Whirlpool Kitchen Range Hoods
15 October 2009
“A Turn for the Better”
Some of the most exciting kitchen range hoods I have seen in some time are being manufactured by an old familiar company, namely Whirlpool. Looking at the hoods I am featuring in this blog, the first thought has to be that Joseph has made another trip to Europe, as I am so often writing about the cutting edge products I find there. But the truth is that these hoods are, as I said, actually manufactured by Whirlpool, a circumstance I find delightful for a number of reasons.
One of the problems—or virtues—of design is that you really cannot copyright it very effectively. Oh, people have tried it, and still try it, but the courts have ruled that unless the competition product is the same exact size and color and dimensions, it’s not a copyright infringement. Make it an inch taller or give it a different shade, and you’re home free. That sort of news is naturally welcome to those who set out to intentionally rip off the intellectual property of others, but where I find it useful and exhilarating—as does anyone with integrity, really—is in the many ways that one can now be simply inspired by a design to make something else. And if there are similarities, they need not incur the specter of jail sentences or heavy fines. But the other part of this is that you can now be inspired not to copy so much as to just make a variation on a theme.
And, really, when you think about it, so much of art is like that. One man creates, another makes a variation, a third makes still another variation, and then maybe the first man is then inspired to take his original creation into areas he never dreamed of. Certainly, that is how it worked in Vienna in the days of Mozart and Hayden and Beethoven, and how it was in Paris in the 1920s, a moveable feast, Hemingway called it.
All of which brings me back to one of my favorite subjects, kitchen hoods. Those with the wisdom to eschew the traditional under-the-cabinet-range-hood-with-a-six-inch-tube-right-smack-dab-through-the-center-of-the-cabinet lose only a cabinet that is essentially useless as a storage unit. But the tradeoff really isn’t a tradeoff at all; it is a vast improvement. Lose the traditional range hood, and you can then install a kitchen hood that often becomes a focal point for the kitchen. So that, in short, is why I have spent so much of my time trolling European waters, because they understand that concept.
But the virtue of design is that it is constantly evolving, and designers are constantly being influenced by others, as witness the Glamour and Fusion wall range hoods from Whirlpool which we’ve featured here. Heretofore, when I’ve thought of Whirlpool, I’ve thought solid, dependable products. Now I’m obliged to think cutting edge design! And there’s more, because they’re not just “a pretty face.” These are hard-working, well-designed range hoods with Whirlpool’s EDS3 system which offers an unprecedented level of noise reduction, and versatile 3-speed motors with top extraction rates reaching 650 m³/h. They also feature bright halogen lamps to really light up a work surface and grease and carbon saturation indicators, both for safety (lots of grease fires in kitchens start in the hoods) and to ensure efficiency. And cleaning the aluminum grease filters ought not to be too much of a strain, as they’re dishwasher safe!
A hood is absolutely essential to any kitchen, but from that it does not necessarily follow that it must be bland and staid and old. These models from Whirlpool, with their stainless steel, glass touch screen controls, and mirror finishes are certainly proof of that. And proof, too, that one good turn deserves another.
Joseph
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2 Responses to “Whirlpool Kitchen Range Hoods”
August 25th, 2010 at 3:08 AM
hi
Thank you for the above information on the Glamour and Fusion wall range hoods.
Are these still being produced and do you have any more information on these as I hadn’t seen anything like this.
Thank you
Alison
August 25th, 2010 at 6:45 AM
There are hyperlinks in this blog that will take you back to the manufacturer. You should address your questions to him.