This week, social media-savvy cookware brand Our Place dropped something entirely unexpected: a stylish 6-1 countertop multi-function cooking appliance.
At first glance, I found myself having difficulty processing what I was seeing. The Wonder Oven looked like what the cooking appliance of the future might look as imagined by someone in the distant past. The dissonance I experienced looking at the oven came in part, I think, from the advanced feature of an appliance that looked almost toy-like, or, as a Refinery29 editor described it, “an easy bake oven for adults.”
The Wonder, which can air fry, broil, roast, toast, and steam foods, comes in four different decidedly soft colors: char, steam, blue salt, and spice. The $195 price includes the oven, a baking pan, an air fry basket, a wire rack, and a crumb tray. The Wonder has a reasonably sized footprint at 11.6 in. (h)x 11.5 in. (w) x 10.6 in (depth) and a decent-sized cooking cavity capacity at 7.6 in (h) x 10 in. (w) x 10.3 in. (depth).
The Wonder is the latest in a wave of multi-function countertop cooking appliances that have come onto the market in recent years, like the Ninja Foodi and the Cosori Toaster oven. Some have steam capabilities, but usually at a higher price than the Wonder. The steam-enabled Tovala, which can be purchased for as low as $49, requires a commitment to the Tovala food service.
But the biggest differentiator for the Wonder is the stylish design readymade for viral Instagram posts. Nearly every multicooker on the market looks the same variation of the toaster oven, a big shiny steel rectangle box. With its big round dials and muted colors, the Wonder sets itself apart – much like companies like Smeg have done with their stand mixer – and from the looks of the breathless comments on their intro post on Instagram, Our Place may already have a hit on its hands.
In some sense, the approach by Our Place for its first cooking gadget reminds me of Dash from Storebound, which was acquired by Group SEB in 2020. Evan Dash, Storebound CEO, told me that his product lineup, full of kitschy-looking uni-taskers (waffle maker, sous vide egg bite maker, etc.), is designed to pop on social media, and he often took inspiration from his kids when designing the products.
However, unlike DASH gadgets, the Wonder has enough built-in utility to become a nightly go-to for young, design-conscious home cooks. And this combo of utility and attractive design might just be the future of the countertop multicooker.
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