Smeg
Smeg is Italy's largest manufacture of domestic kitchen appliances.
Smeg was founded by Vittorio Bertazzoni in 1948 as Smalterie Metallurgiche Emiliane Guastalla (metal enamelling factory in the village of Guastalla, Reggio Emilia). The company is still in the hands of the Bertazzoni family, currently under the direct control of Roberto Bertazzoni. Its headquarters remain a short distance from Guastalla.
They are well known for their 1950s-style "retro" refrigerators (the FAB** range) that have curved corners and come in a variety of non-traditional colours, for example pastel blue, lime green and pink.
More recently they have expanded their product range to include induction hobs, integrated washing machines and washer dryers. In addition, they scored a hit with sales on the “Opera” range of freestanding range cookers, such as the A1 which has almost become a style icon, much like the famed FAB28 fridge and its derivatives. These products, along with style-led design in other areas, has led to Smeg being regarded as leading the industry in design and aesthetics.
Smeg do buy in products from other companies, but some of the components for the retro range of refrigerators are currently manufactured by Gorenje. They also sell products to third parties, such as dishwashers to MFI which are in turn sold under the Diplomat and Hygena brand names.
Retail Prices
Smeg products don’t generally come cheap (with a fridge-freezer currently around £1000), bar the low-end “contract” ranges which are generally only used for new build contracts, no doubt in an effort to grow the brand into this high volume area. However, these products do not carry the same style as the more expensive appliances.
Products from Smeg can be found discounted on the internet and are quite pervasive there, but are also available through a wide range of specialist kitchen retailers and the Euronics chain. Either of the latter will likely offer far better advice and be able to draw from the full range of products from Smeg.
Spares Pricing And Aftersales Service
Spares can be expensive for Smeg machines. Notably parts such as control modules (timers and PCB controls) seem expensive as do many cosmetic items such as trims.
Smeg service in the United Kingdom is handled by a network of independent agents. The network is controlled on Smeg’s behalf in the UK by a company called Servevast based in Walsall near Birmingham.
Generally, service information is freely available within the industry although some of it is not the best quality. However, trade technical support is given by a number of engineers on the UK Whitegoods forum so getting information or help is not too difficult.
Smeg have also started to make all their user manuals or instruction books downloadable freely as PDF files from their website.