When Neff launched its Slide&Hide oven 20 years ago, it was a genuine game-changer for kitchen designers. At that time, appliances came in a few fixed formats and, for a seated wheelchair-user, ovens were among the most dangerous appliances in the kitchen. I had previously resorted to sourcing a slightly safer oven, whose side-hinged door opened more than 90 degrees. Anything to put a red hot surface as far away from the client's arm as possible, especially if they were affected by hand tremors.
With a design that safely stores the hot oven door in the base of the oven, the Slide & Hide immediately became my oven of choice, and I began petitioning Neff and its parent company BSH to fully understand the impact of the product they had created. It was a 'standard' oven, but the implications of the revolutionary design were immense. Over the next twenty years we included one or two Slide & Hide ovens in every single accessible kitchen design, and many standard kitchen designs too. And the rest, as they say, is history.
At this year's KBB Show (the Kitchen, Bedroom and Bathroom industry's major trade show), Neff will be teaming up with Symphony Kitchens to promote the two companies' Universal Design credentials, and celebrate 20 years of the Slide & Hide oven. Symphony's Freedom range of furniture, which I helped to develop, was created for multi-generational use and is the perfect partner for the now iconic Neff Slide & Hide oven.
Read about the history of the Slide & Hide oven, and the Neff/Symphony collaboration with commentary by yours truly, in this article from the March edition of the KBB Review.
And if you want to chat about the Neff Slide & Hide, and the most accessible appliances on the market, just get in touch.