Mercury Thermastone range cooker

Consumer kitchen product manufacturer Mercury Appliances already had an established and successful relationship with Seymourpowell, so when it decided to generate ideas for a new product, the two companies sat down together at the very start of the development process. This strategic innovation resulted in a radical heat store range cooker which defiantly broke product conventions set down by the long-reigning market leader, Aga.

Challenge
Conceiving a pioneering new product requires more than just inspiration: it is a fusion of business insight, marketing opportunity, engineering realities and design possibilities. Recognising this, senior personnel from Mercury Appliance's parent company Lincat Group - including the CEO, managing director and chief engineer - were all present at the very earliest product innovation meetings with Seymourpowell. From these came plans for a highly contemporary heat store appliance that would seek to take on market leader Aga.

Response
Refining the brief with further product research, Seymourpowell developed a range of concepts before settling on the Thermastone design, its name referencing the proposed innovation in oven materials.

When it comes to heat store oven cavities, cast iron is the norm. Instead, Thermastone uses silicon carbide - an exceptionally hard material with twice the heart store characteristics of cast iron - for two of its cavities. The hob itself features two gas burners and a solid surface electric hotplate, all powered separately from the ovens, so that unlike traditional heat store products it functions all year, whilst sparing users heat store temperatures during the summer months.

Another first is the oven's compatibility with the gastronorm container system, the industrial catering standard for serving and oven trays. All gastronorm products - from stainless steel trays to ceramics - are fully compatible with the Thermastone oven.

Thermastone's industrial design offers highly contemporary styling - including patented 'invisible' twist-rail controls - as well as a number of radical improvements over traditional products in the marketplace.

Result
Thermastone won Gold in Appliance Design's Excellence in Design awards in the USA and the Manufacturer's Award at the UK's Kitchen & Bathroom Design Awards.

The client says...

'We consider David Fisher [Seymourpowell director of consumer products] and his team as almost an extension of our own workforce, rather than a distant outside agency.' - Jenny Hyatt, Managing Director, Mercury Appliances