New Compact Microwave Hood Combination is a ‘Breath of Fresh Air’ for Consumers

By: Cean Burgeson

Whirlpool Corporation’s Global Design Manager for Freestanding Range and Microwaves, Kyle Walters, and his team are responsible for cooking products for 14 brands in six regions throughout the world. Their most recent creation, the Low Profile Microwave Hood Combination, conveniently fits above the range, venting like a hood, while also saving space.

“Compact MHC is a huge success for us,” said Walters. “I think this product highlights how we’re moving in a much stronger, bolder way, and consumers are rewarding us for that boldness.” The compact MHC has already accounted for a five percent penetration in market share in a short amount of time. Walters says this success is because there truly was a need for this product in the marketplace.

“Consumers aren’t really that happy with that huge microwave hanging over their stove,”

“Consumers aren’t really that happy with that huge microwave hanging over their stove,” he said. “This allows them to pull out their old traditional hood and put in a microwave hood combination that has better performance than what was there before, and it gives them the functionality of a microwave as well.” Despite its compact form factor, the hood delivers a powerful 500 CFM, which is better than many standalone hoods.

“Compact MHC was developed extremely quickly. It’s also a great story demonstrating how we work globally. We had designers here in the U.S. working with the Shunde team. Our designer on this end was Mandarin speaking — which helped everything to move at a fast pace.”

The new Low Profile Microwave Hood Combination is available in sunset bronze, black stainless steel and stainless steel and sold through Whirlpool and KitchenAid brands. It can be configured to recirculate air or vented outside the home and features powerful, energy efficient LED lighting.

According to Walters, a great deal of effort was put into producing a superior MHC. “There were prototypes built and simulators built and all sorts of evaluations done on this end, and then it was sent to the team in China to be evaluated,” he said. “There was a great deal of time and effort spent on what you might not typically expect.” This included items like the bracket for installation, the packaging and the instructions. “Everything has super tight craftsmanship on it. Consumers are responding to that as well.”

It’s also important to note how quickly the project was completed from start to finish in a much shorter time frame than usual. “I’d say there was easily a 30–40 percent faster time to market.” Whirlpool brand launched their version of the compact MHC in March and KitchenAid brand launched in May.

The entire team that worked on this project is made up of approximately 20 people worldwide, and Walters cannot praise them enough for their work on the compact MHC. “Products should be created by people who care about what they’re doing. I love working with a group of designers who have diverse backgrounds and unique skills, and who collaborate and critique each other. It’s the foundation for building a world-class design team that launches innovative solutions.”

Sticking to a winning formula was the recipe for success, according to Walters. “The reason why Compact MHC was so successful was due to an active strategy that the team owned, delivered on and did a fantastic job of,” he said. “It’s a great example of when you build momentum through success. If a team is successful and delivers something, then they’re excited and they’re going to do it again. I look for even better and greater things moving forward.”