OXO Conquered the American Kitchen

slate.com

4 points·axiomdata316··3 comments

OXO positively dominates Wirecutter, the New York Times–owned recommendations platform that published the “enumerated love letter” to its products. Preston explained that its ethos of universal design—making products that most people can use—dovetails with Wirecutter’s editorial mission, finding “the best for most people.”

That's strange, I thought their editorial mission was "finest blogspam affiliate links and kickbacks can support."

OXO products are typically good, but I've found that they have problems with repairability. This is important because high-priced coffee equipment (e.g. coffee bean grinders and drip machines) can cost hundreds of dollars, and repairability is an important feature for manufacturers to justify the higher price of the equipment to customers.

I've found that unlike other manufacturers in the coffee world, OXO typically does not make replacement parts as easy to source, so the solution if an OXO machine breaks is typically to buy a new one. This nullifies any cost savings from going with OXO, versus pricier alternatives (that may also do the job better, while being easier to repair at the same time).

Oddly I never knew there was another OXO other than the beef stock cube makers. Now (at least in our household) considered a thing of the past, but remembered as a iconic building on the Thames south bank. Apparently the windows were a "design" not an advert which would have been banned.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxo_Tower#/media/File:OxoTower...

So obviously the title was a big surprise.

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