Source: CHEAA-run China Appliance magazine

Integrated cooking centers have been gaining popularity, posting good market performance since Fotile developed the concept, drawing in more and more brands into the emerging field.

Fast development

Fotile rolled out its trailblazing integrated cooking centers in 2019. This new category soon became a new growth engine for the industry after addressing the downdraft ventilation issue in only a few years due to its integrated advantages of separated kitchen appliances.

In 2023, integrated cooking center sector started to take off, embracing a new round of development with more brands joined in, products iterated, and technological innovations made. And for that, year 2023 was marked as a year of explosive development for integrated cooking centers.

Traditional kitchen appliance players such as Robam, Vatti branched into this field, driving up the trend of kitchen appliance integration. At AWE2024, Fotile unveiled its brand-new smart cooking solutions through its display of integrated cooking centers, Robam showcased its whole-chain integrated cooking solutions and Vatti rolled out is new generation integrated cooking centers.

It’s worth noting that integrated stove makers such as Sanfer and Entive also rolled out their integrated cooking centers. And they are not alone. In fact, most integrated stove makers have dipped their toes in the field.

Both traditional kitchen appliance makers and integrated stove makers make a move in product line extension to include integrated cooking centers, but out of different considerations. For kitchen appliance players, integrated kitchen appliance centers are positioned as high-end products. They provide solutions to all cooking scenarios without upsetting the flow of movement in the kitchen. Plus, the separated products allow for more flexibility. Consumers could take the whole set for a consistent design in the kitchen, or simply choose one or a combination of some of them as an addition to their current appliances. Besides, the updraft ventilation design makes it a more suitable option for Chinese kitchens.

Integrated stove players are stretching themselves into the field for two reasons. On one hand, the growth of integrated stove market is highly dependent on the real estate market whose gloominess dragged down the development of the sector in recent years. The existing kitchen appliance market is not easy for integrated stove makers to squeeze in due to the complicated installation of the products and the usage habits of traditional kitchen appliance users.

And for this reason, integrated stove makers hope to use integrated cooking centers, free of altering the existing vent hole in installation, to meet the demands of the existing kitchen appliance market. Plus, Fotile’s long marketing of the products have familiarize consumers with them enough, saving integrated stove makers the time and efforts in consumer education.

The other consideration of integrated stove makers is to enter traditional range and hood market through integrated cooking centers. It is not easy for integrated stove industry to be back on the feet due to the overall environment, as it is only a niche market product after all, according to an industry insider. And for that, some integrated stove makers choose to dip their toes in the integrated cooking center field first before they roll out ranges and hoods.

The active deployment of enterprises gave the sector strong growth momentum. In Q1, retail sales value of integrated cooking centers (ranges, steamers and ovens) increased by 96.7% YoY, according to All View Cloud.

Promising prospects

Integrated cooking centers have risen to be a significant category of China’s kitchen appliance market. And Fotile is one of the leading players. Zhang Yu, director of PR division of Fotile group, unveils that, Fotile’s integrated cooking centers have a user base of more than 3 million after rolling out for five years.

Vatti’s integrated cooking centers receive positive market responses and recognition with its boasted innovative technology and product quality after the company put its focus on integrated cooking centers in 2023. Fiscal report from Vatti showed that its revenue from integrated cooking centers stood at 36 million yuan in 2023, becoming a new growth driver of the company.

In fact, most kitchen appliance players express their confidence in the prospect of integrated cooking centers and their plan on further deployment in this field.

But integrated stove makers have been slower to gain traction in the integrated cooking center market. An interviewee from an integrated stove company noted that while many companies have launched integrated cooking center products, the actual sales remain low. He added, “For integrated stove companies, to make integrated cooking centers a second growth point, they need to change not just products but also channels, concepts, agents, and marketing strategies. It’s more than a matter of human and financial resources. In fact, it involves transforming their long-established business models, which is quite challenging. Besides, integrated stove makers are at a disadvantage compared to major kitchen appliance brands like Fotile, Robam and Vatti. It is difficult to compete with these industry giants.” He also pointed out that when faced with challenges, the integrated stove companies need to find new growth points through product category extension.