A kitchen renovation is no straightforward task, especially for a food connoisseur. Establishing a taste for fine food takes years; your kitchen and luxury appliances should reflect this skill. Certain features will consistently show in high-end appliances. Manufacturers can claim that their products are the best luxury kitchen appliances, but only proven facts, reputation, and customer satisfaction will show their true colors. The price range alone is not enough to assure trust and quality marks.
Start with the best luxury appliance brands and weigh the benefits of each advanced solution offered. Some names may stand out to you, while others may be new as an industry leader.
Table of Contents
- Popular Modern Kitchen Luxury Brands
- Stoves and Ovens
- Luxury Appliances Explained
- The Importance of Features
- Reviews
Popular Modern Kitchen Luxury Brands
Over one hundred years of experience have brought the home refrigeration need to where it is today. From efficiency to design, their primary focus is on food preservation. Features such as temperature control, frost-free options, and inverter compression deliver more reliable cooling and freezing.
Stainless steel is still the leading material for refrigerators and other kitchen appliances, proven over a century of experience. This material is durable, long-lasting, and resistant to bacteria and corrosion.
Cooling and Freezing
Sub-Zero
Sub-Zero made its debut in 1945 in Madison, Wisconsin, when there were already several refrigeration companies in the United States. Westye Bakke started his company as a personal commitment to his son, Bud. Bakke needed a reliable type of cooling system for his son’s diabetic medicine and needed to know that it would not fail. What better way than to build it yourself?
A reputation for high quality and innovation soon proved Sub-Zero refrigerators to be superb to many brands in the new millennium, which has only improved since the early days with years of experience. Cleaner air with filtration, secure seals to protect food through power outages, and an icon in design keep Sub-Zero a first-rate luxury appliance manufacturer.
Gaggenau
Although Gaggenau has been around for over 300 years, it was not until 1990 that this German company began producing freestanding frig-freezer combos. Their past participation in built-in wall ovens, cooktops, and ventilation systems already had an outstanding reputation from their handmade ironworks.
Vario is the name associated with the modular refrigeration line. Committed to the craft of delivering the highest standards by hand assembly, Gaggenau appliances and Vario gain honors from around the world. This manufacturer is well-recognized for its wine storage units which are specialty appliances.
Dacor
Dacor is a luxury brand of Samsung and has received the Industry Award for outstanding breakthrough technology and impressive design. Highly recognized in the United States, three generations continue to excel in trademarks such as their Dual Reveal glass door, freezer columns, and precise cooling advantages.
Thermador
Part of the German company and Bosch family, their manufacturing takes place in the United States. Known for their stainless steel interiors, their leading-edge design gives many options for your dream kitchen.
Considered one of the new luxury appliance features like theater lighting and Wi-Fi connectivity, their sleek portfolio keeps them popular. American features keep Thermador, a famous brand, at the forefront of cooking technology.
Miele
Miele, founded in 1899, has always been a family-run business. Headquartered in Germany, they continually win awards for the highest quality products and upscale kitchen design. MasterCool and PerfectCool are the brand names for refrigerators and other cooling products.
Miele appliances bring aesthetic design to a modern home kitchen with great advanced solutions. I should let you know about one missing element, however. MasterCool refrigerators do not have a water line for cold tap water in specific models.
Stoves and Ovens
Professional cooking equipment is a must. Most of the same companies that build refrigeration high-end kitchen appliances also create stoves, ovens, dual fuel ranges, and other cooking devices. However, this market is more complex in the trends they have created to make high-performance restaurant-grade appliances available for residential use.
Some companies, like Asian-influenced Teppan Yaki, specialize in griddles and grills used worldwide and offer superior performance for Japanese-style cooking. As a part of noted Gaggenau, innovative features, like shallow dip grease removal, place Teppan Yaki as a favorite in commercial and residential use.
Gaggenau ovens are perfect for professional chefs with built-in ovens, a French top, and precision engineering. The kitchen becomes a work of art instead of a mere workplace for the beaten soul. From their status of the classic design of blue enamel to the awarded pyrolytic self-cleaning system, a Gaggenau oven is one of the finest you can buy.
Thermador takes the honor of inventing the first built-in wall oven. A favorite of Julia Child with electric convection double walls, the 70s proved to be a stepping stone to French doors and Smart wall ovens that include Wi-Fi connectivity. Built-in home appliances continue to be popular in the cooking process, and Thermador continues to deliver.
Dacor is one of the high-end appliance brands that have an impressive array of industry firsts. Dacor trademarked the butterfly bake element to offer even heat distribution with its unusual shape. An infrared gas broiler offers even heating on solid surfaces. The extra-large Dacor greats, such as transitional dual-fuel ranges and unlimited control of different temperatures, make this manufacturer a favorite.
Wolf appliances stand out with aesthetic appeal with iconic red knobs on a stunning kitchen range. Made with the home chef in mind, the convection steam oven and the intuitive Wolf instruments make an attractive package for the serious in-home cook. Interior oven halogen lighting and an automatic sensor probe make the Wolf line a workhorse with class.
Miele takes pride in its moisture plus and dual team technology that guarantees an extraordinary traditional bake with every meal. They have three different styles in superior ranges to offset your American kitchen with impressive German engineering.
A Miele gas or electric oven has a price range from $2700 to $9800, depending on the size, style, and amenities required. The brand name lets you know you own a professional range far above the competition.
Bertazzoni is an Italian manufacturer of pro ranges, ovens, and induction cook-tops. Five generations turned wood-burning stoves into a luxury line of gas stoves, electric stoves, and induction cooktops. The most outstanding feature is the eight bright colors dedicated to the brand.
Bertazzoni’s appliance packages of refrigerators, gas range with gas cooktops, convection ovens, dishwashers, and convection fans give a higher return on value while producing excellence.
La Cornue began manufacturing French ovens and cooking ranges in 1908. We know them for creating the world’s first convection oven that delivered a pure convection system.
They offer three lines of ovens: Château, CornuFé, and CornuChef. The exquisite and unique Château Suprême is more a work of art than a piece of equipment.
Luxury Appliances Explained
Luxury appliances have a reputation for being more costly than most kitchen appliances. There are several reasons a luxury brand stands superior to common appliances. Here are some reasons:
- Better return on investment
- Outstanding customer service
- Healthy cooking option features
- State-of-the-art modern design
- The latest American features in cooking
- Precision manufacturing with better materials
- Reliable quality in preparation and taste
- Custom-made features down to the last detail
The list goes on and on. If you speak with a seasoned chef, they already have their mind set on a personal brand favorite. For example, Martin Major, a French chef, believes that using a Miele induction hob and oven is perfect for creating his masterpiece, Bass Bouillabaisse.
The Importance of Features
The vocabulary in cooking has changed dramatically in recent years. No longer can we refer to burners and racks for the kitchen range, but terms like dual fuel range and induction cooktop. To a professional chef, these are everyday terms. However, if you need a better explanation, these descriptions will help.
Dual Fuel Range
An electric oven with a gas cooktop can be the perfect combination for keeping foods evenly heated. According to most chefs, this combination is the most precise in keeping temperatures even.
Convection in Cooking
We are mainly familiar with conduction as a heat transfer method for cooking. When you heat water in large pots, the flame from the stove heats the pot and heats the water.
In convection, the burner redistributes the heat and the air to heat the bottom of the pot more evenly, thus increasing the even distribution of the liquid. This may be a problematic science lesson, but the result is less cooking time and better heat for the contents.
We use the same principle with ovens and fans for maximum cooking and air circulation.
Induction in Cooking
More confusing still is induction cooking. Through thermal conduction, the heat from coils within your stove’s elements heats the pot without bringing heat to a burner. Your stove stays perfectly cool. Neat trick, huh? The purpose is to create heat faster, more efficiently, and safer because there are fewer opportunities to get burned.
There are a few drawbacks to induction cooking. Glass, copper, and aluminum cookware are not compatible with induction cooking. Cast iron is the preferred choice. Last year’s products may not be designed for use; however, watch for a manufacturing process that marks cookware as ‘induction ready.
These are only a few of the luxury appliances that are made for home use. These top luxury cooking manufacturers also make items such as dishwashers, deep fryers, and cooking fans. We can also find smaller appliances like a coffee maker and toaster ovens on most product websites.
Reviews
It’s difficult to rate the best luxury appliances because they continually strive to beat their competition. When comparing price tag, service, reliability, and art performance, these brands excel:
- Thermador
- Miele
- Gaggenau
- Wolf
- Sub-Zero
- La Cornue
Some brands offer Wi-Fi, while others have hundreds of customized styles. Be prepared to pay for extra features and quality. Different sizes and built-in options are concerns of each manufacturer. Make sure your new kitchen will accommodate your selection. Also, over the past couple of years, there have been availability issues on large and small luxury appliances. If you are in the planning stages of your kitchen remodel, keep this thought in the back of your mind.
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Karen Garton, Senior Writer
Experienced Writer with 20+ years. Demonstrated writing experience includes technical writing, magazines, story writing, and journalist projects. Karen has a powerful media and communication background with academic training from LaSalle University (architecture, interior design) and business college courses. She loves editing novels and contributed to a national art journal. See her detailed profile on Our Team page.
