FEBRUARY 2020 23
Best in Class New gadgets help
cooks bring restaurant-level
technology home. By Joe Harper
AT HOME
ESTEEMED MEAT PURVEYOR Pat LaFrieda
has put his name behind a heavy-duty
grill with top burners that reach 1,500°F
in three minutes, cooking meat quickly
and with an even sear. Slightly larger
than a toaster oven, the Otto Grill ($1,195,
ottogrills.com) is steak house technology
adapted for the home. In this spirit,
brands are developing innovative kitchen
tools for the competent home cook.
Signature Kitchen Suite’s 48-inch
Dual Fuel Pro Range ($14,499, signature
kitchensuite.com) is the first range with
a built-in sous vide. It also offers both
induction and gas burners, providing
ultrahigh heat for searing and ultralow
for melting chocolate without even
needing a double boiler.
In another first, the 30-inch Smart
Double Wall Oven from GE’s Café line
($3,849, cafeappliances.com) includes
an air-frying setting, which reduces the
need for oil by blowing down intensely
hot air for a crispy crust. Similarly, the
oven in the Fisher & Paykel 36-inch
Dual Fuel Range (from $5,949, fisher
paykel.com) has an Aero Pastry function
that bakes from above and below and
circulates hot air for crispier edges.
KitchenAid offers powered attach-
ments with its Smart Oven+ 30-inch
Single Oven (from $3,199, kitchenaid
.com). The accessories connect inside
the oven for everything from steaming
to grilling. And Miele’s Warming Drawer
(from $1,249, mieleusa.com) has tem-
perature controls meant for more than
warming dishes—it can melt butter or
even slow-cook a lamb shoulder.
To keep ingredients fresh, Fisher &
Paykel’s 24-inch Integrated Column
refrigerators and freezers (from $5,599,
fisherpaykel.com) include temperature
zones like pantry mode to mimic a cool,
dark place for tomatoes and avocados and
an easy-thaw soft-freeze mode to help
prep a side of fish for sushi or beef for
carpaccio for easy slicing. The Sub-Zero
Pro 36-inch ($13,965, subzero-wolf.com)
has an entirely separate crisper drawer to
seal in humidity at lower temperatures.
For cocktail hour, LG just launched its
Craft Ice feature for refrigerators (from
$4,400, lg.com), which dispenses large,
slow-melting spheres of ice. And for
cleanup, Thermador’s Glass Care Center
dishwasher ($2,400, thermador.com)
will carefully wash up to 26 wine glasses
on soft rubber racks. Even faucets are
smarter; Delta’s VoiceIQ technology
($150, deltafaucet.com) can turn com-
patible Delta faucets on and off by verbal
command (if you’ve got sticky hands
from rolling dough, say) and can dis-
pense exact measurements of water for
your pasta or coffeepot. And select GE
dishwashers include GE’s Dry Boost
technology to prevent water from bead-
ing up on plastics.
“People are getting into the science of
how to make great food at home, and
they’re figuring it out,” says LaFrieda.
clockwise from fa r
left: Signature
Kitchen Suite’s
range with built-in
sous vide; the Otto
Wilde grill; Fisher &
Paykel’s fridge
compartments keep
everything fresh
PHOTOGRAPHY (CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT): COURTESY SIGNATURE KITCHEN SUITE, COURTESY OTTO WILDE, COURTESY FISHER & PAYKEL
