Gas appliances take center stage at world’s largest design show
Are you considering a kitchen makeover or maybe just a few updates? To help you determine what’s on-trend for the most important room of the house, Walton Gas hit the 2019 Kitchen and Bath Industry Show (KBIS). This year, the world’s largest kitchen design show had more than 1,500 manufacturers showcasing new products and ideas.
Here are six of the most exciting products and trends for natural gas consumers we spotted at this year’s show:
Signature Kitchen Suite’s 48-inch dual-fuel range
offering sous vide mode won the gold Best of KBIS award.
1. Sous Vide Cooking Mode
Foodies take note: Signature Kitchen Suite (the new luxury brand of LG Electronics) earned the gold Best of KBIS award given for product innovation for its 48-inch Pro Range. The innovative range is the industry’s first pro-style range for home cooks that offers built-in sous vide on the cooktop.
French for “under-vacuum,” sous vide (sue-veed) 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. With the industry’s first built-in sous vide range, home chefs have the capability to achieve professional-level results and capture the full, true flavor of foods.
2. Dual-Fuel Ranges
Cars aren’t the only machines bringing together the best of what gas and electricity have to offer. A dual-fuel range pairs the power and control of a gas cooktop with the baking precision of an electric oven in one appliance. The award-winning Signature Kitchen Suite Pro Range was among the dual-fuel ranges garnering much attention at this year’s KBIS show.
Duel fuel ranges have been around for a while, but were cost-prohibitive for most. This year’s models have come down in price, so home chefs can finally afford them — even if you still need to set aside a few thousand dollars to do so.
Hestan’s Circuflame burner offers the fastest boil time in the industry.
3. Faster Boil Times
Hestan, the award-winning culinary brand renowned for creating the market’s most advanced, powerful and versatile commercial kitchen equipment, has introduced its powerful gas Circuflame burner for its residential kitchen gas range line. Claiming the fastest boil time in the industry, the Hestan burners deliver up to 30,000 BTUs per minute for quick heat.
4. Air Frying in a Full-size Oven
Frigidaire is breaking new ground with its 30-inch Gallery Front Control Freestanding Gas Range that includes an air fry mode in the oven. Air fryers were a popular countertop appliance in 2018, but the new Frigidaire line is the first to offer it in a full-size oven. The folks at Frigidaire explained that the air fryer mode heats up the air inside the oven to a higher temperature than what is used in a convection oven. It then gradually cools down as the fan circulates air around the cavity rapidly. Look for models with the air fry option to debut later this year.
At KBIS 2019, Thor Kitchen debuted a pro-style black stainless kitchen suite for under $6,000.
5. Black Stainless
New models of every kind of kitchen appliance, including gas ranges, are now being offered in black stainless as well as the traditional stainless steel. At the 2019 KBIS, manufacturer Thor Kitchen debuted the first Pro-style Black Stainless Steel Kitchen Suite for under $6,000. The suite includes a 30-inch gas range, ventilation hood, dishwasher and recessed-handle French-door refrigerator. Other manufacturers are following suit and will roll out more gas appliances in black stainless around mid year. Expect to pay about $200 extra per appliance for the option.
6. Affordable, Pro-Style Outdoor Kitchen Suite
If your kitchen remodel will extend to an outdoor space, there’s good news on this front, too. At the KBIS, Thor Kitchen, manufacturer of pro-style kitchen appliances, introduced its new eight-piece Modular Outdoor Kitchen Suite, offering homeowners the flexibility to put the appliances in any arrangement, while eliminating the need for built-in costs. This stainless steel modular suite is half the price of other outdoor kitchen suites on the market. The centerpiece is a gas grill featuring a rotisserie, four 12,000 BTU tube burners and one 10,000 BTU infrared side burner. Also included: 24-inch refrigerator drawers, commercial-grade pizza oven, sink cabinet, corner cabinet and appliance cabinet