The 2022 Inspired Home Show will showcase a strong black and white story in kitchen electrics, with the shine of stainless steel and blast of red thrown in as a counterpoint.
Although black is usually fashionable and red festive, the strength of white and stainless suggest that product designers may feel that colors that suggest cleanliness and a contamination-free condition, and that prompt a used to return an appliance to a nice sanitary state, may play well at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic has become less problematic but is hardly forgotten.
At the same time, the black and white combination is classic, and that can be reassuring in uncertain times.
“Black and white are timeless colors and represent the balance that we are trying to help our customers achieve,” said Debra Chiu, graphic designer with Tribest.
Black was the basic tone that Tribest hued to with its recent introductions, used in a variety of ways. For example, black is quite predominant, even with a few touches of silvery gray, in distinguishing the Shine Kitchen Co. Cold Brew Coffee Machine, but it’s balanced by a wood-look brown panel and top accent in the case of its Shine Kitchen Co. Autopour Automatic Pour Over Coffee Machine. Then Tribest used black in more of an accent role in the red-dominated Dynapro Commercial High-Speed Vacuum Blender it’s offering.
In contrast, and, even if things are different inside, the Greenstar Pro All Stainless Steel Jumbo Twin Gear Commercial Slow Juicer is a stark and clean white appliance with minimal additions of silver and gray, and just a touch of green in the star logo.
The green star, said Chiu, represents the tools that the company produces to help customers achieve that balance.
“The size of the star represents how small changes can create great improvements in your health and wellbeing,” she says.
In quite a few cases, the use or combinations of black, white and sometimes silver work with the formulation of a product to give it a clearly modern look The Carbon8 is rolling out in two versions, a black version and white with black elements to create options so the carbonated water device can suit rooms beyond the kitchen. Combined with a clean modern design, the product is formulated to attract the style-conscious. In a somewhat different tack, the new BRU tea machine is arriving in a black and a white version, but the black version has white elements and the black version has white elements. The Espressione Concierge Elite allows a contrasting color choice, each with a distinct tone and designated Infinite Black and Diamond White.
The Ankarsrum Assistent Original is an especially elegant pairing of white and silver in a design that accentuates its curves, while the Multo by CookingPal mixes up white, black and silvery tones in a combination that complements its modern, slightly futuristic look.
Of course, many products associated with food and with home environment come in white to signal cleanliness. So, the Innospec Hot Bento food box, a Global Innovations Awards finalist, is pure white with just a little accenting.
At Salton, black is a key color across new and featured products, with the Dual Zone Air Fryer as a solid example. The Digital Stainless Steel Set, with its digital kettle and two-and four-slice toasters, is wrapped in a shining silvery tone, but each is accented in black. Still, when Salton decided to get festive, it assembled the Treats group, including corn poppers, cotton candy makers, chocolate fountains and s’mores makers, in a bright red with a little black, white and other accenting, demonstrating that the company has a definite sense of how it wants to use color in the products it is featuring in the Inspired Home Show timeframe.
However, the Salton Swan Nordic collection may point the way to the small electrics future when it comes. Already invested with modern Scandinavian design inspiration, the collection offers microwaves, kettles, espresso machines, toasters, bread bins, storage canisters, mug trees and paper towel holders and comes in in four colors that mingle typical mass-market tones with more fashionable twists across Cotton White, Slate Grey, Spruce Blue and Pine Green.
With omnichannel retail becoming more the norm, retailers may want and consumers expect more choice in color. Being able to satisfy them both could play to the advantage of designers and manufacturers.
