Kitchen appliances and products from German kitchen brands like Bosch, Miele, and Siemens are some of the most sought-after items in America.
Where do these kitchen products come from? How did they gain such popularity? What is it exactly that makes them so popular?
The History of Kitchen Appliances in Germany
After World War II ended, Germany was left with an incredible amount of explosive devices and rotting food. Stores had been destroyed; housewives used what little supplies were available to hand-wash their dishes and clothes and boiled drinking water over open fires.
It was amidst this destruction that the first domestic kitchen appliance company was founded: Vorwerk. Procter & Gamble quickly followed suit by forming a partnership with a German company. In the years that followed, more American companies jumped at the opportunity to form a partnership with German companies that had been damaged by war and were churning out new products from their destroyed factories every day.
In the 1960s, an entire department of Siemens began designing small kitchen appliances for private use. The first machine was a dishwasher: Klein aber Fein (small but fine). It quickly became very popular and new models and designs surfaced shortly after. To this day, Siemens is one of Germany’s leading brands in kitchen appliances and has partnered with over 1.5 million stores worldwide across nearly 80 countries like Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, Belgium, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland, to name only a few.
Also, in the 1960s, Bosch became known for its microwaves. Miele then began production on their line of dishwashers and ovens. Since then, they’ve grown to be one of the top brands in kitchen appliances worldwide.
Other German Kitchen Brands like Blomberg, Neff, Gaggenau, and Liebherr are also highly prized throughout Europe and America due to their unique designs and superior functionality. Many other companies have since emerged both domestically and internationally that produce top quality Germanium appliances for home use but these mentioned here are the biggest contributors to the German reputation as being among the most elite in electronic kitchen products.
Many reasons contribute to this long-standing reputation of German kitchen appliances being so sought after worldwide. Of course, the number one reason is that they are known for their high quality and precise functionality, but there’s another factor at play here: marketing.
Germany has always been a nation driven by advertising and marketing. How these companies promote themselves reflects the fact that Germans spend more time studying economics than any other country in Europe; they understand the value of money and work hard to get what they want through careful planning and budgeting. This also means that once a German company establishes itself as a leader within its niche market, it knows how to keep its reputation intact and thus rarely needs to drastically change or alter its image. Instead, they stay to themselves and gain loyal followers who want to own what others do because they’re the best.
These days, German kitchen appliances are responsible for nearly 80% of all household appliance sales in America and worldwide, while American brands like General Electric and Whirlpool struggle to keep up while their marketing budgets lag behind.