Patent ID: 7484388

Claim:
An appliance comprising: a housing defining an operation space usable on a plurality of occasions for a plurality of operations; a support member connected to the housing, the support member configured to support at least one removable item in the operation space at a time; at least one door coupled to the housing, the door defining at least part of the operation space when the door is closed; at least one supply housing connected to the housing, the supply housing configured to hold a variable level of an appliance supply, the variable level of the appliance supply decreasing from a first level toward a depletion level during at least one of the operations of the appliance, the first level being sufficient for a plurality of the operations of the appliance; at least one actuator supported by the housing, the actuator configured to operate to cause movement of the appliance supply from the supply housing toward the operation space; at least one input device supported by the housing, the input device configured to operate to receive: (a) a first user input associated with a first portion of the appliance supply to be used in a first one of the operations of the appliance; and (b) a second user input associated with a second portion of the appliance supply to be used in a second one of the operations of the appliance, the second portion being greater than the first portion; and at least one processor operatively coupled to the actuator and the input device, the processor programmed to cause the actuator to: (a) cause movement of the first portion toward the operation space for the first operation as a result of the first user input; and (b) cause movement of the second portion toward the operation space for the second operation as a result of the second user input.