The high end of the kitchen
This year's prize holiday gift may be a small appliance. Nothing new in that, you might say. But look again: that waffle iron or copper saute pan or chef's knife may not look much different from those of a decade ago. But the price tags can be astounding.
The young moderns -- affluent couples in their 30s and 40s who bring a designer's eye to everything -- have been outfitting their kitchens with high-style European and American appliances in the last six years or so, designers and architects say. And suddenly that ratty old coffeemaker or the toaster oven your mother gave you or the seldom-used waffle iron from the discount kitchen store doesn't quite cut it.
With your Sub-Zero stainless fridge (up to $8,000), your European cooktop (up to $4,000), and your whisper-quiet Bosch dishwasher (up to $1,500), not to mention acres of granite counters, maybe you'd like a frozen dessert maker that can churn out two quarts of ice cream or dozens of frozen margaritas in minutes. KitchenAid has the machine for you, for $1,199.95 (Williams-Sonoma stores or www.williamssonoma.com). The KitchenAid Pro Line doesn't stop there, offering a Belgian waffle maker ($299.95), a burr coffee mill ($199.95), and an espresso maker ($799.95) for those with deep pockets.
But homeowners have become accustomed to paying more for big-name large appliances, says Katy Flammia of THERE Design in Boston, so it's no wonder that small appliances are being scaled up as well. It's part of looking like a chef. "The whole idea," Flammia says, "is getting professional, industrial-looking" equipment. "Everybody wants everything to look like the inside of a restaurant kitchen."
KitchenAid's Pro Line promotional literature takes direct aim at that desire, touting products that combine "high power with commercial capacity and design to provide professional quality performance for the home."
Kim Roman of advertising and public relations agency Saatchi & Saatchi, which handles KitchenAid, echoes Flammia. "Everybody wants what they see in a professional chef's kitchen," says Roman. The Pro Line, introduced in October, is selling well, she reports.
The appliances sport a brushed metal look Roman calls the "meteorite finish." Her company is now using the metal for major appliances so that the high-end kitchen can completely match.
Espresso makers seem to especially attract the young crowd. Capresso, sold online (www.capresso.com) and in some houseware stores, has a long list of coffee appliances. But the Jura Capresso S9 Impressa stands out -- at $2,199. The S9 Impressa and the lower priced S8 and S7, ($1,999 and $1,799 respectively), are touted for "any elegant kitchen, dining room, or office setting," on the website, and come in different finishes to blend right in.
The influence of professional chefs shows up in knives, too. Korin Japanese Trading Company in New York sells Western-style and Japanese knives. Owner Saori Kawano says that more than 95 percent of her customers are men, both professionals and serious amateurs. "Men are so fascinated by knives," Kawano says. Though the company sells high-end sushi and sashimi knives for thousands of dollars, tools in the $300 range are also available. But price is seldom the drawing card, she says. Customers go for "artistic, beautiful, and expensive" and don't buy the cheaper knives. "We have a line in the $40 to $50 range," Kawano says. But they don't move well.
Sandra Fairbank of Cambridge's Fairbank Design agrees that the beautiful can inspire buying impulses. "Some of the design [of appliances] is gorgeous," she says. But now even customers trying to stay within a budget on a kitchen renovation feel they have to have the Sub-Zero refrigerator and freezer, and that pushes along the rest of the high-end smaller appliances. Flammia agrees: "We have clients who won't buy it if it's not expensive."
To both, sometimes the expense belies the use. "A lot of people who want these big fancy kitchens don't cook," says Fairbank.
Owen Mack, owner of Kitchen Arts on Newbury Street, chuckles at the thought of some of the buying. He used to carry All-Clad's gold standard bakeware -- a line of stainless, 5-ply pie pans, cookie sheets, and cake pans that retail for substantially more than other brands. The 9-inch square cake pan, for instance, is $70, the cookie sheet $90, a jelly roll pan $110. According to All-Clad, the pans with two layers of stainless steel and a coating guaranteed never to chip should last for years. But to Mack, they're overpriced and work no better than less expensive bakeware, so he stopped carrying them several years ago. However, he swears by the All-Clad cookware line.
Some products, he has noticed, seem designed to impress rather than use. Krups has a heavy professional-looking waffle iron for $99, which is selling well, he says. But the KitchenAid Pro Line model for $299.95 feels like the "SUV" of small appliances.
Which may point up the appeal of the totally high-end kitchen. In an SUV-driving nation, small appliances have to keep up.
