This Spring we were able to attend another industry convention with our buy group BrandSource. These opportunities give us a chance to meet with other independent dealers like Village to compare notes about best practices and learn about ways we can give our customers the best in-store and online shopping experience available. Being a partner with BrandSource allows Village Home Stores to purchase our appliances as a group of many independent dealers. Having shared buying power together lets small businesses like ours be able to sell at or below the box stores’ prices and offer exclusive rebates that you can’t access when you purchase from a box store. Plus, a convention means we can visit vendor booths to see new products. And boy did we see new products this time! Want to have a peek around the booth at what we saw?
New Appliance Features Spotted in The Whirlpool Booth
Village Home Stores offers the full lineup of appliances available from the Whirlpool Corp. family including Maytag, Whirlpool, and KitchenAid. We have never seen the booth so packed with NEW than we did at this show! We wanted to share a few highlights with you here, so you know what is shipping now and very soon. Some of these great new features may just be perfect for your household. Nearly the entire KitchenAid line has been redesigned and relaunched and there were also a lot of exciting new things to see from Maytag and Whirlpool.
New In-Door Water and Ice Features
Wish you could just walk away while your water bottle fills up? Done! Now select KitchenAid models have in-door water dispensers with an intelligent auto fill setting that allows you to be hands-free as you use it. You can set your water bottle or coffee pot in place and walk away to another task without fear that it will overfill.
This setting will fill your vessel to about 70% full and stop. You then have the option to tap to add more water to the level you desire. No presets or multiple steps, just a feature that allows you to get on with the next item on your list without waiting and watching your water dispenser. This feature is available on 5 & 6 series models and can be ordered in the new Premium finishes from KitchenAid. Press play below to see it in action.
Love the soft, chewable texture of nugget ice? Now you can have it at home with the industry-first door dispensing nugget ice on two new KitchenAid refrigerator models. If you have (or have been dreaming of) a countertop nugget ice maker but don’t want to take up the space on the countertop, this new feature is for you. This dispenser design can make and store 2 lbs of nugget ice in the door and dispenser. Two counter-depth models from KitchenAid will include nugget ice, a French door unit and a 4-door option with a middle drawer. These models are a true counter depth with “dual ice” configuration. The in-door nugget ice and standard icemaker in the freezer produces up to 20 lbs. of ice a day.
You can get a built-in look with these new models without the built-in refrigeration price tag. Plus the units measure just 69” tall so they are a fantastic high-feature option that is more likely to fit within an existing fridge opening you may have. The True Clearance hinges on the units open up to 135 degrees, beating the competition that only opens to 117.
Intelligent Cooking and Doneness Detection
We had a chance to watch the new 9 series wall ovens in action and wow! This is a great example of a smart appliance that actually saves you steps and time in the kitchen. It truly is as simple as placing something in the oven, letting it tell you on the control what it is and then selecting how you want it prepared. Trust us, it’s very simple. Watch this video below to see for yourself.
The staff in the booth baked cookies all day in this wall oven and I can confirm that the cookies turned out perfect. She adjusted the knob for a batch we sampled to the soft side for the doneness detection and they we so delicious.
New Refrigerator Features
We love the side-by-side refrigeration in our showroom from Maytag that has a new Arctic Blue interior. Now French Door refrigeration has an Arctic Blue interior and upgraded storage story is available beginning this Spring. The interior lighting and shelving options are great and there is even a metal gallon door bin to hold the cold even better in that zone.
Many of the new models coming from Whirlpool and Maytag include a shallow shelf that is attached to the door of the in-door ice dispenser. Now that the new in door dispensers have a lower profile, this added shelf is added storage. Since it shares a back “wall” with the ice machine, this is an “Extra Cold Zone” shelf perfect for quickly chilling a beverage or keeping other items at their most cold option up in the refrigerator.
Freezer storage continues to improve as well, and the Maytag unit shown in the video above even includes a quieter compressor with a lower noise-level and the same 10 year part warranty our customers love in a Maytag refrigerator.
Industry-First UV Clean Tech in a Whirlpool Washer Tower
What if the water you are washing your laundry with could be even cleaner before it gets to work with your laundry? The new UV Clean option gives you that piece of mind. Launching on the new 27” wide Whirlpool laundry tower, all you have to do is select this option ahead of any cycle you select. When selected, a UV light is directed at the water below your washer drum. This UV tech reduces odor-causing bacteria throughout the entire cycle, giving continuous exposure to the water in your machine. Don’t worry that blue light in this image below isn’t a UV light for you to stare at, it is just an indicator light for when the option is selected. Pretty cool ambient light though, isn’t it? And this UV tech has been tested for up to 25 years of use so you can have confidence selecting it with all cycles you run. It doesn’t add any more time to the wash cycle, just bacteria-fighting benefits.
UV Clean, an interior fan and dry drum cycle, Fresh Flo Vent system, AND an antimicrobial seal on the drum! Now that is a winning combination. Oh yeah, and there is also a new “Handwash” cycle on this unit that focuses the wash cycle to just soaking and a low wash plate movement to keep your items protected and coming out clean. A controlled spin designed just for this Handwash cycle carefully removes water and helps to keep your items to shape and size. If you have some items that you handwash in the sink, this setting is for you. NOTE: this handwash cycle is designed to give your items *care and attention. *That care and attention means the cycle runs just over 2 hours.
More Features to Look Forward to in Future Product Launches
Sometime next year we will start to see this new Clear Vue door counter-depth refrigerator begin to ship. We had a chance to see the unit, and this feature is very cool! The interior lights up as you approach it and you can choose to open just the clear door for something within reach or pull open the entire right door on the unit to access the full interior.
We know you love the new Juniper and Black Ore finishes in KitchenAid and the new option to customize your hardware for the appliances. Well, we have been sitting on a secret for a little bit and now we are able to spill the tea for you… Porcelain White is launching later this year! Sometime this coming Fall you will also be able to order the new finish option on most of the lineup.
This new elevated neutral appliance finish ships to you with Brass hardware handles and knobs. Of course, you can order Bronze, Stainless, or Black Ore hardware if desired. Speaking of new finishes, another new finish will be launching in Whirlpool laundry with their new removable delicate wash basket model sometime this fall. It will come in a new linen finish and brass details to share.
We fully admit that our team is full of appliance nerds, so our opinion may be a bit bias…but aren’t these cool new updates to look forward to?! Some new models have already started to ship to our showroom so keep an eye on our social media to see when things arrive. We have the smaller 24” laundry towers in store now and we are already working on convincing the bosses to hook up nugget ice to a waterline when it gets here so we can have that good good drive thru ice all day long. Want to shop our selections now? Did you know that our website is open and shoppable 24/7 at villagehomestores.com/appliances you can browse categories, features, and even experiment with customization and finishes. Of course, our expert appliance sales team is up to speed now on all the new here and on its way so you can also shop with us in person at 105 S State Geneseo, Illinois. Looking for something specific? Use the webchat here on the page and we can have a team member look for something for you.