By Patrick Avenell
Breville today unveiled its latest category incursion: the Quick Touch microwave, which will be released in October to meet the Christmas rush.
Although virtually every house in the country has at least one microwave, the category has become dominated by more simplistic appliances that are used mostly for defrosting and reheating, meaning the average sales price is floating at around $170.
Breville is looking to do two things with the Quick Touch: educate the market as to what a microwave can achieve and then perform these tasks as automatically as possible.
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The crucial ingredient to good microwaving, according to marketing manager Richard Babekuhl, is knowing your weights and power settings. To that end, Breville is bundling a set of digital kitchen scales with the Quick Touch. By entering the correct weight and the type of food into the microwave, the onboard computer will then adjust the power output to match.
To match kitchen décor, Breville is releasing this appliance in black, red, white and stainless steel. It will definitely sit at the higher end of microwaves, at RRP $399, which Babekuhl says is a demonstration of Breville’s commitment to growing any category the brand enters.
Babekuhl was most excited when revealing that Breville’s beloved, trademarked, A Bit More function is included on the Quick Touch. Users can hit this button to add a bit more time to the cycle, with the microwave remembering the weight and program that was being used.
There are also presets for melting chocolate, popcorn, baked beans and softening butter; and a programmable favourites button that would be ideal for someone who likes to regularly microwave something unconventional.
Perhaps the most ‘ear-catching’ feature of this microwave, however, is the ability to adjust the volume of the alert tone, meaning early birds need not wake up the whole family when using preparing porridge and night owls will not wake up the neighbours when preparing a late night snack.
The new Breville Quick Touch (BM0634/0734).