Whirlpool’s Centralpark ‘Connected’ Fridge/Freezer is a Little Hokey

All our talk about showers , tubs and beds lately reminded me of Whirlpool's "high-tech" refrigerator/freezer demonstrated at CES 2008.

I read about the newfangled Whirlpool Centralpark Connection prior to CES 2008, so I was eager to check out the innovation -- mostly for a little chuckle. Over the years, Whirlpool has gone a little too far in trying to connect its major appliances to the digital world.

For a couple of years in 2000 and 2001, the company embraced the then-emerging OSGi gateway protocol, and showed all manner of connectivity in the kitchen.

In a typical trade-show demo, a harried housewife would utter commands to a countertop Web tablet, which would spit out a menu. Microwave ovens would adjust automatically. Moms could call in late from a soccer game to warm up the lasagna.

The whole family's schedule would be maintained right there on the fridge. You know the drill.

Whirlpool had every intention of rolling out the connected kitchen in 2002. Six years later, we may have PowerScour and AccuBake from Whirlpool, but no Internet-connected ovens.

The whole darn vision would have been too difficult to implement – too much for consumers to swallow, too hard for Whirlpool and its dealers to support.

Kinder, Gentler Connected Kitchen

This time, Whirlpool got smart. "Instead of doing it all ourselves, we decided to partner with people," said Mark Hamilton, director of Whirlpool's new Centralpark initiative, during CES.

Admitting that earlier connected-kitchen initiatives were too ambitious, Hamilton touted the much simpler Centralpark approach.

Here's how Whirlpool promotes Centralpark:

Have you ever noticed how the kitchen counters are a magnet for mess? The award-winning Whirlpool Centralpark Connection, a refrigerator with an interchangeable plug-and-play platform, is the ideal solution for that bothersome kitchen clutter. And the Centralpark Connection helps you get more done every day -- from keeping photo displays fresh to organizing family activities.

Sounds complicated, right? In fact, Whirlpool's technological contribution to Centralpark boils down to this, according to Hamilton: "Really, it's just power."

That's right. Whirlpool has added a power outlet to the top of the freezer door. Woo hoo!

Its partners now are building products that can slide into that outlet.

Ceiva has the first Centralpark product, a Wifi digital photo frame with an eight-inch LCD screen and a built-in card reader. "Now you can display thousands of family photos right on your refrigerator door without a single magnet," Whirlpool boasts.

At CES, Whirlpool also showed prototypes from other partners, including an iPod speaker station from Brandmotion, Clio Vu Wifi Web tablet from Data Evolution (loaded with Cozi family-management software), and Qnote Message Center from Quartet.

You have to give credit to Whirlpool for getting manufacturers to completely revamp their products to comply with the Centralpark form factor. How does Whirlpool do it?

"We're in 40 percent of consumers' homes," Hamilton says. Now there's an enticement.

He also reminds us that Whirlpool is on 700 Best Buy floors, where the Centralpark Connection ($1,999) is now being merchandised with the Ceiva frame. (The products are also being sold through hhgregg.)

The Ceiva for Centralpark retails for $249 -- about $50 more than the tabletop version.

As for future Centralpark innovations: perhaps something more than a mere power port? I asked Hamilton about something crazy like an Ethernet port. "We've heard people asking about that," he said. "I think we would consider it."

Flash back to 2001 and Whirlpool's ultra-connected kitchen.

Giving Connected Kitchens a 'Whirl'

From the November, 2001 issue of CE Pro

Although the public has seen many a fridge with built-in Web pads, thanks to slick PR campaigns, in fact little seems to be happening today in terms of Web-enabled or interconnected white goods.

To date, exposure for Web-connected kitchens has come largely from the makers of Internet appliances such as 3Com that tout the kitchen as the next great haven for Internet access.

But then, look what happened to that initiative.

"If you go to my mom, she doesn't know who 3Com is," says Jim Fanning, director of home solutions for Whirlpool. "But she knows Whirlpool."

And that's why the famous maker of major appliances thinks it can be the first company to deliver interconnected and Web-enabled appliances to U.S. kitchens.

At the recent PCBC show for home builders, Whirlpool was the only exhibitor--major appliances or otherwise--to show Web-connected kitchens.

In its typical demonstration, Whirlpool shows wireless Web tablets tucked into a holster on the refrigerator and mounted on hinges beneath kitchen cabinets. From there, recipes are summoned by voice, messages are left for the kids, and calendars are kept for the whole family.

Technologically, the whole scene centers around an OSGi (Open Services Gateway Initiative) gateway that receives feeds from Whirlpool via the Internet. The gateway connects to a wireless 802.11b hub, which in turn communicates with the Web pads.

For kitchen- and home-control applications, the gateway links to a powerline modem, which issues commands to connected appliances, and receives feedback that it can share with service providers via the Internet gateway.

Whirlpool hopes to deliver the connected kitchen by the first quarter of 2002, although the company is still mulling over its method of distribution and installation. The company does plan to target home builders directly and is considering tapping the CE Pro channel for showcasing and installing the technologies.


At the Pacific Coast Builders Show (PCBC) in 2001, Whirlpool techs fuss with the OSGi gateway underneath the sink in order to get the connected appliances to ... connect.