Elmer Jacobi
Whirlpool is hoping to get folks to think outside the stainless-steel box with its "White Ice" collection. "We wanted these appliances to match that kind of decor," Lou Lenzi, GE's director for Industrial Design Operation, says of the slate collection. "As people transition their kitchen appliances over time, it was important to us to find a finish that is timeless and harmonious, yet distinctive."
But new finishes could be a tough sell because most appliances are purchased individually to replace one that has died, rather than an entire set in one fell swoop. "New homes and renovations were in our minds as we were developing the collection," says Whirlpool's vice president of global consumer design Patrick Schiavone, who spent two decades as a car and truck designer at Ford Motor Co. before joining Whirlpool in 2010. Lenzi says GE's slate was designed not only to complement materials that are popular in modern decor, but also to mix easily with other appliance finishes such as stainless steel, black or white as appliances in those colors are replaced.
What's more, slate is warmer than stainless steel, and customers might find that refreshing, Lenzi adds. Stainless steel reflects, so to speak, the contemporary, upscale lifestyle portrayed in cooking and interior design magazines.
"Until the industrial age, the kitchen was central to the home," Victoria Matranga, an industrial-design historian and program coordinator for the International Housewares Association, told the Wall Street Journal. Secondly, it's at the intersection of these high-tech influenced times and interior design, in that it blends with the flat-screen televisions and pads that have become part of the kitchen scene in some homes. Stainless might have reached a plateau as an edgy kitchen fashion statement, but consumers apparently are still loving it.
