New Invention Idea

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Just thought of this for people with small kitchens and even less countertop space.

A ceiling-mounted pull-down clean dish drying rack. You mount it to the ceiling screwing into a stud or something that will hold XX pounds of dishes. Some type of draw cord mechanism allows you to pull it up and let it down. When down, it accordions to multiple levels, bottom level enough to hold a half inch of water. Maybe a drain tube can run to the sink.

When dishes are dry, you just empty and haul it up out of the way.

Toughest part would be a fool-proof ceiling or high-up wall mount that would be sturdy enough to hold whatever you could fit in it.

Thoughts?

[jorian]

We have a rack in the sink which effectively makes our dbl sink a single. I hate that.

[Hugh R]

I forsee lots of lawsuits when they hang 200 lbs of crap on a system rated for 20 pounds and all the sharp kitchen knives and glasses fall down on Junior crawling on the floor.

[craigster59]

I got 2 words for ya. Paper plates.

[Carrman]

Do many people really have so little counter space that they can't just use something like this:

[RWebb]

I've got one of those - works great.

[livi]

Do a search on the US Patent Office site. You will likely, but not necessarily, come up with dozens of claims.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by Carrman

Do many people really have so little counter space that they can't just use something like this:

I guess you've never lived in NYC.

[Sapporo Guy]

From the ceiling is interesting but ... they already have one for walls.

Does this work in places that really are that small?
Think of the height from ceilign to a 6' person ... I'd probably pull the dam thing down on my 3rd whack in the head.

To avoid dumbsh't lawsuits you'll probably have to install a beeper like they have on elevators to warn them ...

Thinking about all that water building up ... mildew, smell .... tube works but you'll need something extra ...

OK, first company went bad.

How about a pull down cabinet? Run on rails ...
You push the button and the thing drops down (built in obstruction sensor ... like for little kid's heads and dumb daddies) ... Storage space is the crawl space above the ceiling ...

won't work in my apartment but sliding variations might work ...

lolo, I love home space economics ... especially in the kitchen.

[djmcmath]

Thoughts from my wife:
1 - Drying racks are generally ugly. Therefore, it's best for a drying rack to live someplace totally out of sight, like under the sink, and just get pulled out at need.
2 - A drying rack that hangs from the ceiling is going to be ugly, even when up. It's going to get in the way when it's down. It will drip in unpleasant places. A drip tray and drain tube are going to be hideous, no matter how you dress them up. Dangling pull-cords are entirely out of place in the kitchen; no way to make those look nice.
3 - There is no good reason to spend Real Money(tm) on a drying rack which would be a worse solution to the problem that is solved by a $2 dish rack from Target.

My thoughts: it's practical, efficient, and logical. Therefore, it will be universally rejected by women. If there was some kind of garage equivalent, you'd sell a million. In a kitchen, it'll never work, unless you can figure out how to market it to women. I'm imagining some of those ads from the 50's with wild creative ideas that were destined to failure being obviously enjoyed by some housewife.


Best of luck, though.


Dan

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by djmcmath

Thoughts from my wife:
1 - Drying racks are generally ugly. Therefore, it's best for a drying rack to live someplace totally out of sight, like under the sink, and just get pulled out at need.
2 - A drying rack that hangs from the ceiling is going to be ugly, even when up. It's going to get in the way when it's down. It will drip in unpleasant places. A drip tray and drain tube are going to be hideous, no matter how you dress them up. Dangling pull-cords are entirely out of place in the kitchen; no way to make those look nice.
3 - There is no good reason to spend Real Money(tm) on a drying rack which would be a worse solution to the problem that is solved by a $2 dish rack from Target.

My thoughts: it's practical, efficient, and logical. Therefore, it will be universally rejected by women. If there was some kind of garage equivalent, you'd sell a million. In a kitchen, it'll never work, unless you can figure out how to market it to women. I'm imagining some of those ads from the 50's with wild creative ideas that were destined to failure being obviously enjoyed by some housewife.


Best of luck, though.


Dan

Good thoughts Dan and I can't argue with any of them, except the cheapest dishrack at Target is $12 these days. I thought a Rubbermaid piece of plastic might be $5.99, nope.

[Tim Hancock]

If I knew how to wash dishes, I would offer some advice

I must say, I got lucky, I have never done the dishes even one time since I got married 12 yrs ago. Closest I have come, was putting put a few dirty dishes in the dishwasher when my wife was out of town.

In college, I remember when a few of my room mates and I were moving out from our apartment and instead of washing the dishes that littered the counters and sink, we simply layed a blue tarp on the kitchen floor and put the mismatched dirty plates/glasses in it then drug it thru the halls out to the dumpster

If my wife reads this, I am dead meat!

[djmcmath]

Originally Posted by Shaun 84 Targa

Good thoughts Dan and I can't argue with any of them, except the cheapest dishrack at Target is $12 these days. I thought a Rubbermaid piece of plastic might be $5.99, nope.

Ok, good point. How much would your device cost? How long would it take to install? How long is the husband going to slave over the installation after having been nagged about installing for how long?

Now, with all the negative unhappy thoughts aside, I think there is a market out there for this product. It just isn't housewives, househusbands, bachelors, or other people who do dishes. If you sold the idea to a rich marketing exec who's never washed a dish in his life, or lived in a tiny apartment, or dealt with the hassle of swapping appliances from the counter to the storage closet ... well, you get the point.

For example, a friend of mine designed a plastic plate with a thumbhole in it for added stability. Imagine a painter's palette, except with divided sections like a disposable plate. He sold all rights to the idea to 3M, or Tupperware, or whoever, for a huge sum of money (iirc, it was a little over $1M, which was absurd). They never actually marketed the product, as it turns out, which had no impact on his windfall.

I still think it would be an overall flop, but that doesn't mean that it can't make you a healthy sum.

Good luck.

Dan