“A kitchen for the future, available here today”
Representing Electrolux – the parent company to AEG – Anna Ohlsson-Leijon, CEO for Europe/APMEA and Group Executive Vice President, took a moment at the start of the company’s global media conference at IFA to highlight the significance of such a prestigious world exclusive happening in Berlin – the very city where AEG was born in 1883.
She asserted that the company and IFA’s history were interlinked: before giving the welcoming speech at IFA in 1930, Albert Einstein had spent the 1920s as technical adviser at AEG. Ms Ohlsson-Leijon guided us through more than a century of the company’s innovations – including the electric lightbulb, the Vampyr vacuum cleaner, the first automatic washing machine – to demonstrate its pioneering spirit and celebrate “the biggest launch in AEG history – the first full-solution kitchen, a kitchen for the future available here today”.
Across three stages, three different presentations of the new AEG Kitchen Range were revealed to a dramatic overture by a live string trio. Joining Ms Ohlsson-Leijon to elaborate on the genesis of the integrated appliance launch were Christopher Duncan, SVP Product Line Taste Europe APMEA, Electrolux Group, Michael Geisler, VP Germany & Austria for Electrolux Group, and Thomas Gardner, Design Lead Product Line Taste at AEG. “We innovate and design for the user,” said Mr Duncan, adding: “Design is about understanding humans: the kitchen is an extension of a person.”
Design is about understanding humans: the kitchen is an extension of a person.
Mr Gardner then revealed the world premiere of AEG’s AITasteAssist – an innovation that has been integrated into the new cooking range as an answer to the question he posed: “With all the smart technology, are we cooking in the smartest way we can?” AITasteAssist offers the answer, as Mr Gardner demonstrated: the app reads the recipe online, uses AI to optimise oven settings, then cooks the dish to maximise taste and efficiency. “There is a taste gap – traditional recipes aren’t always best served by modern appliances, but our new solution means the results are tastier and healthier” he said, adding that the new oven range has cooking cycles, uses residual heat, and offers efficiency tips which can save energy output by up to 50%. On the crucial topic of sustainability he also pointed out that “water over-boiling for twenty seconds uses as much energy as fully charging a smartphone” hence vibration sensors in the new hob range which detect and react when a pan starts boiling. A practical demonstration of the latest evolution of the award-winning SaphirMatt Induction Hob proved its new scratch-proof glass technology: not a trace was left when a metal pan was rubbed into sugar crystals on the stylish surface.
There was plenty more to digest at the event including the new washer and dryer range, building on AEG’s recent accolade as, according to the company, the “first and only brand ever” to achieve four top StiWa awards within one year, and the cordless vacuum cleaner – “A category which we invented in 2004” noted Michael Geisler – now updated with the model AEG 8000 Cordless which empties into its base. “We are the first German brand to bring this innovation to market” added Mr Geisler.
Hall 4.1, Stand 101
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