(I’m going to be humming Beatles tunes all the way home!)

In the past week Gadget Venue have had a couple of interesting posts about Fridge Magnets, first a very cute Mario inspired set:

The set includes a small Mario, 1 small cloud, 1 hill, 1 tall pipe, 2 bricks, 1 item block, 1 power-up mushroom and 3 coins and each item is made of Perler beads.

And then, for the designer who has everything, someone has created a set of photoshop magnets:

Then I remembered a few weeks ago The Red Ferret Journal posted about ‘Appliance Art‘ to spruce up your dishwasher, fridge or suchlike, with decorative prints or photographs:

You can choose from Seurat to Michelangelo, from Obama to You-and-the-kids, even textures and peaceful meadow photos. The pictures come in either magnetic-backed vinyl or just vinyl for non-magnetic models. The vinyl option comes with a squeegee and instructions on cleaning so your art sticks nicely. You can even peel it off and apply to your next appliance. Prices are US$44.99 for the non-custom versions and they go up to 26″ × 24″ in size. I’m holding out for Wood’s American Gothic myself.

They’re all great ways to pretty-ify your kitchen and it’s great to have these options for customisation but… Are we not just letting the appliance designers off easy here? Surely they can and should combine form with function, like the LG Swarovski fridge from 2006 which was good enough to get a mention on Designers Block:

I buy my appliances with the view that they will look good as well as do the job, I like the idea of walking into my home – you know, the one I can’t afford yet but will get when the lottery win comes in – and be pleased with all of my appliances on display as they are – well made, easy to use and clean and in no need of masking.
Is that too much to ask?