By Patrick Avenell
SYDNEY, NSW: At the Smeg showroom in southern Sydney yesterday, Smeg product and promotions coordinator Anthony Lee demonstrated the features of its new Linear range of cooking products to selected media representatives.
Using Smeg new 45-centimentre Linear steam oven’s intuitive controls and blue LCD display, Smeg’s resident chef cooked up steamed pork buns and a fillet of jewfish.
Also on the menu was a vegetable stir fry using Smeg’s induction wok burner and bread and butter pudding which, naturally, was cooked in a Smeg oven. Over a late lunch, Lee delivered his message to the industry.
“What has happened with Smeg in the last 2.5 years is they’ve thrown everything at their enamelling process, they do all their enamelling on site – it’s in the middle of the cooking factory: everything feeds into it and out – nothing is OEMed,” said Lee
“We’ve also cleverly expanded the size of the oven capacity without changing any of the installation measurements. We now go for five heights, and for the first time ever, Smeg promote the use of the floor [of the oven] as a cooking surface: that’s pretty unique.”
The floor cooking surface Lee refers to is a specially designed circular pizza base that is best used with an optional tray with optimal pizza cooking specifications. This tray fits to the oven floor surface, with Lee saying it perfects the oft difficult art of cooking a pizza in the home oven.
The Smeg Linear cooking range consists of nine products: four 60-centimetre ovens, a 70-centimetre oven, a microwave oven, convection microwave oven, steam oven and a coffee machine. This range is also available in Smeg’s Classic range.
Lee discussed how the range is able to suit consumers’ varying needs, from the simple to the more extravagant.
“You might just get a 60-centimetre by itself; or you might get it and put a microwave or a convection microwave or steamer or coffee machine, or all, next to it, it gives you the ability to rack them or stack them,” he said.
Other products on show at the Smeg showroom yesterday included its range of funky-coloured refrigerators, dishwashers, gas and ceramic cooktops, and induction cook surfaces.