Fewer New Gadgets, Equipment Seen at Yearly Housewares Show

Define housewares show: an affair, an attempt for household merchandise, given the time and space, to romance professional store buyers.

List housewares: cookware, bakeware, kitchen tools, gadgets, non-electric and electric equipment, table - top accessories like china, plasticware, glassware and linens, decorative accessories, furniture, storage and closet products, hardware, bath and cleaning products . . . the list goes on to include all household goods except large appliances or white goods.

And so it was in the Windy City this fall, that the “love triangle” with the vendor, the product and the buyer pulsed on. The affair lasted Nov. 9 to 12, during which time about 10,000 housewares buyers and 2,000 exhibitors established old and new relationships with major vendors during the 85th International Housewares Exposition.

Strategically located in three buildings at the huge McCormick Place exhibition complex, the 794,000 square feet of product displays resulted in sore feet for buyers, retailers, manufacturers and media representatives.

The show promised buyers a convenient change from past shows, that of color coding five household product categories. However, except for furniture buyers and those with well-defined categories, many found the new color categorization of products of little help because enforcements were not as tight. Table-top goods and small electric tools, for instance, were seen side by side, and mixed displays were often spread throughout the three buildings.

Many buyers agreed that this year’s fall show didn’t roll out as many new products as the Chicago spring show. Prominent in kitchen housewares were old stars like stainless steel cookware, which gleamed in almost every aisle with highly polished surfaces. In hiding were the aluminum castings popular in yesteryears, which were embedded in bottoms of stainless steel cookware for efficient quick heating qualities.

Currently crowding the world of small electric tools were coffee makers, compact boiling water kettles and espresso makers. Fighting for the top were toasters, compact and miniature food processors and ice cream makers. Many were simply improved versions of hot sellers, and, as expected, there was an increased number of Johnny-come-latelys. New deep-fryers and portable smokeless electric indoor barbecues were also observed.

In non-electrics, there was a range of new ice cream makers following the successful steps of the toylike Donvier ice cream maker. In line with this, ice cream cone makers were also reintroduced. Microwave and storage dishes still abound, and their booths continued to be busy. There was also a lot of interest in “kidstuffs,” which included dinnerware sets, lunch boxes, placemats and play accessories.

In Colorful Contrasts

Eye-catching were plastic innovations in a rainbow of bright and bold colors. According to designer Edgar Hawkins, who designed many of Towle’s serving accessories: “Brights are more successful across the broader cut of population. The trouble with pastels is that they were washed out; hard goods need to have a little more edge to be seen.”

In contrast to muted pastels, Hawkins’ approach was pastels with a punch, as evidenced in bright but soft pink, yellow and lavender hues in the company’s ice buckets, plastic glasses and trays.

The rising stars at the show, which indicated a market for health fitness products, were pressure cookers with new safety features, steamers and steam ovens for fat-free cooking as well as electronic bath and dietary kitchen scales for the weight conscious.

Needless to say, small kitchen gadgets, cutlery and tools abounded, but housewares buyers felt there was very little new, and if new, they weren’t exciting enough to rave about.

From the consumer end, some of these show introductions and new products may prove to be real show-offs or functional pieces in one’s home.

What’s Coming Up

Here’s a partial listing of new products (more of these products will be listed in the second part of this report):

Emulating the Seb, one of the first miniature food processors, were entries from Cuisinart, Hamilton Beach and Moulinex, which are highly efficient in many little ways. Cuisinart’s MiniMate Chopper/Grinder operates at high or low speed. It has a color-coded reversible blade with a blunt side and a sharp side. The high speed and the blunt side may be used for chopping hard foods, whereas low speed and the sharp side are for soft foods or foods with high water content.

Hamilton Beach calls its entry Chop Chop Micro Mini Food Processor. Similar in design to the Moulinex (a subsidiary of Hamilton Beach) Mini Food Processor, the Chop Chop includes a plastic disc for mixing dips, mayonnaise and sauces in seconds. Finger pressure on the top lever triggers the operation.

One attention-getter at the show was an impressive demonstration of the Silver Solution from Sheffield Plate Polish Co. in Evanston, Ill. Said to be the first and only product of its kind, the Silver Solution adds pure silver to silver plate as well as other base metals like copper, brass, bronze and nickel. A wipe-on liquid, it also plates and replates solder marks on sterling silver holloware. Non-toxic, the solution will not chip, flake or peel and is dishwasher-proof. It’s great for restoring collectibles, jewelry, heirlooms or serving dishes, creating a new look with tarnished brass or bronze objects as well as retarding rust in mail boxes, door handles, wind chimes, etc.

In trying to gain back consumer confidence on safety, new pressure cookers have exhibited safety valves, lower noise levels and quick steam-pressure releases before opening the lid. Cuisinart, Hawkins Futura from India, Tefal, Kuhn Rikon’s Duramatic and Germany’s WMF and Fissler pressure cookers all score points for these features.

Nordic Ware opted for a microwave pressure cooker with its new Tender Cooker. The microwave pressure cooker, which has a 2 1/2-quart capacity, reduces microwave cooking times by 25% to 35%. Another big advantage is the moist cooking results.

Celebrating its 10th year anniversary in the United States, Krups added the following to its successful line of moderately priced but high-quality small electrics:

Brings to Boil in 6 Minutes

The “Jet Electronic” automatic kettle brings 3 1/2 pints of water to a boil in six minutes and as little as seven ounces of water in less than two minutes.

The Krups “Espresso Novo” espresso/cappuccino maker with a “thermoblock heating system” pulses water through a heating tube for quick and constant heating. The system eliminates stale water residues, and with an electronic steam pump, automatically delivers constant steam. The company hopes the Novo will imitate the success of Krups’ year-old “Espresso Mini” four-cup espresso/cappuccino maker in black, white and fashion red.

Little Oskar from Sunbeam will not be beaten by his followers (Shortcut, Emmie, Mini Max, Herbie, Toastmaster, West Bend and a few others) in the compact food processor category. Big Oskar was introduced with its slightly larger bowl capacity and a variable speed control for slicing and powerful grinding.

The appliance was introduced in mid-1985. Nikkal Industries sold its one millionth non-electric Donvier ice cream maker in August. The company has come forth with newer ice cream makers in different sizes and exterior designs, including an upscale compact electric ice cream machine called Viva. At the show a number of “me-too’s” with similar freezable refrigerant capsules have joined Donvier’s growing market field.

A product that seemed to indicate a lot of promise is Donvier’s Cordially Yours cordial maker, which will be available next spring. Easily mistaken for an ice cream maker in exterior design, this new electric appliance can save the consumer 30% to 65% in commercial liqueur costs by making liqueurs at home. In contrast to other methods that require an aging process of one to three months, Nikkal’s cordial and liqueur maker takes two to eight hours to process, using infrared rays. In simple terms, it converts household current to radiant energy, similar to the sun’s rays. The machine’s heating element extracts the essence from fruit, nuts or spices aged in alcohol. The liqueurs produced at the show were innovative and delicious. In fact, they converted some Donvier ice cream samples mixed with them into luscious and addictive creations.

Only recently available in the United States but backed by a 100-year-long reputation for quality appliances in Germany, Rowenta introduced several interesting new products at the show. Arriving in spring, the modernistic-looking Rowenta Espresso Maker resembled the R2D2 robot of “Star Wars” fame. Milk foaming for cappuccino was pretty impressive for such a small unit, which has a one- to two-cup capacity. Other Rowenta introductions were the non-stick waffle maker and a new egg cooker for cooking one to seven eggs or three poached eggs.

Cookware for Casseroles

Larger new casseroles were added to the line of Copan gourmet cookware from Copernicus Corp. in Tucson, Ariz. Made of thick solid copper for good heat conduction and even heat distribution, the revolutionary cookware has a micro-thin nickel coating for a low-stick quality that’s unaffected by abuse of metal utensils. The exterior non-tarnish coating eliminates the need for polishing the copper. We overheard some criticism about the unusual handle design. Inventor Chuck Lemme has created a stay-cool stainless steel handle that is bent or angled to fit the extended hand for better control and reduced muscle strain.

A strong promotion campaign was evident for Supra, Dupont’s new heavy-duty non-stick coating that is scratch resistant. Predicted to replace SilverStone, which replaced Teflon, Supra coating has been added to the cookware lines of Club Products, Enterprise Aluminum, Leyse, Meyer, Regal Ware, Gordon Thomas, Wear-Ever and Mirro.

Children’s items have gotten even more popular this year. There was an influx of colorful table service sets, aprons, lunch kits and glassware in fun animal and kiddy designs from Anacapa, Himark and Classy Collections. To spark interest in children’s parties, Robeson Industries from Mineola, N.Y., came up with a professional-style cotton candy maker called Party Time.

Tefal has successfully infiltrated American homes with its line of non-stick cooking utensils manufactured in France. Debuting at the show were Tefal super deep-fryer featuring a hermetically sealed lid, a charcoal filter for odor absorption, a timer, a viewing window and a frying basket that can be lowered or raised from the outside without opening the cover. Other offerings from Tefal included: a cordless kettle, an electronic bathroom scale that talks, an electronic kitchen scale, a Cook N’ Stir electric sauce maker and Flavourfast oven, which cooks almost as fast as the microwave oven but also steams, bakes, roasts and broils.