Meet Signature Kitchen Suite - The New Luxury Appliance Brand Raising The Bar!

This has been an eventful Spring with lots of great travel. I’ve recently returned from Napa, California where I visited the Signature Kitchen Suite Experience & Design Center with the Modenus Designhounds.

What an incredible opportunity this was travelling with an influential and talented group of designers and meeting all the brilliant folks behind this impressive new luxury appliance brand. I’ve followed this brand’s rapid rise since first discovering them at the 2017 Orlando KBIS (Kitchen & Bath Industry) show. Signature Kitchen Suite is the fresh built-in kitchen appliances luxury from global home appliance leader LG Electronics, and is committed to innovative thinking, purposeful design, and leading-edge precision.. They have developed innovative and technologically advanced appliances for their ideal consumer … the Technicureans™

This year Signature Kitchen Suite earned multiple honors at KBIS, led by the highly-coveted Gold “Best of KBIS” Award for its industry-first pro range with built-in sous vide modality. This pro-range is the first on the market with built-in sous vide, induction, and gas – all on the cooktop, delivering the ultimate in precision cooking. Once limited to working pros, sous vide is a cooking technique utilizing precise temperature control to deliver consistent, restaurant-quality results. Now, with the industry’s first built-in sous vide range, home chefs can achieve professional-level results capturing their food’s full, true flavor. My husband and I have cooked for several years with a sous vide wand and have become huge proponents of the cooking method. So much so that this past Christmas, everyone in the family got a sous vide wand from us as a gift! Instead of using the wand in a large vat of water taking up space on my countertop, I would love to have the SKS 48” Pro Range with sous vide built right in it! And if you don’t have room for the 48” Pro-Range, consider their award winning 36” range. Innovations like designing the largest capacity steam-assist convection oven have led the SKS 36-inch Dual-Fuel Pro Range to be recognized by two of the industry’s most prestigious award shows: The 2018 IDEA Finalist Award and the highly coveted 2018 Red Dot “Best of the Best” Award – chosen by a global jury of 39 design experts.

While visiting their beautiful new Experience & Design Center, we had a wonderful dinner with Moone Tsai winery. This was our first chance to actually taste the magic of the built-in sous vide with perfectly prepared filet mignon with foie gras. The entire meal was to-die-for and the wines were perfect! I loved the Cabernet Sauvignon Cor Leonis!

The 23,000-square-foot facility’s centerpiece is the high-performance Signature Kitchen Suite-equipped demonstration kitchen, which is one of 20-plus vignettes. On the second day of our visit, we witnessed the 48” Pro Range in action with master chef A.J. Schaller.

With designer Christy Davis’s help, she made a beautiful leek salad with eggs poached in the sous vide. Then John “Nick” Nichols jumped in to assist AJ with the amazing lamb we would later have as the main course for lunch. And last, but certainly not least, Rebecca Reynolds helped AJ with a beautiful creme brulee.

Seriously … look how beautiful these lamb chops were! And did I mention that the 48” Pro Range also has a gas cooktop AND an induction cooktop all on one range? It also has a 30” convection oven along with an 18” steam assist oven. It really does offer the best of all worlds in one range.

Signature Kitchen Suite has developed a “True to Food” philosophy wholly embodied by their brand and dedication to the Technicurean lifestyle. Check out their True to Food films about the importance of knowing where your food comes from and how it is sourced.

In the first episode of our True to food™ Films, Mark Bittman shows us why being on a first name basis with your local butcher can actually make everything taste better. Learn how to make the best steak using sous vide and finishing it with a nice crust.

Of course, we did manage to have a little fun while we were there! We spent an afternoon at the Culinary Institute of America at Copia enjoying a fabulous lunch and touring The Chuck Williams Culinary Arts Museum. What a great display of beautiful kitchen gadgets and wares!

We then enjoyed a fabulous lunch with you guessed it … more wine!

So as I sit here putting together this amazing experience in words and photos, lamb chops are currently cooking in my sous vide and it’s time for me to get to the potatoes. You’ll have to come back to learn more about Signature Kitchen Suite’s award winning wine columns and refrigerators. I have so much more to share with you! But for now .. . .

This post is sponsored by Signature Kitchen Suites, as they paid for my trip with the Modenus Designhounds to Napa. All opinions and commentary are my own.

The Traveling Designer: Food and Culture

My husband and I just returned from a trip to Europe to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. If you have kids and you’re like us, most vacations revolved around kids’ sporting activities, a beach house somewhere, or a theme park for a good chunk of years. Empty-nesters now, we are able to return to the travels that we really love. This trip was absolutely amazing and I recommend it to anyone that wants to enjoy vibrant cultures, beautiful views,and amazing food and libations!

Traveling city to city, finding all the galleries and design districts, we found ourselves at a myriad of outdoor cafes, brasseries, patisseries, and biergartens during our in-between moments. I was reminded that food really is so much a part of our culture in every region of the world. Starting our trip in Munich, Germany, we enjoyed our first dunkel (dark) beer at an outdoor cafe in Marienplatz with a great view of the Rathaus Glockenspiel.

Photo by Jeffery Stoner

The English Garden, which is larger than NYC’s Central Park, is a must see in Munich. We enjoyed the unexpected sight of watching surfers ride the waves in the Eisbach, a small man-made river.

Photo by Jeffery Stoner

Riding through the enormous park in a rickshaw, we saw many folks enjoying picnics in the sun, including some risking uncomfortable sunburns in the park’s nudist area! We stopped for lunch at the Seehaus restaurant along the lake, where they were preparing trout alongside many more traditional Bavarian specialties.

Photo by Jeffery Stoner

Braving the Autobahn in a rental car, we traveled through Germany and on to Prague in the Czech Republic. Prague is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever visited. Lucky enough to escape World War II devastation, several buildings date back to the 12th century with a few even as old as the 10th.

Photo by Jeffery Stoner

Photo by Jeffery Stoner

We enjoyed several good meals in Prague, but our favorite restaurant was Kalina Kampa in the Mala Strana section near Prague Castle. It’s situated on the river with a great view of the Charles Bridge. The decor was fresh and clean, allowing us to truly concentrate on the amazing food coming from their kitchen! We savored the most amazing rabbit and lamb and appreciated the incredibly gracious service.

In every city, I lost Jeff for part of each evening while he went out to capture the beauty of these historic sites at night. This is one of my favorite shots of Prague, but it still doesn’t do this beautiful town justice!

Photo by Jeffery Stoner

Ever the dedicated photog, Jeff would also rise at 5am and hit the streets to catch the beauty of the architecture at sunrise.

Photo by Jeffery Stoner

Braving the Autobahn again, we headed south to Vienna, Austria. Vienna brought us back into present day with the hustle and bustle of a cosmopolitan city. Vienna has a healthy mix of beautiful old buildings, including the Schonbrunn Palace, St. Charles Church and a plethora of magnificent museums relaying the history of Hapsburg rule of Austria.

Photo by Jeffery Stoner

Most of all, we enjoyed the Mumok Museum of Modern Art. and the surrounding plaza packed with charming outdoor cafes. We sampled our first weinerschnitzel at one of the cafes and I must admit that I’m not a fan. I love veal and most anything fried, but the combination was not a gastronomic success for me.

Photo by Jennifer Stoner

Near to The Mumok, we found a great vintage furniture store named Vintagerie. I fell madly in love with this Italian arc floor lamp with a citron shade. I immediately purchased it for a project I’m working on, but must eagerly wait for it until September because it has a starring role in an exhibit at The Vienna Technical Museum. What a great addition to its’ story!

Photo by Jennifer Stoner

Next stop - Budapest. Budapest was not as fortunate as Prague to escape the ravages of war. Beautiful old buildings are sprinkled throughout the city mixed in with a lot of newer neoclassical buildings from the 18th century and a fair share of 20th century modernist buildings. Nonetheless, this city is breathtaking and vibrant, exuding an energy that is invigorating.

Photo by Jeffery Stoner

Photo by Jeffery Stoner

We also encountered some of the most interesting people in Budapest. Capturing people in their candid moments is Jeff’s real passion. He found many willing and charismatic subjects in Budapest!

Photo by Jeffery Stoner

Photo by Jeffery Stoner

Photo by Jeffery Stoner

Photo by Jeffery Stoner

Photo by Jeffery Stoner

Photo by Jeffery Stoner

Again - so much great food! We had our first taste of real Hungarian goulash at La Fabbrica. The restaurant had the most beautiful brick-clad barrel vaulted ceilings throughout and a most unusual light fixture over the bar! I might have to “borrow” this idea for a future project.

Photo by Jeffery Stoner

We also enjoyed some of the most delicious italian food at Bottega di Brontolo. Greeting every table in at least six different languages, the owner made wonderful wine pairing suggestions and created a beautiful atmosphere to compliment the unbelievable food! Jeff enjoyed a filet mignon topped with goose liver, porcini mushrooms and a white truffle sauce while I savored a to-die-for tagliatelle al ragu bolognese. Again, I was enthralled by the brick arches of this beautiful building!

While enjoying our culinary tour of central Europe, we also thoroughly enjoyed the continental bar-tending skills. The U.S. has enjoyed a craft cocktails surge, but I’m not sure I’ve encountered any bartenders as masterful as the ones we met during this trip. In the past few years, I’ve become more a bourbon and whiskey fan. I had some of the best Old Fashions, Manhattans and Sazaracs I’ve ever tasted! Adam, at The Blue Fox Bar in Budapest, crafted the most amazing smoked Sazarac served with a light show, an incredible routine of flourishes, and well rehearsed choreography.

Our final stop was Salzburg, Austria located at the foothills of the Alps. This “Sound of Music”, birthplace of Mozart, town was absolutely breathtaking with the old town flanking the river at the base of the hills leading up to a towering fortress.

Photo by Jeffery Stoner

Before leaving Salzburg, we happened upon the Salzburg Whiskey Museum. Unlike the many other museums that we visited, this was actually a classic Irish pub with a charming and knowledgeable host. We spent several hours learning about and tasting a variety of whiskeys and playing fun new bar games over a few pints of Guiness with our host, Chris. For you Game of Thrones fans out there, we felt like we were hanging out drinking with Tormund which helped alleviate the fact that we missed a few episodes during our travels. This was definitely one of our more memorable evenings!

We were truly sad to see this trip come to an end. While Richmond considers itself a rather “foodie” town, I’m not sure it could live up to all of the amazing meals we enjoyed during our European travels. Many of the restaurants were smaller family owned establishments that prided themselves on fresh local ingredients paired with years of family tradition. You could taste the passion of the chefs who prepared the food and the love of their culture that influenced all of their dishes.

What’s my next stop? I’m off to Napa, California for a real culinary treat! I’m very excited to have been selected as part of the Modenus Designhounds group of designers who have been invited by Zach Elkin, general manager of Signature Kitchen Suite to travel to Napa to visit their brand new Experience & Design Center.

With this talented group of designers, we’ll experience full brand immersion into Signature Kitchen Suite and learn more about the true “technicurean” lifestyle. We are also lucky enough to enjoy some fabulous culinary and wine experiences at Moone-Tsai Vineyards, the Culinary Institute of America at Copia and the beautiful Auberge Du Soleil resort.

Auberge du Soleil - Photo by Chris Gramly

I’ve enjoyed visiting the Signature Kitchen Suite showrooms at the last few KBIS shows in Orlando and Las Vegas. Their innovative technology features and their “True to Food” philosophy inspire me to want to create beautiful kitchens for my clients to share with their families and friends. We spend so much time in our kitchens, as they’ve become the heart of our homes instead of the room hidden at the back of the house. I look forward to embracing these innovative products from SKS and bringing back some great product knowledge to share with everyone.

And after this trip to Napa, I may need to create some extra wine storage at the house. Wouldn’t this be a fabulous addition to the dining room?

Signature Kitchen Suite Wine Columns

Check out this video giving you an inside peek at the new Signture Kitchen Suite Experience & Design Center in Napa! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-c1G7TNakQ This is going to be an amazing trip filled with wonderful food and plenty of amazing wine! I feel truly blessed to be a part of this group and I’m thankful to Signature Kitchen Suite for this opportunity.

Want to see more photos of our Europe trip or more of Jeff’s photography? Follow him on Instagram - www.instagram.com/jefferystoner