I’ve been meaning to write this post for several years now so I’m glad that I’m finally getting around to it. There are a few products that I’ve been using that are especially elegant and are a pleasure to use.

Vitamix

The Vitamix blender has won many awards and it doesn’t need repeating that it’s a great and versatile kitchen appliance. I have the 5300 model but they all appear to be pretty comparable as far as I can tell. What I like the most about it is how simple yet effective it is.

Let’s consider the Oster 6811 blender. It has 12 different settings: pulse, pulse, grate, easy clean, blend, puree, shred, cream, grind, chop, liquefy, whip, ice crush, and mix. Phew. I don’t know about you, but I don’t know when I would use some of those settings rather than other ones and the sheer number of options is dizzying.

Or how about the Blendtec TB-621-20? It certainly has fewer options than the Oster but there are only icons on the buttons so it’s unclear to me what each one does. Also, the -/+ buttons operate in addition to the different modes?

Finally, let’s move on to the Vitamix. It has a start/stop toggle, hold for pulse switch, and 1-10 speed knob. It’s pretty clear from the get-go that you flip it on, crank the knob to the desired speed, and turn it off when it’s done. It is great at what it does so it doesn’t require any features to persuade people to buy it. The product speaks for itself.

Granted, some of the other settings could come in handy from time to time and the price point of each product should be considered as well. I very much appreciate the simplicity of the Vitamix and how you know what is going to happen when you flip it on.

Sonicare

The Philips Sonicare Diamond toothbrush is another elegant and effective product. It is “just a toothbrush” yet the attention to detail is impressive.

There is a single button on the device that is used to turn it on, change modes if it was recently turned on, and turn it off. The conductive charging technology provides lots of benefits:

  • Charging is easier than plugging a cable into it (just plunk it down in the charging stand!)
  • Waterproof because there aren’t any exposed ports
  • The toothbrush fits nicely in the travel case which is set up with conductive charging just like the stands

It’s a pretty powerful toothbrush and Philips thoughtfully built in a few week ramp up period to slowly increase the power to allow your gums to adjust. The only visual indicator on it is the battery level which is very sleek and elegant.

The brush timer that triggers every 30 seconds to indicate that it’s time to switch sides is clever. The obvious way to do this would be either with a visual indicator or a sound of some sort. A visual indicator is out of the question because you likely can’t see the device when the business end is in your mouth! A sound could work pretty well but would require special hardware in the toothbrush to make that happen. They ended up using haptic feedback by changing the vibration pattern slightly which is very (but not overly) noticeable in one’s mouth.

What the Vitamix and Sonicare have most in common is a simple and reliable design which is important in terms of usability, durability, manufacturing, and maintenance. Although I don’t own one myself, KitchenAid stand mixers are in the same category. They have simple controls, do one thing well, yet are very versatile. All of these qualities make them a joy to use and result in happy customers.

Other companies should take note.