If you’re into keeping up appearances, this season’s cooking appliances are not to be missed. Combining effortless beauty with up to the minute technology, these new kids on the block are so nifty they’re worthy of a place in Hyacinth's kitchen.

"The Bouquet residence, the lady of the house speaking!"

No need to shout about your new appliances, with a centrepiece as good looking as the Whirlpool AKR804/IX Island Cooker Hood, it’ll be the first thing the neighbours spot. 

Designer lighting? No. An efficient cooker hood with 3 variable venting speeds.

Candlelit suppers on the cards? Forget about a lengthy wait for dinner. With the immediate response you get from the Siemens IQ-700 EH679ME11 Induction hob, those fillet steaks will be seared in seconds. Your guests will be too busy wondering where you keep the Mercedes, sauna, and room for a pony.

Why not melt some chocolate for dessert and wow them with just how fast this bad boy is?

The periwinkle china’s laid out in the dining room; all that’s left to do is cook the soufflés. Keep your cool, because the Smeg Linea-elite SCP115 electric oven will literally do it for you. There are 10 automatic cooking programmes which know exactly how much heat to use for different dishes so you’ll never be caught short. Simply allow the smart chef function to automatically adjust the temperature and cooking time, and it’ll cook those soufflés perfectly.... do make sure you take all the credit, of course!

The glass finish on this beauty could pass for a bespoke mirror.

And when they've all left, the pyrolytic cleaning fucntion on this oven takes all the hard work away. Just switch it on, and your oven will look brand spanking new again.

They'll never know!

Happy Birthday Whirlpool! I’m sure your letter from the Queen is in the post. Yes, Whirlpool is officially 100 years old. That is 100 years of developing and researching to bring the most new age and high tech products to market. To celebrate their hard work, they’ve brought out the Max 100, which is pushing the boundaries in Whirlpool microwave innovation. It has all the spec and then some.

It’s getting to that time, the days are getting shorter, colder and the battle with healthy eating becomes ever so fierce. With the Max100 on your side, you’ll be laughing. It has a fantastic steam function, in which you can steam fish, vegetables, poultry or anything else you fancy by using the specially designed steamer vessel. Compared with cooking food traditionally, you save 50% of the nutrients in food, to help fight off the winter time bugs.

The Crisp technology uses 3 heat sources from within the microwave to produce ever so crispy, yet moist food. The ferrite crisp plate, grill and microwave inlets used together create fast, even cooking. It’s perfect for the browning or crisping of pies, quiches and pizzas because the food cooks as fast inside as out, preventing it from being under cooked or over-grilled.

Never wanting to disappoint, the Whirlpool Max 100 has a Limited Edition design, which uses a unique lighting system. It has a mirror front and rounded back, just the thing for slotting into the corner of your kitchen top. And because of how it’s built the turntable is still an impressive 28cm, giving you same capacity of a 23 litre conventional microwave.

So keep an eye out for this humdinger of a microwave. It is available from October and would possibly be the perfect Christmas present for anyone who loves the best technology, which is a doddle to use.

If you’ve been following the news lately, you might have discovered that the UK throws away £12bn of edible food each year. Whether down to confusion over sell-by/use-by dates or the poor storage of food, the cost to the average family with children is over £600 a year.

We all want to ensure that food can stay fresh for as long as possible, so we can enjoy it at its best and ultimately save money.

What we can do for our fridge

Proper storage of our food is essential. All those lovely people at refrigeration HQ have designed these appliances to help maximise the length of freshness, so we need to make sure that we are taking full advantage of our cooling appliance.

• Check the food labels to see where they are best suited to be stored. You’d be surprised to learn a small percentage of foods we refrigerate without hesitation would be better suited to room temperature. For example, apples are best kept cool in the fridge while tomatoes should keep at room temperature.
• Take full advantage of your storage compartments. If you have a salad drawer, fill it with your salads. If you have a dairy compartment, keep your cheeses and butter there. These compartments are specifically designed to maximise your produce and preserve them for longer. 
• The lower part of the fridge tends to be the coolest. Keep your meat and fish low and store your drinks and bottles on the top.
• Whether you own a roll of cling film or a large selection of Tupperware, keeping your food covered will stop food from prematurely going off. A must to help get the best from your food.

What our fridge can do for us

Over the years, technology in cooling appliances has greatly improved and we are really starting to feel the benefits. Every year manufacturers are bringing out features which help keep things fresh so you can see the difference in your homes as well as your wallet.

• Anti-bacterial liners: A special coating which is designed to reduce the growth of bacteria in your fridge that love to feast on fresh foods.
• Auto-defrost: By preventing the build up of any ice, your fridge’s performance will never be compromised allowing it to cool at its full potential.
• Frost Free: Not only does this put an end to those weekends wasted trying to de-ice, with no frost build up they’ll be no loss of space maximising storage space, food retains colour and taste after defrosting, and food labels are easier to read. 
• Super cooling: Activating this will lower the temperature of the fridge ensuring food is cooled quicker and preserved for longer.
• Whirlpool’s 6^th sense technology: By monitoring temperature changes, and being able to restore required temperatures 5 times faster than the average fridge, 6^th sense is able to keep food fresher for up to 4 times longer. Seen on the Whirlpool WBC3546ANFCXL Fridge Freezer.
• LG’s Vacuum Fresh: All the air is sucked out of the vegetable compartment which keeps food air tight and improves on freshness. Found on the LG GWL227HHXV American Fridge Freezer.

Our fridges are working 24/7 to ensure it can meet our fresh demands. In return, by making sure we care for and understand how our appliances work we can work together to reduce waste and increase full tummies filled with fresh goods. If everyone worked hard to get the most from their foods and stored it correctly, it would go a long way towards saving some of the billions we waste. Food is a beautiful necessity, let’s not waste it.

The other night, I had an excellent idea (even if I do say so myself). I shot up from my seat, a little bit like that man who jumped out of the bath and shouted Eureka! (I forget his name), and quickly wrote down ‘The King of Cool’ – the title for my next blog. After checking it hadn’t already been done by a fellow Appliances Online blogger (as we’re all very creative types, don’t you know), I decided to dedicate my post to the fridge freezer that I considered The One – the best on the market, the one I would choose if money were no object – The King of Cool.

Trouble is, I’m having a few issues deciding which one is worthy of the title.  I’m particular fond of the appliances with extra features, like this Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer, which has a built in coffee maker. Plus, I really like the side-by-side doors, because it reminds me of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, which makes me think that behind the doors of this appliance, there could actually be a magical land rather than fresh and frozen food.

Another side-by-side fridge freezer that could possibly have the x-factor is the Siemens KA62DS50GB American Fridge Freezer. With its glass black door design and silver side panels, it certainly looks the part.

But if looks are given precedence, what about the Smeg FAB30YP Fridge Freezer; the retro design wouldn’t look out of place in my favourite film, Grease, and so surely that makes it very cool indeed. Or the Baumatic TITAN5 American Fridge Freezer, which is not only modern and sleek, but also epic in its capacity.

And finally, you have to consider appliances with completely innovative ideas, such as the Samsung RL55VQBRS Fridge Freezer, which has a built-in digital photo frame, so your fridge freezer becomes a feature of the kitchen, rather than just a necessity.

I think there may be too many contenders for title. Help me! Who’s your King of Cool?

At age 21 and being of the male persuasion I pride myself on being knowledgeable about technology, I’m the kind of the person that will memorise and repeat facts about the resolution of a TV or the specifications of a video game console... all this is good and well, well and good but this is Appliances Online... these are white goods. Even though I’ve only been here a matter of weeks but I’m rapidly absorbing information like the proverbial oxylytic liner that I am.

With all this new knowledge it’s high time I applied it to something and as I am 21 and unashamedly living with my parents I hold aspirations of one day (one day soon) moving out into my own ‘pad’ (to use the young folk vernacular). Most flats and apartments I’ve been looking at come fully furnished but... what they didn’t?! What if I had to buy my own appliances?! If only I worked for a company that supplied everything my kitchen needed... now that would be ideal... oh wait!

So imagine this as I picture it for you (using word pictures and real pictures), my ideal set of appliances that would be readily set up and installed in my brand spanking new flat by the time I moved in . NB If there are any billionaires out there that wish to supply with me said flat and said appliances you’re more than welcome to. The only thing I can really offer is a limited set of circus skills (clowns once came to my primary school and taught me how to spin plates and ride a unicycle... though not at the same time).

First off everything has to have some kind of wooden finish; the kitchen tops have to be made of faux-marble, granite or onyx (or solid platinum!) I want spot lights that can change colour to suit my mood, whether it be red because I’m angry after just burning my world famous spaghetti Bolognese or a soothing blue because well I’m feeling soothed. Now the most important thing is ... the dishwasher... but hang on, in this day and age everything has to be two things in one so how about an electric cooker that’s also a dishwasher?

Presenting the Candy TRIO503/2XUK Electric Cooker.  Not only does it come in sleek, stylish stainless steel but it’s also a dishwasher... it’s also a dishwasher! You can cook something then wash the plates from that something, with the same appliance! Seriously next they’re going to be telling me that you can get a fridge that’s also a freezer. Ha! What would they call that, a fridge freezer? Give me a break.

 
Ok so that’s cooking sorted, now cooling. Please Santa; please bring me the Whirlpool WSC5533AN American Fridge Freezer.

 
On to laundry and sadly there aren’t any washing machines that also make me breakfast or tell me my hair doesn’t look so bad but I’ve plumped for something equally cool.

The Smeg WMFAB16NE washing machine, it may look like a small fridge on the outside but open the door and a veritable array of joyous, joyful and joy bringing features are at your fingertips and, and, it has storage in the outer door! In the outer door! (Imagine it not in pink!)

 On top of all this appliance goodness I’d always like a nice tumble dryer, a coffee machine, a microwave with a TV in it and many more things. Alas it’ll be a while before I can afford any of my dream appliances but at least I work for the company that can supply them.