Leading brands make a return.
It was luxury all the way at last week’s Architectural Digest Design Show in New York when high end appliance brands decided to leverage the event to showcase new products.
Sharp made a return to the Show this year and showcased its SuperSteam+combination steam and convection oven.The built-in unit, which will be available in US stores in the next quarter, generates a head of super-heated steam (485 degrees F) that’s so hot it can literally grill food, keeping surfaces crisp and brown,and interiors tender and moist.
Sharp’s sales and marketing senior VP, Peter Weedfald said that besides providing a superior flavour profile, there’s a major health benefit to steam as the process “melts fat, reduces sodium and keeps vitamins in.”
The SuperSteam+ oven will carry a suggested retail of US$2,999, including trim kit and is aimed at independent appliance dealers and premium-appliance showcases within big-box chains, such as Best Buy’s Pacific Kitchen & Home in-store shops and hhgregg’s Fine Lines major appliance boutiques.
The unit, along with its companion microwave oven drawer, represents a renewed appliance initiative for Sharp, which will market the products under the tagline “Simply Better Living.”
Sharp is part of a contingent of luxury lines that were presented at the Show by distributor Almo Corporation whose on-site customers also include Liebherr refrigerators, Faber ventilation, Capital ranges and Tecnogas Superiore, an Italian range, hood and accessories resource.
Bosch showed its new Bauhaus art-movement influenced Benchmark 36-inch induction cooktop, which will be available in the US summer. Features include FlexInduction technology and enhanced features to streamline the cooking process; PowerMove, which allows users to adjust power levels by simply moving the pot or pan through pre-set heating zones; and a PreciseSelect user interface with an extra-wide 16-inch control panel for simplified operation and easy control.
The cooktop allows users to adjust power levels by moving the pot or pan through pre-set heating zones. A 36-inch model will be available mid-year.
Also new from Bosch: a 24-inch custom panel refrigerator which joins its 30- and 36-inch counterparts. The panel series allows consumers to customize their kitchens with a sleek, streamlined, integrated look.
“When we say we are ‘Invented for Life,’ we truly intend to enhance the quality of life through innovations that simplify the cooking and cleaning process,” Bosch brand marketing director Dan Kenny said in a statement.