The appliances by Fulgor Milano are not conceived to “follow” the current fashion trends, but to last over time, giving real contents to the end user in terms of technologies, ease of use, materials and quality finishes
by Elena Corti
A concrete technology, but simple to use, which makes products performant: this is the “heart” of Fulgor Milano home appliances, designed to last over time and addressed to those who love good food, quality and made-in-Italy refined taste. The company now markets its products in 22 countries: despite being a medium-sized business, it employs a significant part of the staff in the technical area, focusing on research and development with conviction. To know the latest proposals of Fulgor Milano and its future projects we interviewed the brand manager Paolo Mainardi.
What are your latest innovations regarding products?
In 2018 we have two important events in which we intend to present some product news: the KBIS Fair in Orlando, Florida, and the FTK pavilion of Eurocucina in Milan. For the North American market we are preparing new gas hobs and we are developing new models of our Sofia cooker with unusual measures: a machine, in particular, will have a width of more than 120 cm and will incorporate two ovens. Another news for the USA market will be the launch of a line of refrigerators that will bring our brand even if we will not be the producers. In this way we will complete our offer that at this moment in the United States includes appliances for cooking, hoods and dishwashers. They will be high and mid-high level products because that is the position that Fulgor Milano has chosen for years both in the USA and in the Canadian market. As for Europe, we are working to a refreshment of our ovens, which will be enriched with an evolved version of CreActive, our electronic system for the management of the appliance. Moreover, for the Old Continent we are realizing a very special products line that will include several families of appliances, especially for cooking. In addition, for the European market we will also launch a new range of refrigerators, which we have developed together with the manufacturer in order to be able to customize it as much as possible.
Within your production there are also some hybrid hobs: why this choice?
We realized hybrid hobs thinking at first of the Italian market, then we started to export them. Hybrid hobs are a way to offer the end user the possibility to experiment the induction, having also a 4 kW gas burner available. This was the last of a series of steps we have taken to bring people closer to this new type of cooking. For example, we have given our customers the opportunity to choose from a range of colors for induction hobs, since on the market these products were offered always in black. We also have them in this color, but alternatively we offer white versions or a variant with material gray finishes. In addition, we understood that in Italy there are two main barriers curbing the diffusion of induction and we tried to find a solution for them: the first barrier is related to the available electric power in the Italian homes, generally 3 kW. Taking this limit into account, we created hobs able to operate under this threshold. The other barrier is the fact that the use of an induction appliance could mean the obligation to change all the pans and even change the cooking habits. In this regard, we decided to combine our hobs with inductor discs that, positioned on the surface of the product, allow to go on using the usual kitchen pans. Finally, after a series of market surveys, we understood that different people do not approach induction because of its controls. For this reason, we think to present soon, probably at Eurocucina, a news that will be able to amaze our competitors because it seems in contrast with what has been done by the other market players. But we want to distinguish ourselves and make our products more and more easy to use.
Blast chillers and vacuum packaging machines have recently be added to your products range: is domestic kitchen going closer to professional one?
Today cooks have achieved a considerable notoriety thanks to some TV programs and this has allowed people to approach the world of professional cooking, discovering new ways of cooking that allow to obtain excellent results. Our blast chiller is a multifunctional product and this allows us to offer a tool with different functions, able to do things that could not be done at home before. I mention just an example: if I buy raw fish, I can use the abatement process that lowers its temperature up to -30 °C, then I put it in the freezer. When I go to regenerate it, I will have a still very fresh product, something that cannot be achieved by simply freezing. In addition, with our blast chiller I can quickly cool the bottles and cooking at low temperatures up to 75 °C (slow cooking) with a programming of up to 20 hours, significantly preserving the taste and properties of food. Our vacuum packaging machines, instead, is a device that creates vacuum at 99.9% and this means that I can preserve a cooked roast in the freezer for a long time: when I will eat it, after regenerating it, I will taste a savory food as if I had just cooked it. And it is the same for vegetables, that I can cooking with steam directly into the vacuum bag and taste them at their best because this type of treatment preserves nutrients. So with these new tools, it is possible to cook in a different way compared to traditional systems and have new opportunities to eat better.
Let’s talk about CreActive: what is it?
We have chosen to equip our products with this operating system in which electronics is useful, but it is not too complex for those who use it. The CreActive ovens, for example, offer the possibility of using the preinstalled recipes which, however, can be modified by the user with regard to parameters such as cooking time or weight. Another very useful feature is the one that allows to make a check of the functionalities of the product. In case there is a problem, a defectiveness code is identified and the user can communicate it to the technical support, thus reducing the assistance times, because the technician arrives to the customer’s house already knowing what the situation is. In addition, the most advanced version of CreActive will have controls regarding single food typologies, such as chicken, in order to make cooking easier and more precise: the product becomes more and more complex inside, but increasingly easy to use.
Do you organize events in Italy and abroad for customers, architects and designers to showcase your home appliances?
We realized that this is absolutely one of the most rewarding activities, because it allows us to have a one-to-one contact with those who may be interested in our products and enables us to make tangible what is really possible to do with them. For about a year we have been collaborating with the PalatiFini chefs association and together we have organized cooking show to display our appliances while working.
