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  3. Are there any common household items or products that you think are designed incredibly poorly?

Are there any common household items or products that you think are designed incredibly poorly?

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asklemmy
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  • W [email protected]

    Overtime, our kitchen knives. Knives need to be thin, as thinner knives cut through ingredients more easily. Today's knives are designed instead to be marketed. Something incredibly thick, and sturdy, to make it feel "premium", when all its doing is tiring you out, since using a heavy knife gets exhausting, especially when its so thick it wedges in ingredients.

    Vintage European knives are slim, and almost petite, because they knew how to make a good knife, in the same manner japanese knives are ground extremely thin, sometimes thinner than a postcard.

    C This user is from outside of this forum
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    wrote on last edited by
    #34

    Yeah good point I recently got a serrated utility knife and while itโ€™s decently sharp, the profile is annoyingly wedge shaped so while cutting something soft like an orange is fine, anything hard like an apple will split before you can get a clean cut. Seems like it should have a more even, thinner side profile imo. Otherwise decent knife tho three stars.

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    • mothra@mander.xyzM [email protected]

      I am a vagina owner from birth, I never imagined the toilet bowl shape would pose an issue to penis owners. From reading your comment I'm still unsure of which toilet bowls you're talking about, I would appreciate if you (or anyone, really) could point to images of both so I, and potentially others, can compare. TIA

      S This user is from outside of this forum
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      wrote on last edited by
      #35


      Space consideration is a bit more obvious with the seat though

      mothra@mander.xyzM sharkeatingbreakfast@sopuli.xyzS O B 4 Replies Last reply
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      • D [email protected]

        Lightly coat the spout with olive oil

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        wrote on last edited by
        #36

        Why does it have to be olive oil?

        dgriffith@aussie.zoneD 1 Reply Last reply
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        • T [email protected]

          Most clothes, oddly gendered and sexist and it's fucking weird having different clothes for people who identify differently, like clothes are clothes. Make them for everyone. It's fucking wild.

          G This user is from outside of this forum
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          wrote on last edited by
          #37

          Men and women have wildly different body shapes. Thus, gendered clothes.

          T 1 Reply Last reply
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          • D [email protected]

            Those ridiculous new caps on plastic bottles are awful. They only lead to wastage as it's difficult for most people to reseal them properly and anything carbonated gets wasted. Tagging the lid to the bottle is not a world-saving solution for recycling.

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            wrote on last edited by
            #38

            I always separate the cap completely, it makes a little easier to close the bottle.

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            • G [email protected]

              Men and women have wildly different body shapes. Thus, gendered clothes.

              T This user is from outside of this forum
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              wrote on last edited by
              #39

              I guess people who are non-binary don't exist according to that. Or intersex people, or people who was born with differently shaped bodies.

              dyskolos@lemmy.zipD carighan@lemmy.worldC S 3 Replies Last reply
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              • bpt11@sh.itjust.worksB [email protected]

                For example, I'm incredibly confused about how you're supposedly to measure liquid laundry detergent with the cap. At least the kind that I have sits on it's side, so if you measure it with the cap it just leaks everywhere and makes a mess.

                Or at my parents house they have a bag of captain crunch berries that has a new design, where instead of zipping along the top of the bag like normal, it has a zipper in the front slightly beneath the top. That way when you poor it you can't see what you're doing cuz the bag is in the way. Like what the heck who's idea was that?

                F This user is from outside of this forum
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                wrote on last edited by
                #40

                I've always thought that most toilet paper holders are over engineered. You don't need a little springy rod between 2 posts, you just need an L-shaped bar with the short end screwed to the wall and maybe a little knob on the end of the long side to keep the roll from sliding off. And it's not that the spring style is especially difficult to use or prone to failure or anything, it just seems like a no-brainer to me to use a one-piece holder with no moving parts instead of one that has at least 4 parts (the base, 2 halves of the roller, and a spring) I'm seeing more of that style around these days, which I appreciate.

                Stove vent hoods that don't actually vent outside are fucking stupid. My over the range microwave basically just takes smoke from my stove and blows it back out over my head almost directly at the smoke detector.

                I've frequently run into shelves, mounting brackets, etc. that seem to totally disregard stud spacing. We got one of those fancy Samsung frame TV's a while back, to get it to sit so flush to the wall it has its own special mounting brackets, 2 little plates with sort of a modified keyhole slot that you slot 2 little knobs on the back of the TV into. It's actually not a half bad way to mount a TV, probably one of the easier TV wall mounts I've ever personally used, the tv itself is actually pretty damn lightweight (because they moved all the heavy electronics into a separate box you need to hide somewhere) but still I wanted to make sure my fancy TV wouldn't fall off the wall, so I wanted to mount it to the studs, but of course the spacing of the brackets doesn't allow that option. I was able to bolt one side a stud but I had to get some toggle bolts for the other side. I'm pretty sure the whole TV is well within the rated weight capacity of one of those toggle bolts in drywall, let alone 2 in drywall and 2 in a stud, but still, it feels like a dumb design choice. (It's possible that other sizes or newer models do allow for mounting entirely to studs, the size and model I got didn't)

                I helped a friend replace the wax ring on his toilet recently with one of the newer style rubber gaskets, which as it turns out made the toilet sit imperceptibly higher, which meant that the bolts holding it down were no longer quite long enough to screw the nut onto to tighten it down. With a quick trip to ace hardware and a minute perusing my options, I settled on some Danco zero cut bolts, and I definitely think that is a far superior design to the standard bolts that are probably holding down damn-near every toilet you've ever used.

                On the subject of toilets, I can't think of any particularly good reason for the tank to be a separate piece from the rest of the throne like on most toilets. The gasket and bolts there just add more places for something to start leaking. It's probably an ease of manufacturing thing, but we have the technology to make one piece toilets now, the two piece style should be obsolete.

                E R V D 4 Replies Last reply
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                • robottoaster@mander.xyzR [email protected]

                  Women tend to have narrower feet.

                  We would all be better off if we just included foot width in shoe sizes though.

                  B This user is from outside of this forum
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                  wrote on last edited by
                  #41

                  I've bought women's socks for a long time if they were cheaper never had any issues with the fit

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                  • blackstrat@lemmy.fwgx.ukB [email protected]

                    The new caps they're putting on plastic bottles are awful. Make it very hard to put back on properly and we've have a few incidents with them looking on but they actually cross threaded and leaked. I just rip them off now.

                    Also, why is the glue on cereal boxes so damn strong now? I end up tearing the box more often than not these days and that never used to be the case.

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                    wrote on last edited by
                    #42

                    The glue on boxes is almost certainly that strong so that anyone trying to open the box to tamper with it will also rip it, making their attempt obvious. It drives me nuts too, but aparently that's the sort of world we live in now.

                    carighan@lemmy.worldC 1 Reply Last reply
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                    • D [email protected]

                      Soak them in vinegar for 15 minutes

                      N This user is from outside of this forum
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                      wrote on last edited by
                      #43

                      If they're anything like the pegs I got, vinegar won't help, they basically crumbled to dust!

                      R B 2 Replies Last reply
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                      • bpt11@sh.itjust.worksB [email protected]

                        For example, I'm incredibly confused about how you're supposedly to measure liquid laundry detergent with the cap. At least the kind that I have sits on it's side, so if you measure it with the cap it just leaks everywhere and makes a mess.

                        Or at my parents house they have a bag of captain crunch berries that has a new design, where instead of zipping along the top of the bag like normal, it has a zipper in the front slightly beneath the top. That way when you poor it you can't see what you're doing cuz the bag is in the way. Like what the heck who's idea was that?

                        D This user is from outside of this forum
                        D This user is from outside of this forum
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                        wrote on last edited by
                        #44

                        Reusable bags that have handles longer than the bag itself, literally worse than the plastic bag version which can be handled properly

                        Z 1 Reply Last reply
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                        • bpt11@sh.itjust.worksB [email protected]

                          For example, I'm incredibly confused about how you're supposedly to measure liquid laundry detergent with the cap. At least the kind that I have sits on it's side, so if you measure it with the cap it just leaks everywhere and makes a mess.

                          Or at my parents house they have a bag of captain crunch berries that has a new design, where instead of zipping along the top of the bag like normal, it has a zipper in the front slightly beneath the top. That way when you poor it you can't see what you're doing cuz the bag is in the way. Like what the heck who's idea was that?

                          etherwhack@lemmy.worldE This user is from outside of this forum
                          etherwhack@lemmy.worldE This user is from outside of this forum
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                          wrote on last edited by
                          #45

                          Front-load washers should have a brake for the drum that prevents it from rotating while digging out clothes. Last thing I want is twisted/sprained wrist while peeling towels off the walls of the drum.

                          R 1 Reply Last reply
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                          • T [email protected]

                            I guess people who are non-binary don't exist according to that. Or intersex people, or people who was born with differently shaped bodies.

                            dyskolos@lemmy.zipD This user is from outside of this forum
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                            wrote on last edited by
                            #46

                            Why exactly do you even care?

                            I own women clothes (as a male), my wife owns many men clothes. We dress however we like, we don't care for labels or what gender is put on there. If I'd feel like wearing a ping hello-kitty-dress, I'd do so.
                            Why do you give a crap about how some store genders something? Pick what you prefer from wherever?
                            Seriously asking, not mocking or anything.

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                            • S [email protected]

                              My ovenโ€™s vents point directly up my face. So when you stand in front of the stovetop while baking something, youโ€™re directly exposed to the fumes of burning gas.

                              carighan@lemmy.worldC This user is from outside of this forum
                              carighan@lemmy.worldC This user is from outside of this forum
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                              wrote on last edited by
                              #47

                              burning gas

                              Found another problem with your oven, get one from this turn of the century! ๐Ÿ˜›

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                              • N [email protected]

                                The glue on boxes is almost certainly that strong so that anyone trying to open the box to tamper with it will also rip it, making their attempt obvious. It drives me nuts too, but aparently that's the sort of world we live in now.

                                carighan@lemmy.worldC This user is from outside of this forum
                                carighan@lemmy.worldC This user is from outside of this forum
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                                wrote on last edited by
                                #48

                                There were a lot of very public cases of people trying to or threatening to add poison to cereals, after all. Something like 30+ years ago of course, but it might have influenced this.

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                                • W [email protected]

                                  Overtime, our kitchen knives. Knives need to be thin, as thinner knives cut through ingredients more easily. Today's knives are designed instead to be marketed. Something incredibly thick, and sturdy, to make it feel "premium", when all its doing is tiring you out, since using a heavy knife gets exhausting, especially when its so thick it wedges in ingredients.

                                  Vintage European knives are slim, and almost petite, because they knew how to make a good knife, in the same manner japanese knives are ground extremely thin, sometimes thinner than a postcard.

                                  carighan@lemmy.worldC This user is from outside of this forum
                                  carighan@lemmy.worldC This user is from outside of this forum
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                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #49

                                  Yeah it's a difference when it's a cleaver, something meant to apply raw force, and hence needs a certain weight to be usable.

                                  But a knife?!

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                                  • G [email protected]

                                    Why does it have to be olive oil?

                                    dgriffith@aussie.zoneD This user is from outside of this forum
                                    dgriffith@aussie.zoneD This user is from outside of this forum
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                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #50

                                    Motor oil tastes funny.

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                                    • T [email protected]

                                      Most clothes, oddly gendered and sexist and it's fucking weird having different clothes for people who identify differently, like clothes are clothes. Make them for everyone. It's fucking wild.

                                      carighan@lemmy.worldC This user is from outside of this forum
                                      carighan@lemmy.worldC This user is from outside of this forum
                                      [email protected]
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #51

                                      I'm sorry to say this, but I don't need the extra space for H-cups my ex needed. ๐Ÿ˜…

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                                      • T [email protected]

                                        I guess people who are non-binary don't exist according to that. Or intersex people, or people who was born with differently shaped bodies.

                                        carighan@lemmy.worldC This user is from outside of this forum
                                        carighan@lemmy.worldC This user is from outside of this forum
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                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #52

                                        Totally not the point, and it was obvious, but hey, if you want to be offended instead of engaging with the thread, that's your perogative.

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                                        • wesker@lemmy.sdf.orgW [email protected]

                                          Condoms should roll on either direction.

                                          S This user is from outside of this forum
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                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #53

                                          Protip: Buy the XXXXXL size, throw it over your junk, then shrink-wrap it with a heat gun.

                                          D 1 Reply Last reply
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