KitchenAid refrigerator successful design

Counterpoint to the shelf-failure case — manufacturers who designed *to* the plastic rather than against it.

They were essentially designing things the way they used to design things. They didn't take this new material, plastic on the inside, and think about how to design for plastic. Now there are handbooks that will tell you, don't design plastic as if you're designing something out of steel. Steel has different mechanical properties than plastics. You work to the advantages of each material. Now I can buy refrigerators that will last for fifteen years rather than falling apart in three. There's a certain advantage to something that falls apart in three years — you get to sell more, if you're the seller. But it doesn't get a very good reputation.