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Consumer Confidential: IKEA cuts prices, virtual sushi, Viking pays big fine

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Here’s your wishin’-and-hopin’ Wednesday roundup of consumer news from around the Web:

-- Doing some decorating? IKEA has a deal for you. The king of ready-to-assemble furniture says it’s dropping prices by up to 3% this year and expects similar price cuts next year, despite rising costs of materials. Mikael Ohlsson, CEO of the Swedish company, says operational efficiency and corporate thriftiness allow the company to pass savings on to customers. IKEA has 37 locations across the United States, making this the second-largest market for the company after Germany. The Internet has also embraced IKEA in a big way. At IKEAhackers.net, you can find all sorts of ideas for modifying designs to get even more bang for your put-it-together-yourself buck.

-- Those Brits ... what will they think of next? An Asian-themed restaurant in London’s theater district is giving its patrons a virtual look at food before they order, projecting images of dragon rolls, black cod and other dishes directly onto diners’ plates. If you like what you see, just tap the touchpad. Your food will arrive shortly. Entrepreneur Noel Hunwick says he came up with the idea for the restaurant, named Inamo, several years ago while eating with a friend at a busy pizza parlor. ‘We were desperately trying to attract a waiter’s attention,’ Hunwick recalls. ‘We thought: Wouldn’t it be great if we could press a button and get our food?’ The new restaurant does just that. Pretty cool.

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-- Viking Range has agreed to pay a civil penalty of $450,000 after admitting it was aware for years of a defect involving its refrigerator doors that resulted in injuries to consumers but failed to report the defect, as required by law. Viking reported the safety defect to the Consumer Product Safety Commission in April 2009, and the firm agreed to a recall two months later. Subsequent investigation conducted by federal regulators uncovered that the company had been aware of the problem -- and related injuries -- for several years. The problem is that refrigerator hinges can loosen and detach, posing an impact injury hazard to consumers. Viking sold the refrigerators through appliance and specialty retailers from July 1999 through April 2006.

-- David Lazarus

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