Special Series: Appliances: Part Four: Driven by Design

Jenn-Air’s Oiled Bronze collection aims to steer consumers away from stainless steel. The next wave, some designers say, is a move away from stainless-steel toward bronze. This year Jenn-Air debuted its Oiled Bronze collection featured on refrigerators, microwaves and vent hoods. “Bronze is going to hit big time because it is tied in with this new Tuscany Mediterranean feel,” says interior decorator Priscilla Castellano of Andrea Lauren Interiors in Tampa, Fla. “Everyone just loves and wants it warm. They are so tired of the Old World and the traditional look.” If bold colors are not your thing, consider going minimal with Fagor’s Black Art Refrigerator. It features a reflective finish that allows it to fade into the background without a wood or other cabinet-matching finish. Easy-to-Use Features Design isn’t just about aesthetics but function as well. That’s why everything from dishwashers to microwaves to refrigerators can now be found in an easy-to-access drawer. The Smeg Dishdrawer is wider than the standard dishwasher, making loading and unloading easier on the back. The dishwasher drawer kicked off the appliance-in-a-drawer movement, most notably with Fisher & Paykel’s dishdrawer. Smeg U.S.A. has taken that idea one step further. Instead of having two drawers on top of each other requiring potentially back-wrenching reaching down or squatting to get to the bottom drawer, the company offers a 36-inch horizontal dish drawer that 12 inches wider than the standard dishwasher, allowing users to fit more dirty dishes into a more accessible space. Another new option is the microwave drawer. Sharp USA offers a cooktop/microwave drawer combo or a standalone microwave drawer, both at a standard cabinet width of 24 inches. Seattle-based kitchen designer Molly McCabe is a big fan of this innovation for two reasons. One, it The Sharp Microwave Drawer allows for easy and safer food access. helps solve the problem of kitchen “congestion points,” where one person needs to cook and another comes to reach over the other’s head to reheat his coffee in the microwave. It is also safer. “You are looking down into it, not reaching up overhead for something that is probably hot,” McCabe says. “This becomes very important as we age because our depth perception declines and the opportunity for scolding increases.” The versatility and practicality provided by French door refrigerators with bottom freezer drawers make this configuration very popular with homeowners, says kitchen designer Araya Jensen of Crystal Kitchen Center in Crystal, Minn. “When you have a side-by-side with a freezer, there are items that won’t fit in the freezer,” she says. GE’s Profile refrigerator features two freezer drawers, allowing cooks to better organize their frozen items while providing adequate space. The bottom drawer is deep enough to hold an entire turkey. Drawers are ergonomic, but they also provide another purpose: They free up space above the counter, which creates many more kitchen design options. “When you have less wall cabinets above you can add more windows and create a brighter space, a more open space,” says Jensen. The enormity of today’s appliance choices mean that you can get all the functions you want in a design that fits your décor and your lifestyle. Whether it’s ease of use, exciting finishes or an overall look that guests will praise, the only problem will be picking just one model. Read other Special Series: Appliances articles here.

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