What's new in Kitchen Appliances?
We have been very fortunate to be a part of Modenus Blogtour and Design Hounds trips around the country and in Europe. A recent trip (May 2019) took us to Napa Valley to visit Signature Kitchen Suite.Design Hounds and Modenus are run by Veronika Eagleson. She has done an incredible job of curating a large network of design professionals who share best practices, design finds and product knowledge via social media and their own design businesses. These designers are also known as micro-influencers who align brands like Signature Kitchen Suite with truly relevant audiences. We were 2 of the 22 that were invited. Here is a photo of our amazing group.
Sponsored by Signature Kitchen Suite- all viewpoints and comments regarding the company and their products are our own.
Signature Kitchen Suite (SKS) is the new luxury brand fromLG Electronics. The Napa Design and Experience Center (EDC) showroom that we visited was a 2 ½ year dream in the making. It was one of the most impressive showrooms we have ever been in complete with an appliance playground, a massive kitchen for inhouse cooking shows and training, conference rooms, dining rooms, a killer bar etc. The SKS team wine and dined us and told us their story…
Storytelling
Before SKS sells you an appliance, they tell you a story. They are all about being what they have coined “TRUE TO FOOD”. This is on the walls in their design center!
You can watch afilm seriesall about their deep respect for food and where it is sourced. You will see stories about cheesemakers, breadmakers, fishermen, vineyard owners and more. If you have a deep respect for food, where it comes from and who grows or produces it, then it makes senses that you would continue that respect for how you cook the food. This is what SKS does.
SKS believes that being on top of technology is a luxury experience. They also believe that people are willing to pay more for performance and technology. So they coined another word – one for those people that are passionate about food and technology -Technicureans.
How To Be True To Food
Cook“Sous Vide”pronounced (sue-veed), which is French for “under-vacuum”. This is a cooking technique where food is vacuum sealed and then submerged in water and slow-cooked at a constant, precise temperature until it’s perfectly cooked. So for example, you won’t see that gray to pink radiant in your meat because it’s cooked evenly edge to edge. You can cook chicken, fish, eggs, and vegetables all sous vide.
SKS is the only brand to incorporate a sous vide built in to the cook top range.There are several ways to cook on the SKS ranges – sous vide, induction, gas, griddle, true convention and steam. The ranges come in 36” and 48” with different combinations of components.
48-inch Dual-Fuel Pro Range with Sous Vide and Induction
On our second day we were in the "demonstration kitchen" and were given a sous vide demonstration by Professional Chef AJ Schaller from The Culinary Research and Education Academy (CREA).
Refrigeration
In regard to refrigeration, with SKS you choose your columns and put them together – so you can choose a freezer column that is 18”, 24” or 30”. You can choose a refrigerator column that is 24” or 30” or a 36” French Door refrigerator. The new column refrigeration is built so that you can refit any built in refrigerator without tearing down cabinets.
SKS also just debuted their 18” (holds 71 bottles) and 24” wine refrigerators (holds 113 bottles) with “wine cave” technology that mimics the wine preservation of historic, old-world caves. When you buy a wine column, you have the“True Sommelier App”– this app is SO COOL – it will catalog your wines, recognize your labels, assign different “cellars” within your wine column, learn your preferences and those of your friends and frequent guests. If you go to a certain restaurant, it can tell you what to order based on the brands you prefer.
Technology
If you want every one of your appliances to be connected to your home system, your phone or your ipad – go for it! This also means that you have on-going monitoring of your appliances because of the on line connectivity. SKS sells 120 LG products that are wifi compatible or wifi connected.
Repairs
SKS has a 5 day repair or replace guarantee on their products – no questions asked.When you buy an SKS appliance, you have a single point of contact for your product needs once you register. No suffering through the automated cycle of button pushing!
Industry-leading Warranty
All SKS appliances have a 2 year warranty with an additional 1 year added as soon as you register your appliances. Their average repair time is 5 days and they have 24/7 service.
So as you can see, we became fans in a big way on LG and the SKS luxury arm of appliances. We cannot wait to introduce our clients to the Signature Kitchen Suite of options the next time we work on a kitchen renovation or new build. We LOVED the Napa region and had a total blast with our fellow design buddies.
Now this trip was not all work, there was some "play" involved. We had a great driver who picked us up at the airport and took us the "scenic route" to our hotel. This was in an area near the Monticello Dam.
We visited the Culinary Institute of America which was amazing. Inside was a museum honoring Chuck Williams, the Williams of "Williams-Sonoma".The museum houses an extensive display of kitchen items collected within his lifetime.
Thousands of jello molds and so much more!!
Another highlight of the trip was visiting the Artesa Winery. It was surrounded by rolling vineyards and breathtaking views. It was established in 1991 by the oldest winemaking family in Spain.
The movie "Wine Country" on Netflix was filmed at Artesa!
A huge thank you to the entire Signature Kitchen Suite team for this wonderful opportunity. You can follow Signature Kitchen Suite (SKS Appliances) here: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest.
The trip ended with a dinner at Auberge Du Soleil, a world class restaurant overlooking some of Napa's most renowned vineyards.
Our dinner was divine!!
Follow our social media channels and listen to our Podcast Episode #54 to hear more about our trip to Napa Valley and SKS Appliances!
Cheers,
Joann & Kelly