Spin: Appliances That Cooperate
by Karin Kloosterman, Tel Aviv 
on 11. 3.06
A juicer, a can opener, a coffee grinder—ever wonder why every appliance needs its own motor? That was the question Israeli designer Iftah Poran asked himself when he conceptualized Spin, a series of kitchen appliances which make use of the same two-speed motor embedded within a kitchen countertop. Poran’s system saves the need to have individual motors for each appliance- hence it is a more sustainable solution for one’s kitchen and home. All appliances are easily connected to the base unit, facilitating a simple and intuitive use, says Poran, who built Spin at Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem. We’re waiting for such a concept to motorize our entire life. ::Design Boom
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What about the fairly ubiquitous Kitchenaid stand mixer, which is actually in production, has been for many years, and took exactly the same single-motor approach such that you can buy all sorts of attachments for juicing, grinding, etc.?
The same appliance has been commercially available in the US since at least the mid '60's. I forget the mfr, but possibly Kitchenaid.
Same concept of motor and its connecting arbor permanently embedded in the countertop, with interchangeable head units for differing tasks.
There are many advantages to the concept, but also some drawbacks - portability, repairs to the motor will take down all your appliances, each appliance may not be as well suited to the task as other mfrs products, locked ina nd less likely to upgrade sequentially. This concept has also been tried recently with homeowner grade cordless tools with extraordinary success.
The design form is hipper, though, than the old marketing I first came across....
A good concept. Has anyone taken this to its logical conclusion and made a foot-powered treadle version?
Actually I wonder why anyone would think a juicer or a can opener needs a motor (with the exception of the disabled, of course).
Eli, I'm with you on the foot powered version. And how about an even simpler hand powered version? I've got a cheapy hand powered food processor and a somewhat expensive hand powered blender that I use all the time. They aren't quite as aggressive as the electric powered ones, but they do the job nearly as well for almost everything and give me some good exercise as I'm making my food! The only comlaint I have is that they aren't all that well designed for serious longterm use.
I have a large number of kitchen appliances. Can openers, juicers, blenders, choppers, cutters, etc. They all use one single motor - me. I don't understand the need to use electricity to open a can or juice an orange or cut vegetables. There are ingenious human-powered appliances that enable these tasks to be done with minimal effort. My juicer uses a mechanical lever to apply extreme pressure and quickly and completely extracts all the juice with minimal effort. There is no need to use electricity for the vast majority of kitchen tasks - even the convenience argument is deficient. In any case, this is an environmental website and the primary argument that holds is sustainability.
My grandmother has had something like this in her house for at least 40 years. She loves it, and it works quite well. Can't remember the brand, but when I have a house I will be finding out.
You guys were talking about the old NUTONE kitchen center - our family has had two of them for over 40 years. Get it here: http://www.tcckitchencenter.com/features.html
What I would be really interested in seeing is a line of power tools that utilize this concept. I hate that my circular saw, jig saw, table saw, miter saw, router, sander, etc. all have separate motors. At least some of these could be combined into an interchangeable system, I imagine.
These are admittedly energy-intensive devices, but that is not the point here. Unlike kitchen appliances, the hand tool equivalents to these devices require maybe 20-100 times as long to achieve the same results. For all but industrial applications, where many tools may be in use simultaneously, an interchangeable system could turn a whole-garage workshop into a compact, maybe even portable job case.
For power tools, the Shopsmith has been around since 1953. It has a table saw, lathe, drill press, horizontal borer, and disk sander using the same motor. You can also get a band saw and a jointer.