Color is way underestimated in the world of commerce — there are entire firms dedicated to figuring out how color can affect branding and messaging in the typical consumer market, let alone the constantly evolving smart home market. Now GE Appliances’ budding new Café line is attacking the market with a vengeance, launching with a black and white version and promising an assortment of four new color hardware colors soon, starting with an announcement at the Kitchen and Bath Industry Show (KBIS) in Las Vegas this week.
“Café’s Customizable Professional Collection is the only line that allows, and encourages, personalization, while offering chef-inspired performance features and innovative technology,” Marc Hottenroth, executive director of industrial design at GE Appliances, said in a statement. “Finding appliances that allow for personalization can be frustrating due to limited options but with this new extension of the Café line, we can continue to offer customization to the masses and this time, in stainless.”
While the color options, available in matte white and matte black, as well as the new stainless finishes, are available soon, the Café brand is also offering to give buyers options to change their handles and nobs to different metal colors with an assortment of four separate color hardware options.
While copper is the signature Café metal with a discreet Café logo, consumers can also select brushed bronze, brushed stainless or brushed black hardware choices to complement their overall kitchen design.
These options are only the first round of decisions facing buyers of GE Appliances’ new Customizable Kitchen Collection. In addition to the finishes mentioned above, Café will roll out a second collection in September, featuring a unique glass finish that offers hard-lustered platinum under glass fronts on each of the company’s appliances.
“Glass has a quality of depth to it, reflecting and refracting light that gives it a luster deeper than stainless or any paint can replicate,” Hottenroth said.
It appears that the new aesthetic in smart home design is clean, with simple lines, handle-less cabinets and minimalist accents that pair well with glass and metal, so we’ll see what the competition has in store soon. These Café appliances will be available for order through mass retail and independent appliance stores in the U.S. in May and the aforementioned Modern Glass Collection goes on sale in September.
