We’ve long known that the kitchen is more than just a place to prepare food. It’s far more social than functional. The kitchen is our favorite place to gather. And that fact has become more important than ever in recent years. Even as people spend less and less time at home. We’re constantly on the go. Cooking is a very special time for many of us, almost a little meditation at the stove – balancing out our daily lives.
Light controls
Shifting cooking habits for many people have meant changing demands placed on their cooking appliances. Cooktops needs to be more flexible and functional. Consumers are now looking for simple operation and intuitive user guidance. Using light in control systems can visually support cooking processes. That’s becoming more critical than ever as technologies offer less and less visual feedback for cooks, especially with induction. Light is perfectly compatible with the trends toward full flex induction and minimalist cooktop decor. Light in the cooking zone and in the cooktop’s control area can become the new form of visual guidance and make cooking more intuitive and smarter.
The new joy of cooking
Schott’s Ceran Excite® product portfolio is a market-ready system solution series that enables household appliance makers to implement functional and aesthetic lighting solutions in the cooktop area.
The portfolio consists of glass-ceramic materials optimized for many light colors and functional coatings that accommodate sharp contours and brilliant colors to shine through black glass-ceramic cooktop panels. White light gives cooktops an innovative, purist look while a new light-optimized black glass-ceramic material lets light shine four times brighter than ever. Using light under cooktops is not only possible in the control area, but for the first time in the heated cooking zone area. Light in many LED colors and with innovative operating techniques can now be implemented within the cooking zone markings.
Rethinking the cooktop
Household appliance manufacturers can use these new glass-ceramic lighting solutions to make their product design more exclusive, elegant and modern, such as with bright, clear light displays in the control area and in the cooktop’s cooking zone area. Lighting features can visually support smart solutions for connectivity and device communication. A glowing icon on the cooktop indicates when it connects with the oven, or when the hood vent and the microwave connect to Bluetooth.
A “360-degree” design is now possible. Household appliances are connected now more than ever. The cooktop’s user interface is identical in both function and look to operating your coffee machine or your oven. For cooking with induction, there is another advantage: manufacturers are able to make their appliances more responsive. Cooktops with light in the cooking zone area provide visual feedback for more control and safety when cooking. There are no limits to the ideas. Schott is working with customers from the household appliance industry to develop customized solutions, supporting them in their applications and implementation.
Nothing stands in the way of cooking in a new light. Just as ever, the best parties will keep winding up in the kitchen. But from now on they’ll be lit up appropriately with the cooktop.
