Therm ador:

Where Science Meets Design

By Martha Uniacke Breen

If you're in the market for new kitchen appliances, Brown’s Appliances owner Jenn Veitch highly recommends one brand in particular, especially right now: Thermador.

Until June 30, the company is holding a rare promo event called the “Come Home To Luxury Promo.” It works this way: if you purchase a professional Thermador range, you can receive an Emerald dishwasher free. Add a 30” or 36” fridge or two Freedom refrigeration columns to your purchase, and you get your choice of a vent hood, built-in microwave, microwave drawer, a second Emerald dishwasher, or deeply discounted prices on on any Thermador undercounter refrigeration unit.

Need more? Upgrade your Emerald dishwasher to either of two Sapphire models at a nominal cost, then finish your Thermador suite purchase with a built-in coffee machine, also at a discount. The whole promo could save you up to a cool $15,000-plus.

The American brand Thermador is one of the oldest and most respected names in the business, first opening its doors in 1916 as a maker of electric heaters – at a time when many homes didn’t have electricity. (Style, alongside innovation and quality, has always been a hallmark of the brand: Art Decoinspired Thermador heaters from the 1930s are prized collector’s items today.)

From the start, Thermador’s engineers conceived many of the most innovative advances in appliance design. Just a sampling of its many firsts include the first wall oven (1947); first commercial-style stainless steel range (1950); first self-cleaning oven (1963); first tempered-glass cooktop (1970); first steam/convection range (2011)… and many more now-familiar appliance features.

Throughout Muskoka and beyond, Brown’s Appliances has developed an enviable reputation in its own right – not only for its knowledgeable sales personnel and comprehensive selection of the best highend appliance brands, but for its top-notch after-sales service. Owner Jenn Veitch has said that she won’t carry a brand that can’t provide technical service in the area; that's a particularly important consideration when many of your clients live in rural areas or on islands. We asked her to speak about what’s hot in appliance design right now.

“People are clearly coming up here for a view, so today’s kitchens have lots of windows,” she observes. “There’s a focus on beautiful millwork as well. So we want appliances to be hidden, built-in, or integrated with panels.” A pioneer in built-in technology (another Thermador innovation: the push-button downdraft ventilation system), the company offers a number of smaller units designed for undercounter or behind-the-island installation, including microwaves, coffee machines, wine cooler/drink fridges, as well as steam ovens and warming drawers.

Another Thermador invention that Veitch likes is the “column style” fridge: full-height, single-purpose all-refrigerators and allfreezers that can be applied in various widths side by side to fit your exact needs. “Often at the cottage you want to stock up on groceries, so you don’t have to go into town as often,” she points out, “or friends and family bring up a bunch of food when they visit. So having extra refrigerator capacity is very useful. And with the columnar style, you can organize it all on one side of the kitchen, so it looks great and uses space very efficiently.”

When many people think of Thermador, of course, they think of cooking. The “Come Home to Luxury Promo” covers virtually all of Thermador’s wide selection of ovens, ranges and cooktops.

Available in both induction and gas versions, surface-mounted cooktops come in 30” or 36” widths, with a choice of configurations and burners. With induction models, you can choose from round burners, “flex” burners (two can be conjoined to create a single rectangular burner or griddle), or the top-of-the line full-surface honeycomb cooktop, which allows you to place a pot (or multiple pots) anywhere on the top and have instant heat.

Some people prefer the look and cooking style of a rangetop, with control knobs along the front as with conventional ranges. Thermador’s models range from 30” to 48”; the larger sizes offer the option of adding a chargrill or electrical griddle in place of the two central burners.

But cool features and great looks aside, what Jenn Veitch likes most about Thermador has always been their reliability – not just the appliances themselves, but the company’s after-sales service and warranties. Especially during the pandemic, she found not every maker could make the same claim.

“We had a few problems with some of our brands – whether it was supply chain issues, a shortage of microchips, or even weather delays. But Thermador has always been extremely consistent.

“It’s just really nice to know they stand behind their product – especially in Muskoka, that’s extremely important.”

Gas or Induction?

Gas stoves have been getting a lot of press lately, some of it unsettling. We asked Jenn what she thinks of the controversy, and what we should consider when choosing between the two.

"As far as emitting dangerous fumes, liquid propane has a distinct smell that you really notice, especially in a smaller space. So if you can smell it, call a technician right away.

“From a cooking standpoint, it really comes down to personal preference. Induction is light years better than the old-fashioned coil-type electric stove, but some people still prefer the instant flame of gas [or liquid propane, used in some gas stove conversions].

“But I find induction does have certain advantages: you can control the heat very precisely, to the exact degree. It’s also very even across the cooking surface, whereas with gas you tend to get a ‘ring’ of heat that you can see if you boil a pot of water. And finally, there’s inevitable heat loss with a gas burner – as anyone who’s tried to cook in a hot kitchen in July can tell you!”