Open air: SIEMENS HOME APPLIANCE

Innovation is the optimisation of the existing. It is therefore always worthwhile to look at it in the mirror of the past. So let's begin this Siemens Home Appliance story with a brief look at the origins of the open kitchen.

As early as 1947, the apartments of Le Corbusier's famous Unité d'Habitation in Marseille had semi-open kitchens. Designed by Charlotte Perriand, the idea was to see the kitchen as part of the flowing spatial structure, and also reflected a new, more liberated role for women at that time. Only a bar separated the kitchen from the living area. In addition to ample storage space and modern basic equipment, Perriand also integrated a hidden extractor for the fumes produced by cooking. In this way, food preparation could become an entertaining way of spending time together – especially when friends were visiting.

The trend towards openness continues to this day. Walls are giving way. Kitchen and living room are becoming one – and at the heart of it all lies the sociable cooking island.

There is a Siemens TV commercial from 1994 in which lively family scenes and images of dinner among friends are projected. All around the cooker, people share an aperitif while the chef busies himself with the pots and pans. The drawback: Due to his height, the host obviously has difficulties handling the food under the island's canopy.

This snapshot may have seemed avant-garde back then, but today, it would look completely different thanks to the considerable progress made in the development of Siemens’ household appliances. The company is launching the glassdraftAir worktop ventilation system, a product that is an absolute novelty both in design and technology. Nothing stands or hangs in the way anymore.

The extractor fan from the exclusive studioLine range fits flush behind the hob and only comes out when cooking is in progress. Even then, there is hardly more to see than a glass panel which, in combination with the emotionLight Pro function, becomes a discreet design highlight on the cooking island. With emotionLight Pro, the edges of the transparent pane are illuminated in colour, and the contours seem to float discreetly in space.

The actual technology is concealed. The iQdrive motor in combination with Guided Air technology ensures outstanding performance. An air curtain is created behind the glass, which optimises the air flow in such a way that a uniformly high extraction performance is guaranteed from all cooking zones of the hob. Thanks to the brushless design of the motor, this is done in a particularly energy-efficient manner and with a maximum airborne noise emission of 62 decibels in normal operation – in other words: very low noise levels. After all, ventilation should not become a noisy centrepiece of the evening.

What’s more, if desired, the unit can act on its own. Connected to the WLAN, the ventilation system communicates with the induction hob, so when the hob is activated, the glassdraftAir also moves into position. With the aid of an air quality sensor, it precisely detects the intensity with which it should extract the cooking fumes and odours. When cooking is finished, the glass automatically retracts again if desired, and after an appropriate period – or you can continue to enjoy the atmospheric light a little longer.

For true technology lovers, there is also another smart feature: in addition to manual and automatic controls, the glassdraftAir can also be operated via a voice assistant.

Individual lighting scenes can also be set via the Siemens Home Connect App. In addition to nine preset colours, the app offers an almost unlimited number of colour options that can be used to set accents perfectly matched to the room or the occasion. Moreover, the Home Connect App provides information as soon as the filters need to be cleaned. To do this, the filter cassettes move upwards and can be easily removed and put in the dishwasher. The glass panel can also be removed for cleaning.

The glassdraftAir thus meets the equally high standards of technology, design and practicality. In an age in which the boundaries between rooms are increasingly blurring and kitchens are used for multifunctional purposes, it is ultimately a question of a clean, versatile, living environment.

Le Corbusier and Charlotte Perriand would certainly be impressed with this minimalist extractor fan from Siemens – set perfectly in open, flowing living space.

© Architonic