APPLIANCES
A song of
ice & fire
You’ve stepped outside and there is a whole new
kitchen world to create and evolve. RUPERT BATES
talks to Ricky Davies of Sub-Zero & Wolf
Al fresco cooking used to be a posh term
for a barbecue, sausage singeing in the
rain, cordon black rather than bleu in my
case, with two outcomes – burnt or
thrown to the dog.
A visit to Sub-Zero & Wolf brings out both
your inner soul and outer caveman in the
kitchen. Its cooking and cooling appliances
are achingly cool, but its outdoor gas
grill is definitely man-apron territory, with
distinctive Wolf red knobs to twiddle,
warming drawers, spring hood and even
a smoker box for that slow cook and
hickory essence.
Wolf’s brother Sub-Zero doesn’t want to
miss out either: integrated stainless steel
drawers for fresh food preservation and
chilled beers, ensuring no shuttle runs back
to the indoor fridge. Wolf Outdoor used to
be a warning cry; now it’s epicure calling.
“My love of outdoor cooking was ignited
with the installation of my Sub-Zero & Wolf
outdoor kitchen. I had no idea we would use
it so much – at least two to three times a
week and throughout the seasons,” says
Sub-Zero & Wolf director Ricky Davies,
enviably mixing business with pleasure.
“Two years ago we launched the
Sub-Zero & Wolf outdoor range of products
and it has surpassed our expectation in
terms of both sales and interest. Over that
period, sales have trebled while the trend of
outdoor cooking is still on the rise and here
to stay thanks to our love of outdoor living,
coupled with innovations seen in outdoor
heating and lighting in recent years.
Outdoor entertaining is something
everyone can indulge in – whether a picnic
in the park or a gourmet celebration
created in a luxury outdoor kitchen.”
Be it classic summer barbecues, roast
dinners, rustic pizzas, using the Wolf
bakestone kit, winter stews and casseroles,
Davies always looks to cook outside
whatever, whenever he can.
“It works perfectly as an oven, as well as a
BBQ and rotisserie. The addition of gas side
burners, warming drawers and refrigerated
drawers creates a true outdoor kitchen,
making prepping and cooking exciting,
creating easy, tasty meals.”
Craig Davies, managing director of
Sub-Zero & Wolf and Ricky’s uncle, smelt the
smoke of change and these now iconic
culinary brands crossed the Atlantic.
He has always loved America and its
appliances and it was a trip to the USA more
than 20 years ago that proved the catalyst.
Craig Davies quickly fell in love with
Sub-Zero, a brand redefining refrigeration.
The company was founded by Westye Bakke
from Wisconsin, who was commissioned by
Frank Lloyd Wright in the 1930s to build
fridges for the architect’s residential projects.
The basement of Bakke’s Madison
home soon became a development lab, a
new freezer that could store contents at
exceptionally low temperatures was
developed – indeed sub-zero and in
1945 the company was formed, with
Sub-Zero now in its third generation of
Bakke family ownership.
Jim Bakke, grandson of Westye and
current president and CEO, was not content
with food preservation and saw design and
performance being equally applied at the
highest level to food preparation.
In Los Angeles in the 1930s brothers Al
and Hyman Wolf were building cooking
appliances for America’s top chefs and in
2000 Bakke bought Wolf’s residential line
of ovens, ranges, cooktops and grills, and
Sub-Zero & Wolf was born.
Davies brought the brands to the UK and
Europe with the products soon attracting
the attention and the kitchens of the likes
of James Martin, Gordon Ramsay and
Jamie Oliver.
“I saw the huge potential of al fresco
dining, bringing the inside out, not just with
cooking appliances, but refrigeration too,
creating a fun, sociable space for friends
and family to gather,” says Craig Davies
of a business that is the culinary fusion of
ice and fire, setting the bar and the
temperature for outdoor kitchens.
While Sub-Zero & Wolf leads in
technology, it is not at the expense of the
social – cooking as entertaining and
gathering, never designing or engineering
out the human element of the kitchen
environment inside and out; tech heavy,
user light.
BBQ | Spring 2020 | 15