Is this the year of your new kitchen? We totally get it. Life is busy. You need a clear understanding of why you take an hour or two out of your busy life to visit Clarke, New England’s Official Sub-Zero & Wolf Showroom and Test Kitchen, especially when you’ve heard you can’t buy anything there. There is a long list of reasons to visit Clarke, but let’s start with these five…
1. Clarke is THE place to start your luxury kitchen project.
You’ve been ripping pages out of design magazines for months. Your Houzz page, Pinterest boards and Instagram account look like collecting and pinning is your job. You’ve binged watched dozens of HGTV programs. You’ve talked to friends, neighbors, maybe an architect or designer or two. Yet, you can’t quite “feel” exactly how you want your new kitchen to be or how various choices might impact your lifestyle. You are about to invest a sizable amount of money into this update, renovation or new home and you want to make sure you’re making smart decisions.
That’s exactly when you want to visit Clarke, the mecca of Sub-Zero and Wolf in New England. It’s been called a playground for kitchen lovers. You’ll walk through dozens of extraordinary kitchens to drink in the ideas and inspiration. A visit to Clarke is like walking right into your favorite magazine kitchens. You leave excited, focused and inspired.
2. Little Known Fact: Great kitchens are planned from the appliances out!
With so much extraordinary kitchen technology available today that can literally change your life, it is essential to consider your appliance choices BEFORE your designer puts a line on a plan. It will save you time and money if you fully educate yourself about what cooking and food storage options you want to incorporate before you start designing.
Imagine having your kitchen designed and then finding out that the new Gourmet Mode in Wolf’s M Series Ovens is a game-changer for you and these ovens must be incorporated into your design. Or, you see what’s possible with Wolf’s Convection Steam Oven (you may never purchase another microwave) and know you want to add that to your new kitchen. Never thought you could tuck wine storage into your kitchen or pantry? Think again. With Sub-Zero’s new options, you can build custom refrigeration that includes varying widths of refrigerators, alongside column freezers, with a wine storage unit tucked between. You may know about point-of-use refrigeration due to Sub-Zero’s drawer refrigerators, but this is a whole new landscape of possibility in food and beverage storage.
Booking an appointment at one of Clarke’s three Official Sub-Zero & Wolf Showrooms and Test Kitchens is the perfect way to ensure that you are taking every possibility into consideration.
3. You’re about to invest serious money. You need access to expertise.
Clarke is home to the top Sub-Zero and Wolf experts in New England. These showroom consultants have worked with architects, designers and homeowners for decades and can answer virtually any question you have. If you stump them (it doesn’t happen often), they’ll quickly find out the answer you need so you can make the most informed decision on your kitchen project. Their knowledge doesn’t stop with Sub-Zero and Wolf. One Clarke consultant comes from the education world. She was a teacher and home economist before joining Clarke more than a decade ago. She is lovingly known as “The Laundry Queen.” Beyond just ranges and refrigerators, Sandy can share how to eliminate your dry cleaning bill by washing your cashmere in your washing machine. Lee is known throughout the region (by designers and appliance professionals) as the ventilation guru. She’s our own in-house resource on cooking ventilation and she can be your range hood authority too. Then there’s Marco, who has literally designed many of the kitchens in Clarke’s South Norwalk location and he is a walking encyclopedia on not only appliances, but also stone and cabinetry as well. The list goes on, as no consultant joins Clarke without unprecedented knowledge and expertise. Anyone you speak with at Clarke will be a trusted resource you will email or call again and again.
4. You can cook on the appliances.
That’s right. This is the only place in New England where you can actually compare the performance of gas cooking with induction on working appliances. You can see what Wolf Gourmet Modes will do for your busy life. You’ll see how the Convection Steam Oven actually brings restaurant leftovers back to the original delicious meal you had two nights ago. One enthusiastic home baker brought her prepped apple pie to Clarke at 7 Tide in Boston to make sure she was making the right decision on which Wolf oven to buy for her kitchen. The results were delicious and the whole showroom (staff and guests) enjoyed the tasting! If you’re going to be investing in high-performance appliances, we believe you should be able to Test Drive them before you make a purchase. You can make an appointment at Clarke to do just that.
5. You can’t buy anything.
Yes, we started this post by saying we understand that many are baffled about why they would want to spend an hour at a place where you can’t buy anything. In fact, that is one of the most popular reasons to visit. There are no salespeople at Clarke. There are only product experts who share their knowledge and answer your every question (including, “What is that countertop material?” and “Do you know a good designer in Fairfield County?”) There is no pressure to purchase. We don’t even own a cash register. One of the questions we typically get during a homeowner’s visit is, “Where can I buy these appliances?” At the end of your appointment, you will be given all of the specifications and details you need for the products that have thrilled you, along with contacts for authorized dealers in your area. If desired, your Clarke consultant can even contact the dealer and let them know you are interested in stopping by to talk about final pricing and delivery.