Kitchen extractors that really work
Winner: sleek, stylish matt black edition of Berbel’s Formline headroom hood
Hood maker wins coveted international German Design Award.
Last month a mix of slick design and unique use of centrifugal force saw a small German manufacturer receive yet another top international design award to beat all-comers in the competitive world of kitchen product design.
German kitchen hood maker Berbel received the coveted 2020 German Design Award in the Excellent Product Design (Kitchen) category for the latest matt black edition from its Formline headroom range (see above). The award was presented during Ambiente 2020, a leading international consumer goods fair held in Frankfurt; it adds to the company’s remarkable tally of some 15 international design awards gained since 2010.
“It’s not only our Berbel principle [a patented use of centrifugal force to produce clean air] that differentiates our products from others, but also the emotionally ‘timeless’ design,” says Berbel’s CEO, Karl von Bodelschwingh.
“We also use a number of technical innovations [alongside centrifugal force] such as Berbel BackFlow technology, in which secondary ventilation directs part of the air volume to the intake opening of the extractor hood, thus preventing condensation on the surfaces. The result is a particularly efficient collection of cooking and frying fumes and thus extremely effective air cleaning.
“Our cooker hoods can be controlled with a remote control or via app. Berbel Autorun networks the hob and cooker hood. When the cooktop is switched on, the fan of the extractor fan and the light function start automatically. Via KNX building automation technology, standard Berbel products are also smart home compatible.”
Berbel extractors remove up to 97% of all fat, residues and vapours
Like all 19 kitchen hood lines produced by Berbel, the Formline extractor hood does not use inefficient, rapidly clogged-up fat filters. Instead, it adopts the company’s patented centrifugal force technology that sucks in air before spinning off up to 97% of all fat, residues and vapours into a removable, easy-to-clean steel tray.
The air is then either extracted outdoors or recirculated after being drawn through renewable carbon filters to remove up some 97% of all cooking smells.
Berbel extractors range in shape, colour and size to fit every type of kitchen, starting with the space-saving Downline – a combination of a hob with an extractor sitting below the cooking surface.
Another space-saver is the Moveline, a table lift hood that remains stored beneath a kitchen top and raised up above the hob when needed.
Kitchen hoods to suit every home
Larger hoods in the Berbel range include the headroom hood, Formline (pictured, top), designed to give hob users an uninterrupted view of their cooking. There are also height-adjustable extraction (ceiling lift) hoods that drop down from the ceiling at the touch of a button to suit kitchen ‘islands’, such as Skyline-frame and Skyline Edge (both pictured), along with wall-mounted hoods, and those built into overlying cupboards.
Last year Berbel’s larger, standard Downline model picked up the international Plus X Award, one of the world’s leading innovation and design awards. This year, Berbel won the award again with the black edition of its popular Ergoline 2 headroom extractor range (see white version pictured).
Berbel extractor hoods have been available in the UK for several years, but this year marks a more concerted effort to promote the company’s award-winning products across the UK through the UK design consultancy, Casalife.
What gives Berbel hoods the edge
Cooking vapours – contaminated water, fats, oils and air (including cooking smells) – are sucked through a narrow gap into the extractor hood. Suction then speeds up flow of the vapours through two built-in bends in the air flow passage, an action that creates enough centrifugal force to hurl up to 97% of all fats and oils out of the air. These are collected into an easy-to-clean and removable metal tray. The air flows on through carbon filters (where charcoal only needs replacing once every two to three years); these remove almost all smells and the air re-emerges fresh, clean and virtually odourless. Some Berbel extractors allow users to alternate between air recycling and air extraction modes – at the flick of a switch, they can simply expend the contaminated air outside, offering a facility particularly handy during hot weather.
Background:
Berbel – hood manufacturer
Berbel Ablufttechnik GmbH was founded in 2001, received its first centrifugal separation patent in 2002 and made its market debut in 2003. Based in Rheine, Westphalia, in Germany, and now part of the Swiss ventilation technology specialist, WESCO Group, Berbel is a growing company with 120 employees. Its main market continues to be Germany, where it manufactures all its products, but since 2010 it has also been selling into the UK and other European countries (Switzerland, Luxembourg, Belgium, Netherlands, Austria and Italy) via local networks of kitchen sellers.
Casalife – kitchen design consultancy
Casalife is a long-established, UK-based kitchen design consultancy and adviser on German kitchens. Husband and wife team Karl Sattler and Jacqueline Cater have worked in the high-end kitchen industry for over 30 years. Both are bilingual professionals in English and German, with direct access to the latest innovations in German kitchen products from some of the world’s best international manufacturers. Their passion for food and German kitchens has taken them to many countries where they have lived and worked, inspiring them to create leading-edge kitchen concepts and designs. They focus particularly on both their clients’ present and future needs in order to supply them with the best possible kitchen products, designs and outcomes.
For more details on Berbel’s range of extractors, please contact: Jacqueline Cater at Casalife:
Mobile 07843 968991
Office 01727 309609
Email: info@casalife.co.uk / info@casalife.net
Website: casalife.uk
