings torn down are those that have nice architectural features and in their place are ugly sterile new buildings that look like anyother--Sadly in appliances I think the "energy saving" preaching has something to do with it-instead of WISE USE of the older equipment-they get new Energy Saving machines and put the perfectly good old ones in the dump--what kind of saving is that?
 

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