Glass Ceramic Cooktop Panels

(Photo: Getty Images)

Christine Fuhr

New Perspective on Cooking

Shiny metallic Ceran Cleartrans® cooktops in various colors now make it possible to create the link between popular lifestyle trends and modern technology.

Is the kitchen really only a room to prepare and store food in ? At least in the developed countries, this definition alone is hardly suffcient in describing kitchens that are extremely well-furnished and used in a much more sophisticated manner. Rather than remaining purely functional, today’s kitchens reflect one’s own sense of identity and personal lifestyle. As this suggests, it is important to equip a kitchen with features capable of meeting even the highest demands.

Trend scouts and designers, as well as household appli ance and kitchen manufacturers, are always busy thinking about new developments and trends that could hit the kitchen in the years to come. Besides the surfaces of kitchen furniture, several other considerations play an important role. To begin with, esthetic and emotional, but also techni cal-functional aspects and, thirdly, the quality and instru mentation of the appliances need to be considered. For manufacturers of kitchens and household appliances, this means being able to stand out and present an attractive appearance, rather than looking uniform or only average.

Top quality technology and discreet esthetics set the trend

According to market research from Europe on how heating technologies are used, induction cooking appliances are preferred over typical electric cooking systems. Having sold more than 80 million glass ceramic cooktops and ranked as the global market leader for over 35 years, SCHOTT manufactures Ceran® cooktops not only for conventional electric and gas cooking, but also for use in induction cooking units. All in all, SCHOTT covers a broad spectrum of products that include black, white and gray glass ceramic cooktops. When it comes to patterns, discreet appearances involving metallic, elegant and attractive looking color shades are now in. For this reason, SCHOTT developed Ceran® Flash Colors for its black glass ceramic cooktops. These metallic glimmering color shades offer a wide variety of new design alternatives. The Ceran® product family has now been extended to include Ceran Cleartrans®, a completely unique glass ceramic cooktop with a high quality metallic look.

The shiny, metallic Ceran Cleartrans® glass ceramic cooktop surfaces allow for functional displays to be integrated in a variety of different ways. (Photo: BSH/Thermador)

With this innovation, SCHOTT Home Tech is continuing to live up to its philosophy of »offering a unique product for every brand«. At its core, Ceran Cleartrans® is a transparent glass ceramic that one can see through. A multitude of design possibilities exist because of the various colors and textures that can be applied to the top surface with various intensities. This makes it possible to create completely different, unique impressions. A so-called »Clear metal glam« coating that consists of precious metals, such as gold and platinum, is applied to the bottom side. A variety of decorative colors create different looks by printing on the top surface. All in all, elegant and attractive reflective, metallic and 3D effects can be achieved on the surface of a cooktop. This innovation diVers significantly from the look of a conventional cooktop panel. Thanks to the numerous combinations possible and considerable freedom when it comes to selecting designs, a wider variety of unique products can be created.

Thanks to virtually any combination of upper surface colors, precious metal coatings and pattern colors, customers can achieve unmistakable products with Ceran Cleartrans®. (Photo at the top: Siemens-Elektrogeräte, Photo below: GE/Monogram)

Thanks to the transparency and smooth, nub-free underside, the displays that show functions can be integrated much more easily. This represents the second distinguishing feature of Ceran Cleartrans®. To do so, a semi-transparent metal coating that makes it possible to display functions is applied to the display area. Visualization of the displays can be achieved with the help of various LED colors. As this suggests, blue, green or white elements replace red-colored function displays. SCHOTT expects to see such displays become more and more popular in the future. They offer customers in the household appliance industry the opportunity to make a name for themselves on the market, due to the unique design and appearance of their products. This results in polarization and means the worlds of the product and the brand can be emotionalized by using color. It enables the manufacturers to develop innovative, brandspecific products, to strengthen their image and generate sustained competitive advantages.

Growth in the future

SCHOTT continually strives to advance the development of its glass ceramic hob tops, as well as the entire cooking system, and is an innovative partner to the household appliance industry. The latest developments, such as Ceran® Flash Colors or the transparent glass ceramic cooktop panel, Ceran Cleartrans®, underscore the innovative capabilities. New products provide customers with a variety of ideas on design combinations and innovative control panel options that can be executed particularly well with Ceran Cleartrans®. There will be more to come from the Ceran Cleartrans® product family in the future. SCHOTT Ceran® continues to act consistently towards prosecuting its claim »Never stop inventing«.

Dealers react positively Feedback on the market introduction of Ceran Cleartrans® from the French market, for example.

Additional informations
Induction cooking: exact and fast

SCHOTT website
More about Ceran Cleartrans®

Your contact
lutz.klippe@SCHOTT.com

Your contact
karen.elder@us.schott.com