Mass Premium Appliances

Affordable Upgraded Appliances at Universal Appliance and Kitchen Center

Mass Premium Appliance Brands

Universal Appliance and Kitchen Center (UAKC) is Headquarters in Southern California for the “mass” appliance brands like GE, Frigidaire, Maytag, and Whirlpool. And most of you know that with locations in Studio City and Calabasas they also focus on the “luxury” brands including Wolf Sub Zero, Viking, Thermador, Miele and Gaggenau.

There is also a growing market for brands known as “mass premium” appliance brands. The mass premium moniker fits those brands that are NOT in the upper stratosphere price-wise with names like Sub Zero and Miele, but nevertheless are in a higher price category than GE, Whirlpool, and Frigidaire's more entry level offerings.

The mass premium category includes KitchenAid, Bosch, GE Café/Profile, and Electrolux. We might even consider Korean brands LG and Samsung as in the mass premium category as well as the Italian labels recently launched in the U.S. Fulgor Milano and Bertazzoni. All these brands are strategically positioned with pricing and feature levels definitely above the mass, but nevertheless not luxury. (It gets fuzzy. Electrolux brand certainly has some products that might be considered above mass premium, and Jenn-Air purposely describes itself as “super premium”, evidently meaning more than mass premium, but not quite luxury).

In any case let's take a look at two brands who seem to be comfortable calling themselves mass premium – KitchenAid and Bosch.

Part of the Whirlpool family of brands, KitchenAid is focused on the kitchen (does not have washers and dryers). Here's how KitchenAid describes itself:

Created for cooks who live to create, our major appliances offer timeless design, smart features and one-of-a-kind technology exclusive to KitchenAid.

Bosch is a brand of BSH which also includes luxury brands Thermador and Gaggenau. Bosch says it is:

“The definitive European kitchen brand for the Mass Premium market.”

Though both Bosch and KitchenAid are known for their dishwashers, here we'll take a look at Bosch's Induction Cooktop and KitchenAid's Double Oven Range.

Bosch 36″ Induction Cooktop

NITP666SUC

FlexInduction® Can Combine Two Cooking Zones into One Continuous Surface.
Dual 12″ Heating Element with Powerful 4,500W Element
Induction Cooktops – Faster than Gas & Electric.
Easier to Clean & More Efficient
SpeedBoost – Boils Water 2x as Fast as Conventional Electric Cooktops
Also Available with Stainless Steel Frame

KitchenAid Dual Fuel Double Oven Range

The KitchenAid model below is the only double oven range model we're aware of that is available in dual-fuel, with gas burners on top including a 5th burner/griddle option, and electric ovens below including convection: