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Permalink Reply by Dom LaVigne on March 15, 2010 at 6:50am

On this note, I'd like to ask the question: Are kimchee refrigerators really popular (standard?) in Korean homes, or has it just been a big advertising campaign?

I started seeing ads all throughout Incheon several years ago advertising kimchee refrigerators. Prior to that, did not know such a thing had existed. Is it a popular/necessary product for many living in Korea? I assume the point of it is that the fridge is engineered specifically to keep the kimchee better than what a traditional fridge can do (plus I would assume it also isolates the smell!) :-)

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Permalink Reply by Joon Kim on March 15, 2010 at 11:19am

Kimchi fridges have become a must for any respectable home. Unfortunately, they are only for the Korean market. If the companies can find a use for it outside Korean cuisine, then they could probably have one of the first true Korean products sold globally. Fridges for those nasty smelling cheese and ham anyone?

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Permalink Reply by Steven S. Bammel on March 15, 2010 at 1:24pm

We brought a kimchee refrigerator back with us to the US in 2003. It came in VERY handy when our regular refrigerator broke and we needed somewhere to keep food for a few days.

It's hard to think that a non-Korean would need one but it is a required appliance in Korea; every home has one (including ours here in Korea, too).

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Permalink Reply by Joon Kim on March 15, 2010 at 11:15am

I heard that someone is selling the heating floor system in the US. In China many apartments have the system, specially where there is a large Korean population.
In my view it is not so much a product, but a service that I really like: the home moving service. They are so darn efficient.They can pack, move, and unpack in less than a day.

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Permalink Reply by Steven S. Bammel on March 15, 2010 at 1:27pm

I've got to add 대리운전 to the list of nifty Korean services. If you've had a little too much to drink and call a national number, someone will come to whereever you're at and drive you and your car home. Then he disappears after you pay him W15,000 or so for his service.

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Permalink Reply by Dom LaVigne on March 15, 2010 at 1:31pm

I was at several dinners where my business colleagues had this done... in one case the person had the service on his speed dial!

I think it's quite good, and could be a real winner in the States and other parts of Asia if someone very entrepreneurial were to make a-go of it.

On that note, I also would add the large (vitamin-size) containers of chewing gum "tablets" (for lack of a better word) that I had never seen until I was in Korea, but they are slowly trickling down into SE Asia (albeit in much smaller containers, as MY/SIN don't tend to use as much garlic or other meloderous ingredients in their cooking!)

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Permalink Reply by Aaron Benz on March 16, 2010 at 4:07am

They did try this service in the U.S. in the San Francisco area, but I don't think it took off the way they thought it would. It was an England company, and I cannot remember the name for the life of me.

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Permalink Reply by Aaron Benz on March 16, 2010 at 4:08am

I also like the the side mirrors which will automatically "get out of the way" when you park your vehicle, and on the German cars, they go up. Really helps with the tight parking situation in Korea.

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Permalink Reply by N.Barker on September 9, 2011 at 10:53pm

I think the buttons on the tables at some restaurants that call the waiters/waitresses are a great idea. Runner-up: scissors for cutting food at restaurants.

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Permalink Reply by Steven S. Bammel on September 10, 2011 at 9:37am

Yes! It is so hard to go back home to the US and make do at a restaurant table without that button. Definitely something I've gotten used to... 

As of for the scissors at the dinner table, I'm sure you've noticed the knives Koreans use for cutting paper.

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Permalink Reply by Stephen Ronto on September 10, 2011 at 2:03pm

I use bring-back-from-Korea handsaws for all my sawing purposes in my Utah home yard. The cutting-effect is on the forward stroke (vs. backstroke of western hand-saws) resulting in a much fast sawing of things.  

As for Aaron's intro product the "ondol" heating system, Utah builders offer this option in each bedroom for $1m+ high-end homes.  And for those who can't keep up with the "snow-removal from garage drive way" morning routine during the winter months, builders offer to install the an "ondol" modification under the garage driveway to melt the snow for you. Gotta love it.

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Permalink Reply by Wally Nes on September 11, 2011 at 6:03pm

All the handsaws I've ever owned had forward stroke, I'm European though, North America specific to have a backward stroke?

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