Appliances

Anything and everything you could want.

“Keep Marching!”

― Advertisement

Appliances is a section of the Housewares department of Fontaine's Department Store seen in the BioShock Infinite downloadable content Burial at Sea - Episode 1. Booker DeWitt and Elizabeth must travel here to close a Heating Vent and find a back way to the Toys department.

History

Footage of Appliances back when it was still in business.

Fontaine's offered everything a Rapture consumer could want from fashion and frivolity to luxury and technology. The heart of the Housewares department, functionally speaking, was Appliances. Back in the department store's heyday, this section boasted the latest and greatest in domestic innovation. Appliances large and small were sold here, each promising to simplify or improve the life of the purchaser. The department did more than simply present the products, it showcased how they might look inside consumers' homes using realistic display sets.

Appliances was shuttered along with the other departments when Fontaine's was nationalized and hastily converted to a prison. The products were left on the shelves, but the showroom became a shadow of its former gleaming, polished self. Spliced-up inmates have moved in and made the place their own.

Burial at Sea - Episode 1

The Appliances entrance.

Main article: Burial at Sea - Episode 1

After handling the heating vent in the Bookstore, Booker and Elizabeth close the one outside the Appliance showcase. The exhaust venting system for this floor is in the Toys department, but the main entrance is barricaded. Therefore, the duo must go through this section to get to Toys, where the girl Sally is expected to be found if Elizabeth's plan works.

Showroom

The Showroom.

A twin set of stairs leads to the Showroom with many products on display. In the center of the department is a mannequin display of showcasing the appliances in a domestic setting. The display has two sides, one has a father and son watching television in a living room, and the other a mother in the kitchen. Someone has shoved the daughter of the family into the oven, as if she had tried to gas herself. Further to the right of the central set is a small disheveled display on a pedestal with minor flooding damage and a Fontaine-Vac display beyond that.

To the left of the family set piece is the Small Appliances section with toasters and blenders displayed on a pedestal. Towards the rear, there's a wall display with blenders, toasters, waffle irons, and milkshake makers all in a smart, streamline moderne style. Elizabeth can summon up a crate of Medical Kits, a decoy, and a barrel of Carbines from Tears around the room. There are also Pneumo Lines over the whole section.

When Booker and Elizabeth enter, the pair is greeted by several Splicers. After dealing with them, they attempt to exit via a door into the locker room, but it is locked. Elizabeth notices a small air vent, and asks Booker to assist her so she can crawl through. She gets in and starts to pick the lock from the other side of the door, but has trouble getting it open. Splicers attack the section, forcing Booker to defend himself without the help of Elizabeth. The door is unlocked and they move on.

Staff Only

The Locker Room.

Booker and Elizabeth enter the Staff Only area and find a locker room with a flooded floor. Several of the lockers are open and contain many useful items for the player. Some have Atlas posters inside. There is a set of burst pipes over to the left, where the transport and delivery area once was, and by using Old Man Winter, the player can easily access the Office on the other side of the collapsed pathway. The office is in relatively good shape and contains the Gear piece Roar to Life. A staircase leading to another level of Housewares, but it is blocked by large amounts of furniture and debris. Two mannequins are hanging from the roof after being branded "Turncoats" by an insane inmate. 

The Toy Storage.

A stairway leads down to more lockers under the burst pipes. There are several corpses crushed by the collapsed flooring and piping and a Turret guards the immediate area. The right leads to the Toy department's storage room, and a way to Central Exhaust in the Toy department itself. Shortly before entering the area, Booker has a brief black and white vision of a washbasin.

Products

• Blenders
• Dishwashers
• Qwik-Wik Dryer
• Fontaine-Vac
• Fridges
• Mixers
• Ovens
• Toasters
• Waffle irons
• Washing machines

New Discoveries

New Gears

• Roar to Life

Audio Diary

1. Yi Suchong - Observation #22 - In the office on a desk, past the burst pipes in the Locker Room.

Gallery

Sometimes it's best to ignore what goes on behind you.

The men stay out of the kitchen of course.

There's no need for such luxuries now.

Admire the modern Rapture family.

I'm sure you can find other uses for this product…

These machines made it easy to transport the larger appliances.

A gift awaits in the manager's office.

Is there method to this madness?

One thing Fontaine hates is slackers.

Advertisement for a new state-of-the-art toaster.

Behind the Scenes

• The Large Appliances department is seen when Booker and Elizabeth arrive at the department store, but it's completely flooded. As they drift by in their Bathysphere, they see two cracked windows and one completely broken, letting the contents from the interior drift out into the sea. Only the Small Appliances department is accessible in the episode.
• As Elizabeth enters the air vent, she will sometimes lose her bird cameo. Other times the cameo will be lost on the walk to the Toys Department.
• The "Keep Marching" advertisement for the Appliances department utilizes a repurposed fruit crate label for Majorette Brand oranges.
• The "For Her! Fontaine-Vac" poster found in the department is based on a 1944 World War II "He volunteered for Submarine Service" propaganda poster, designed by Jon Whitcomb.
• The fridge model was based on the Shelvador Compression Fridge designed by Crosley USA.

The Majorette Brand label.

The "He volunteered for Submarine Service" poster.

The Shelvador Compression Fridge.