The 1st Annual “Most Ridiculous Appliance” Awards

This is meant to be a fun and entertaining post. We aren’t reviewing these appliances as good or bad based our own personal use and testing. If you’ve purchased one of these appliances, please do not take offense. We all make mistakes. In fact, your appliance is now “award-winning”.

3rd Place: Baumatic Ombra Wall Dishwasher – OMBRA4SS

In the slightly off-kilter world of Baumatic, this unit goes for the gold. When is the last time you thought to yourself, “if only the dishwasher was where my oven is…”. For those of you who have these type of thoughts frequently, Baumatic has created a niche product just for you. The Baumatic Wall Dishwasher mounts flush with no handles or knobs. You would think it must open automatically, but this would be too easy. Instead the front glass panel, (the part that makes it look like an oven) tilts out, giving you a makeshift handle to slide the unit open. This is how things are done in the “green” future, so get used to it.

It comes with 6 place settings, 5 wash modes, with a hidden heating element. It also employs residual drying, another green feature you better get used to, which is a fancy way of saying it is without a fan. So, will this British feat of engineering dry your dishes?

I don’t know. But at least no one will be able to find your dishwasher.  Baumatic UK

Second Place: Franke Opera Combination Cooktop

So you like to cook on gas, and the wife like to cook on radiant. I know, this is a problem we all have isn’t it? Well, quit your arguing, because have I got the cooktop for you! The Franke Opera Combination Cooktop is gas and radiant. This way you boil water slowly, while you sauté quickly.

Or simmer slowly, while you boil quickly. Or… um.

OK. I don’t know exactly what this unit is for, other than confusing the cook. But one fun feature of the unit is the knobs, which are beveled a good two inches off the base of the unit, making the perfect recipe for disaster for a chef who removes his sauté pan without paying attention.

First Place Winner: Gaggenau Lift Oven – BL 235

As an appliance salesman, you think you’ve seen it all. Dishwasher have been transformed into drawers. Refrigerators made impossible to pick out from cabinetry. Even wine coolers connected to the house’s alarm system. But if there is one manufacturer that, at the very least, gets points for originality; it’s Gaggenau.

Gaggenau marches to the beat of its own drum. I remember their 60cm electric oven, with a monsterous glass door that was hinged from the side and futuristic knobs that controlled its orange and black LCD screen. If appliances were judged based on looks alone, this company would always come out on top. They invented the spaceship downdrafts and modules back in the late eighties, and many of those designs remain largely intact today.

But I have a feeling there were even a few employee’s at Gaggenau that saw this new product and said “are you serious?” The BL 235’s base houses it’s control panel, and at the push of a button, the entire floor of the oven lowers down to the countertop.

Talk about a conversation piece.

The bottom section is actually a glass ceramic cooktop, which is able to cook all on its own, which is great for direct contact cooking for items like bread and pizza. The oven itself offers 11 different cooking modes, including convection. It also boasts chemical-free, pyrolitic self-cleaning which vaporizes any left over food or residue.

Finally, an oven for the handicapped and disabled.