Appliances play a huge role in a multi-unit development’s value. Buyer interest blossoms from the choices a developer makes from day one in planning to the final coat of paint that goes up before showings. Thus, developers face many challenges and countless decisions on the foggy path to a necessary ROI. Consequently, a development’s success is measured in its applied look and feel: universal appeal garners monumental dividends.

With that in mind, developments must strike a fine line between value and quality. Moreover, the new generation of homeowners and prospective buyers are more educated and savvier than ever before. This buyer’s tastes align with a desire to live in harmony with innovation. Alas, the pillars of a home’s functionality include the appliances you place in them. And, the rapidly evolving appliance industry offers the home new tides of functionality and ease. The buzz of ease leads many prospective buyers in their decisionmaking.

One trend that can’t be ignored is the introduction of the combination steam oven in the kitchen. While steam cooking is coming to the forefront of market “buzz”, its capabilities ensure less a quick fad but more a reign supreme. Subsequently, buyers want these steam elements in their kitchen, and they want it now.

So, how do they work?

Typically, steam ovens, upon installation, are hooked up to a home’s plumbing. This allows water to automatically pump into an oven’s reservoir when activated. Consequentially, heat from the oven turns the water to steam. Lastly, standard convection practices – the use of fans to propel heat evenly throughout the oven – integrate with the former, and magic ensues…

The combination of both steam and convection elements inside these ovens offers limitless possibilities to what one can cook – and how well they can cook it. Inaugural steam maintains a dish’s center moisture, while convection heat evenly browns the outer layer of a hypothetical meal. In a similar vein, a meal’s nutritional integrity is maintained through steam cooking. According to Digital Trends, “Steam cooking is highly touted for its nutritional benefits and is extremely advantageous in reheating leftover foods. Cooking with steam allows the ability to retain all vitamins and minerals in vegetables, and requires fewer fats or oils when cooking proteins.” Overwhelming health benefits paired with undeniably better tasting food enunciate the steam oven’s definitive role inside a 2018 home.

Appliance manufacturers such as Gaggenau, Miele, and Thermador offer a wide range of steam oven options that fit the needs and budgets of a multi-unit, or single family development: striking that fine line between value and quality.

To learn more about steam ovens, and/or how to integrate them into your next Boston development visit Divine Design Center online, or at our showroom at 2 Battery Wharf, Boston, MA 02109; or, give us a call at (617) 443-0700.