This week, Milan was host to the inaugural Salone del Mobile, a week-long showcase of the best in furnishing and home design. Part of the showcase is EuroCucina, Europe’s only major kitchen trade show, which highlights and sets trends for the future in kitchen design and innovation. It was here that Whirlpool Corporation, the world’s leading major home appliance company, showcased its product innovations, inspirational elements and latest designs from its four brands, KitchenAid, Whirlpool, Ariston and Indesit.
The Whirlpool stand told the the story of how breakthroughs in design and technology will transform the food journey. From planning meals, to storing food, to cooking and cleaning – innovative appliances can transform every step towards simpler, more enjoyable dining and make exceptional food part of everyday life.
Whirlpool Corporation is excited about the new challenges and opportunities ahead. The company is preparing the ground for the growth of meaningful innovation, delivered through a winning portfolio of complementary brands that address the full spectrum of consumer segments.
Liam Bryers, General Manager Marketing, Whirlpool Oceania, comments on the new Whirlpool portfolio;
“Increasingly, consumers are seeking out smart appliances that are easy to use and truly able to improve their standard of living. By helping consumers simplify household tasks, connected appliances can help take the stress out of daily life and give them more time to enjoy doing the things they love.”
“Over the next few years, Whirlpool’s appliances will be seamlessly integrated with each other and into our connected homes and lives for a truly optimised experience, further enhanced in the future through innovative forms of voice interaction and connectivity”.
The company will offer solutions that recognise the trend of consumers embracing more social, digitised lives, focusing on customer-centric design and technology that works in harmony with today’s lifestyle choices. Whirlpool’s new oven featuring Google Assistant for voice control, is an example of this, and will be featured for the first time at Eurcocucina. Whirlpool will also be introducing increasingly user-friendly interfaces across each of its complementary brands, helping to make every step of the consumer’s personal food journey simpler and more pleasurable.
The Whirlpool stand hosted #PlacesthatMatter, the new Whirlpool project that aims at telling the stories of manufacturing sites in the Europe, Middle East and Africa Region, through the eyes of Whirlpool’s employees and local communities. These places matter and have stories to tell. In them, people’s lives meet with the wider social and industrial fabric, showing a continuous exchange of experiences, values and roots.
Moreover, each Whirlpool product reflects the company’s corporate responsibility and sustainability strategies. In 2014, Whirlpool set and reaffirmed four Global Sustainability Goals of energy intensity, water intensity, zero waste to landfill and material transparency. Whirlpool has met some of these targets ahead of schedule. Through both accelerated projects and acquisition synergies, the company exceeded the 15% energy and water intensity goals three years early. 2017 was a year of learning and transition for Whirlpool Corporation’s global Critical Materials Management (CMM) team, continuing down the path towards full material transparency on 90% of all new parts by 2020.
Whirlpool
Whirlpool presented its new smart appliances as part of its premium W Collection range including built-in ovens, microwaves, cooktops and hoods. Covering the entire built-in kitchen suite beyond its flagship cooking appliances, all products offer Internet connectivity powered by the 6TH SENSE Live app. The different appliances are also able to seamlessly communicate among themselves. For example, the built-in hoods can connect with the cooktop to recognise its cooking mode and automatically tailor aspiration power to ensure fresh air, or provide customisable notifications of other appliances’ status.
Included in the W Collection, the new built-in ovens provide a compelling combination of elegance, flexibility and ease of use. Extending Whirlpool’s range of fridge freezers, the W Collection 4 Doors uses intelligent 6TH SENSE technology to help monitor and automatically optimize its performance to preserve food for longer in the most natural way. As well as providing remote control and monitoring, Whirlpool’s practical approach to connectivity unlocks new benefits such as discovering recipes, customising one’s appliance for fast access to favourite settings and giving users tips and guidance on using features. The incredible convenience of Whirlpool’s connected appliances is also set to get even better through the addition of Google Assistant, which offers hands-free voice interaction. At EuroCucina, Whirlpool will demonstrate this capability with an advanced new oven.
KitchenAid
Empowering those who are Serious About Food is KitchenAid’s purpose. For almost a century, the brand has been revolutionising the way we prepare food with its premium kitchen appliances. Combining professional performance, artisan quality and iconic design, KitchenAid’s products are more than just tools; they inspire passionate makers to express their culinary creativity, fuelling passion for fine food.
At Eurocucina 2018, KitchenAid unveiled its stunning range of major domestic appliances, featuring its new premium major kitchen appliances, set to launch in Australia later this year, with a concept store in Melbourne ahead of national distribution. Drawing on its long history of collaboration with cooking professionals, the brand has developed appliances with chef-inspired features that make preparing food a truly thrilling experience, from preservation to preparation to serving.
The KitchenAid line-up includes the new Sous Chef induction hobs. These boast a full bridge cooking zone with a cooking sensor and sous-chef function for the ultimate cooking experience. The multifunction oven range will also feature an integrated steam function, advanced 4-level cooking system and multipoint professional probes, opening up a world of culinary possibilities and fuelling real passion for fine food. Another highlight of the KitchenAid pavilion will be the Cooling Range, featuring a Fjord side-by-side (free standing and built-in options) and Combi bottom mount refrigerator. These flagship appliances will offer superior performance of sensor technology, for a better preservation for your culinary masterpieces, combined with the greatest storage capacity within the KitchenAid built-in range.
Additional information about the company can be found at WhirlpoolCorp.com or find us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Medium.
by Arrnott Olssen
Editor Rogue Homme
