Smeg Australia has launched its own, innovative take on the neutral-toned kitchen at the Designex interior design show held in Melbourne.
Smeg acknowledged the global love-affair with neutral finishes such as stone, glass and stone-look-alike porcelain tiles but illustrated how neutral need never read boring.
The Smeg stand – both walls and floors – were finished in a gloss soft white with module shapes emulating the curves of the graphics from the 60s.
Stand-out features were the beautiful, saturated hues of retro-styled refrigerators – Smeg FAB28 and 32 - and dishwashers – BLV1 – in luscious tangerine and lime.
The occasional splashback wall was also finished in one of these colours – a ideal backdrop and accompaniment to Smeg’s now iconic collection of satin stainless steel ovens, cooktops, rangehoods, dishwashers and freestanding cookers.
The area looked clean, fresh and yet alive with colour and style. It’s a look that could so easily be translated to the domestic kitchen.
The retro look refrigerators and dishwashers while displaying all the curvaceous styling of half a century ago feature new refrigeration and dishwasher technology.
The Smeg range of FAB28 (single door) and FAB32 (twin door) retro refrigerators come in a wide range of beautiful colours – pink, pastel green, lime, orange, red, blue, light blue, cream, silver frost and black.
The FAB28 is a 271 litre appliance with a single compessor, 21 litre top-mounted ice box and automatic cyclic defrost. Further features include crystal glass quick chill shelves, adjustable tropically rated thermostat and chromed wine bottle racks.
The FAB32 is an upside down 330 litre capacity top-mounted refrigerator/freezer. This model is the big sister to the ever popular FAB28 and features individual compressors and thermostats for the refrigerator and freezer plus automatic defrost for the refrigerator and a rapid freeze mode for the freezer.
The BLV1 dishwasher meanwhile has curvaceous lines, bold handle and brilliant colours to match the refrigerators – tangerine, lime, red, pink, light blue, panna (cream), black and silver frost.
Open the door to reveal the cleverly concealed push button controls and two layers of stainless steel baskets fitted with colour-matched detailing.
The controls are simple and straightforward – on/off, programme selection, delay timer (1 – 9 hours), half load (top and bottom basket) and superwash selection.
While big on style, the BLV1 is skimpy on water – just 15 litres for a standard wash of a full 14 place settings.
The appliance features 10 programmes – to cater for delicate glassware to large pots and pans with baked-on food remnants. Other attributes are a choice of five wash temperatures – from 38ºC to 70ºC – and a five stage self-cleaning filter system to ensure all food particles are completely removed from the wash tank.
Other highly convenient features include an adjustable top basket, to create extra space on the lower basket for large diameter plates and taller vessels and cooking pots; a high speed, concealed heating element; residual hot air drying plus air fan drying; and a six stage water security system.
And while looking absolutely fabulous, the BLV1 does not make a sound – tests reveal a fully loaded, operational appliance registers only 37dB of sound.
