A Wonderful Addition To The Kitchen, Until It's Demise, The GE Under-Counter-Radio 7-4292

Under-Counter Clock Radio and CD Players make a wonderful addition to the kitchen. They are screwed into the bottom of a cabinet and take up relatively little space. They fit into an area of your kitchen where you probably aren't using space either (directly under a cabinet) and offer additional entertainment for family meals or chore time. I found mine particuarly useful.

The GE 7-4292 offers many features that you would find in any CD/Clock Radio with added conveince.

The Features

The Clock
The clock is displayed prominently in the center front of the unit. It features an LCD screen which diaplays the time in about one inch numbers. It is very easy to see from across the room. Setting the time is very simple, you press the 'set' button and use the reverse and forward buttons to change/set the time. The time is shown in a 12 hour format and there is an AM indicator light in the top left hand corner. The clock also features a timer for cooking, etc. You set the timer by pressing the timer on/off button and set your time with the reverse and forward buttons. Reverse takes away time and Forward adds time.
The clock must be reset if power is interrupted and the clock blinks when this has happened.

I used the clock alot on this product. The Radio is placed basically at eye level and has a very bright LCD screen. It makes a quick and easy time refrence.

The Radio
On the right side of the unit is a mode selection switch. You can choose between CD Player, AM Radio, FM Radio and Off. To use the radio you slide the switch under AM or FM. After you make that selection you push the On/Off button, which is on the front of the unit, next to the disc loader. The unit includes a tuning dial to select stations.

I did use the radio quite a bit in the past. I live in a small town and only have two radio stations that spark much interest. One of those stations has a particuarly weak signal and I was never able to tune that station in on this radio. The other one did tune in fine and the sound quality was good. I have noticed that the unit does interfere with my cell phones and cordless phones that I've had over the years. This interfernce usually occurs when you come within about 2 feet of the unit with either type of phone.

The CD Player
The CD player is very simple and easy to use. The disc loader is a tray which is opened and closed with a button right next to the tray door. The unit does take about 30 seconds to one minute before it loads the disc and begins playing it, so it does have a bit of a lag. The CD player also has a hard time playing CDs with alot of scratches on them, where I didn't have problems with the CD in other units in my home. Overall the CD player does play the CDs, as long as they are clean and not completely scratched up. The CD player features buttons for track search forward and backward. Pressing these buttons and holding them down also you to fast forward or rewind through the actual song. Pressing them once and letting them go advance you to the next song or the previous. There is also a repeat and Random playback buttons also.

The CD Player was the main reason I bought this unit. I wanted to have some music in my kitchen, something to listen to as I cleaned, etc. The sound quality is fairly good and comparable to any small CD Player.

The Light
The unit also features a light on the bottom of the unit. The light can be turned on and off with a switch on the right side, next to the mode selection switch. You can also choose between high and low light. The unit takes a 40 watt appliance-type bulb. One comes installed when you purchase the unit, but I basically used it as a night light, and have replaced the bulb once. Replacing the bulb is fairly easy. You pull down the cover to the bulb and replace. Its easy to get to and hassle free.

My Thoughts On The GE 7-4292 Under Counter Radio and CD Player
I would venture to guess that I bought the GE 7-4292 Under Counter Radio and CD Player some four or five years ago. Time fly's by so fast... I thourghly enjoyed this product until last December (2006) when it broke. For some reason the unit began to play the radio all of a sudden. The LCD screen went out and the CD player was inoperable. At the same time you couldn't turn the radio off. So we've unplugged the unit and its waiting for its unistall. What went wrong? I honestly have no clue. I know it wasn't lightening because it was sunny that day, but when it broke it was a quick process.

Overall I was happy with my purchase in the end. The Under-Counter Radio CD player makes a great addition. This one was about 4 or five inches in height and about 16 inches across. It fit snugly to the bottom of my cabinet and took up no more than six inches of vertical space, that I wasn't even using in the first place. Installation was quick and simple. The unit came with a diagram to allow proper hole installation and four screws holds it into place.

While I wish the product would have lasted more that four or five years, I'm ready to go out and find a replacement.