Christopher Peacock's back

Many thanks to Gina Milne, the super sleuth who writes the great blog Willow Decor. Thanks to Gina's eagle eye, I am happy to report that the darkness is lifting.

Christopher Peacock, the man who has single handedly saved us from the dreaded Tuscan kitchen is making a comeback. In September, 2008; Peacock sold his namesake cabinetry and home decor line to the British company Smallbone. Smallbone hit the skids of the global recession shortly thereafter, leaving the fate and future of Christopher Peacock, the brand, in limbo. Well, Peacock just bought his company back from the flaming wreckage of Smallbone and just rehired his employees. Bravo Christopher Peacock! Here's the press release:

July 7, 2009 -- Greenwich, CT – Christopher Peacock is best known for his cabinetry. For more than 15 years his work has included many private estates and residences throughout the United States, France, Australia, the United Kingdom, Russia, Bermuda, Ireland and Puerto Rico. His clientele have come to know Mr. Peacock as the benchmark of quality and exceptional service where all of his cabinetry is produced in the United States. The privately held Corporation had its best year ever in 2008, with gross sales of $20M.

Riding on this success, Mr. Peacock successfully sold his company in September 2008 to Smallbone PLC – a publicly traded UK holding company who already owned a collection of high-end luxury brands. These included Smallbone of Devizes, Mark Wilkinson Furniture, Paris Ceramics and Hopton Works. Sadly, the PLC Group, which was primarily based in the United Kingdom, hit hard times due to the global economic collapse. This turn of events provided Mr. Peacock the opportunity to return to his roots and now re-start the brand that bears his name.

“I couldn’t be more thrilled to be a part of and lead this dynamic group of designers and craftsman who are all dedicated to excellence once again. We still have so much to offer. In my heart I’m an entrepreneur, and the significant demand for our products and our way of doing business could not be ignored. I felt I had no choice but to continue onward with the brand and the reputation for being the best. By launching a home products collection I will continue to offer well-designed and well built products to designers, architects, builders and consumers alike” said Peacock.

He is a busy man. Along with the five Peacock Home showrooms across the country, he owns Christopher Peacock Paint, and Peacock Manufacturing Company (his workshop in West Virginia). Additionally, he co-owns Peacock & Beale – a fabulous home furnishings store in Greenwich, Connecticut with the renowned designer Connie Beale. “When Christopher Peacock Cabinetry was forced to close down, it left many clients and staff in a very bad place. I was determined to do everything in my power to honor those commitments to the company, and now with the start up complete we have been able to do so. I am happy to say that we have been able to honor all of the client deposits lost to the old entity and everybody is getting the products that they had hoped for.”

The new company plans to introduce many new products for the home, beginning in the kitchen. His MOTRA™ Collection will be the first. This new Collection of high quality, well-designed and affordable cabinetry will be debuted this fall. Under the MOTRA™ label will be a modern line and a traditional line where a typical kitchen from this new Collection will begin at $45,000. “Obviously, the world has changed. To continue to lead our industry we must evolve. Frankly, many lesser brands and mill shops haven’t made it. I believe we are responding to a need in the marketplace and listening to our potential clientele. We are going to be aggressive and fight hard for market share in this multi-billion dollar industry.” said Peacock.

In March 2009, Peacock introduced his Contemporary Collection of fitted and free-standing furniture. The Collection includes beautiful new contemporary hardware designed by Mr. Peacock, many new choices of interiors of cabinetry for clients to choose from as well as new wood, stain and paint choices to compliment the new Collection. The new Collection can be seen in several Christopher Peacock Home showrooms in kitchen, dressing room and bath displays.

Welcome back Christopher Peacock, the brand and the man. US design needs you desperately.

Home again home again jiggety jig

I started this in the airport in Louisville last night, but alas, nothing ever got written. I'm back now and I have actual, paying work that needs to be done today. I'll write more later and I'll probably be back on my regular writing schedule by tomorrow or Saturday. Today though, all there is is a few photographs of unexpectedly lovely Louisville. Boy it's good to be home.

I'd like to add some initials to my monogram

OK kids, disclosure time. I came to Louisville with a brand loyalty to Sub-zero and Wolf that I considered to be set in stone. When discussions turned to the world of professional ranges, that discussion began and ended with Wolf so far as I was concerned. No one else out there had the chops. I'd always thought of Wolf's competitors as Johnny come latelys who were in it for the pose (Viking) or for the cash (everybody else).

Wolf had an authenticity to it I thought. Viking would do anything to get a sale, whether it was slapping their logo on a Chinese-made toaster or painting a pro range pink just because someone wanted it that way. Wolf on the other hand, made pro ranges the way they always had. They were clunky and heavy and expensive and they worked. They worked and they attracted a clientele I like to work with. People loyal to Wolf know to ask for it by name because they're savvy and sophisticated. People loyal to Viking saw an ad on HGTV and developed a loyalty because they weren't sophisticated and didn't know better. (Sorry if I'm stepping on toes, but it's true confession time.) Wolf people read The New Yorker. Viking people watch Fox News. And of course, I saw myself as a Wolf person (even if I can't afford one).

The rest of the brands showed up on my radar when I didn't have a budget for a Wolf. Had you asked me yesterday if I believed all the stuff I believed about Wolf because it was honestly born of my experience, I would have said yes, undoubtedly.

Ask me that same question now and you'll get the sheepish admission that I've been spewing back Wolf's marketing messages for the last ten years of my life. Man! I've always thought that I'm too smart to fall for that kind of stuff. Too smart by half! But alas, I was introduced to the GE Monogram Professional Range this afternoon and the experience has left me questioning everything else I "know" to be true.

Seriously, I came up here expecting to learn about induction cooking (and I did, but that's another topic entirely). I knew that GE Monogram had a new Pro 48, but I expected it to be an also ran at best. I couldn't have been more wrong. Let me say this as bluntly as I can: The GE Monogram 48" Professional Range is superior to the Wolf 48.

That thunderous CRACK you just heard was the sound of my paradigm shifting. The crunching sound you now hear is me eating a heaping plate of crow.

When you look over the appliance's specifications, it's obvious that the GE is larger and more powerful. But I got to spend some time with one today. I cooked on it at lunch and then again at dinner tonight. The hands-on experience of the thing is what sold me, as impressive as the specs are. It works like the fine instrument that it is. The controls are intuitive and easy to find. The burners fire up to full heat instantly and more importantly, they can hold a simmer. The ovens are huge and the racks have full-extension guides on them. We baked naans (that's an Indian flatbread) for lunch today and all I could see in my mind's eye was how fantastic my baguette recipe would be coming out of an oven like that. Wow.

GE spent six years developing this new Professional Line from scratch. It comes as a 30" a 36" and then the 48". The photo at the beginning of this post shows off a feature I never thought to ask for in a pro range. Let me show that shot again.

They are real caterer's trays in that oven. Those trays are generally 26" x 18" and unique to the world of pro-style ranges, they fit in a GE Monogram. No other supposedly professional-style range on the market can handle one. Not Viking, not Dacor, not Jade and not my formerly beloved Wolf. None of those brands has an oven cavity wide or deep enough to accommodate a basic to the point of omnipresence, professional baking sheet. Amazing.

GE spent a lot of time and a lot of money developing this range, and they seem to have thrown out just about every scrap of conventional wisdom there was about this category. Integrating cutting boards, putting handles on griddle covers, using the self-cleaning oven to clean not only the oven, but the oven racks, the grill cover and the burner covers too. They thought of everything and I am impressed.

The list of improvements and features goes on and on. So go to the website and check it out. GE Monogram's changed and improved in ways I wouldn't have guessed a couple of days ago. Anyone who's read anything I've written on this or any other topic knows I'm not a man who changes his mind very easily. I love finding new things, but once I have a loyalty it's set in stone. Until today that is. Good job GE, you made me a believer.

Dateline Louisville

Well I made it in one piece. My gracious hosts from GE have put me up in the 21C Hotel in downtown Louisville and I am impressed mightily.

my room

This is a fantastic neighborhood, and this hotel is one of the most interesting places I've ever stayed. It's a hotel that's also an art museum, and it's chock full of real, good, compelling, contemporary art. This is the real deal, not some schlock grabbed up by a hotel to seem artsy. This places is curated and it's obvious.

the lobby

Even my room has original art in it. Bravo Louisville! And bravo 21C. I'll take some photos and write more about this place tomorrow after I've had a better chance to explore it. But for now, this day's done. I was just informed at dinner that my day starts tomorrow morning at 7:45 with breakfast at GE. Oy! Don't get me wrong, I like to be up pretty early, but up and ambulatory are two completely different things.

Ready or not Kentucky, here I come

I am on my way to Louisville, Kentucky this morning. Louisville is the headquarters of GE Monogram appliances and they asked me to be their guest for the next three days. So while I'm in Louisville I'll be experiencing the GE Monogram Experience in the GE Monogram Experience Center.

So over the next couple of days, I'll be live-blogging the happenings in Louisville and I'll also be simulcasting (simul-blogging?) on Twitter. You can follow me there @saintpetepaul.

I'll check in later, and in the mean time have a great day.