Schönhaus, Sub-Zero and the Brands Most People Haven’t Heard Of — A Buyers & Sellers Introduction

Ask most people to name a premium kitchen appliance brand and you’ll hear the same answers: Miele, perhaps Gaggenau, or Smeg if design is the priority. All are excellent brands with well-earned reputations.

But walk into a seriously good West London kitchen — the kind created by an experienced designer — and you’ll often find brands the homeowner hadn’t heard of six months earlier.

That isn’t because they’re obscure for the sake of it. The best appliance brands don’t always sell through the big chains. Some never have.

Here are three worth knowing about. You can see them working at Buyers & Sellers in Notting Hill.

Schönhaus — the one you won’t find on the high street

Schönhaus is a premium, German-engineered range available exclusively through members of the Euronics buying group. Euronics is Europe’s largest group of independent electrical retailers, and Buyers & Sellers is a member.

That’s why you won’t see Schönhaus in Currys or on AO. It simply isn’t sold there.

What does that mean in practice? You get a genuinely different option. The build quality and finish sit comfortably alongside established premium names, without choosing the same appliance as everyone else.

For a bespoke kitchen, that matters. Part of the appeal of a considered renovation is creating something that doesn’t look like your neighbour’s.

Sub-Zero — refrigeration taken seriously

If you know Sub-Zero, it’s probably from American kitchens. It’s the brand behind the vast, immaculate refrigeration found in a certain kind of US home.

What’s less widely known is how well its column format suits high-end London renovations.

Instead of producing one combined fridge freezer, Sub-Zero offers separate full-height fridge and freezer columns. Each has its own sealed system and precise temperature control.

You can position them wherever the kitchen design needs them — together, apart or on either side of a larder. The food-preservation performance is among the best available. It’s refrigeration designed for people who cook properly and entertain often.

Our Sub-Zero is plumbed in and running in the showroom. That’s the only sensible way to judge it.

Fisher & Paykel — the clever one from New Zealand

Fisher & Paykel takes a different approach from traditional German appliance engineering. It’s less prescriptive and more flexible, with products designed around how people use modern, open-plan spaces.

The DishDrawer is the best-known example. Invented by Fisher & Paykel, it offers a dishwasher in a practical drawer format.

It can run a proper half load, fits neatly into an island without interrupting the cabinetry and avoids the need to bend down to load it.

Its modular refrigeration follows the same principle. You arrange the fridge and freezer columns around the room, rather than designing the room around the fridge.

Kitchen designers regularly specify Fisher & Paykel for island layouts. We know the range well and supply it regularly. If it’s on your shortlist, we can explain exactly how it compares with the alternatives.

Why haven’t you heard of these brands?

The answer is simple: they don’t chase high-street shelf space.

These brands sell through specialist independents and are often specified by kitchen designers and architects. Their products need to be seen, explained and demonstrated — not stacked in a warehouse aisle beside 40 other white boxes.

That’s also why buying through an independent makes sense.

Buyers & Sellers has been supplying appliances for West London kitchens for decades. Schönhaus and Sub-Zero are both on the showroom floor now — working, rather than simply appearing on a specification sheet. We also supply the full Fisher & Paykel range.

You can open the doors, hear how quiet the appliances really are and get an honest comparison from people who install them in real projects every week.

Come and have a look

Whether you’re mid-renovation, working with a designer, or just curious what exists beyond the brands you already know, the showroom is the place to start.

Buyers & Sellers · 020 7243 5400 · buyersandsellers.co.uk

For more Appliance advice – check out our other Blog Posts