Dramatic Form Meets Class-Leading Function in the New Distinctive™ 36" Gas Cooktop from Dacor

COSTA MESA, Calif., Oct. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Dacor®, a market leader in the design and manufacture of luxury kitchen appliances, today introduced the new Distinctive 36" Gas Cooktop. A stylish design, with remarkable craftsmanship, the Distinctive Cooktop will be a striking addition to any kitchen, while offering the performance and value that consumers will be able to expect from the Distinctive Series.  

The Distinctive 36" Gas Cooktop is the first Dacor product developed in collaboration with BMW Group DesignworksUSA, a company well known for its forward-thinking innovation in design development and selective use of color, materials and finishes.  A fellow California-based company, BMW Group DesignworksUSA has worked with many of the world's great brands and is an international leader in design strategy, premium design development, and brand communication.  Now, BMW Group DesignworksUSA brings its expertise to Dacor and its Distinctive 36" Gas Cooktop, designed to bring a unique style to any kitchen while enhancing the appearance of both countertops and cabinetry alike.

"Dacor has a well-earned reputation for providing the best cooking experience through meticulous attention to detail," said Holger Hampf BMW Group DesignworksUSA Director of Product Design.  "Together through collaboration with DesignworksUSA, Dacor creates an aesthetic which balances the environment of the home kitchen with the expectations of the professional for the highest functionality and reliability."

BMW Group DesignworksUSA recognizes that style and appearance are equally as important as an appliance's features and functions, and has ensured that each stylish design detail also serves a purpose. The Cooktop is designed with ergonomic angled controls for ease of use and Illumina^™ Indicator Lights that glow in Dacor's signature flame-blue when a burner is on, providing a modern, eye-catching look while making kitchen safety a priority. The design team employed a strict process of direction, design and development ensuring that the Distinctive Cooktop was developed with both creativity and quality.

"The new Distinctive 36" Gas Cooktop was designed to meet the needs of home chefs, while also appealing to today's value-conscious homeowner," said Mauricio Roca, Director of Product Development at Dacor. "The Distinctive Cooktop includes signature Dacor design touches in an affordable, high-performance appliance, providing value along with a professional-quality culinary experience."

Full of features that provide professional-grade performance, the Distinctive Cooktop is an amenity that enhances a kitchen's overall look, while supplying consumers with endless culinary possibilities.  The Cooktop is equipped with five burners to meet every cooking need, including one SimmerSear™ burner with melting feature, which allows superior precision and control for the home chef with the option to simmer, sear or saute at ultra-high or ultra-low temperatures (up to 18,000 BTUs). To address other cooking needs, the Cooktop also has two sealed gas burners that provide 12,000 BTUs and two sealed gas burners that provide 9,000 BTUs.

The new Cooktop features Dacor's exclusive PermaClean™ Finish, a scratch-resistant surface that can handle tough scrubbing so that baked or even burnt-on messes clean up with ease, leaving the Cooktop surface beautiful.  In addition to the exclusive PermaClean finish, the Distinctive Cooktop has a one-piece spill basin to further ensure that clean up will be a breeze.

The industry leading Continuous Platform Grates provide for the optimum cooking surface for larger pots while allowing for multiple pans side-by-side.  Additionally, the Perma-Flame™ instant re-ignition feature automatically re-lights a burner immediately if it goes out, ensuring continuous heating and a nearly effortless cooking process.

Ensuring that the Distinctive Cooktop is fully functional for the life of the kitchen, Dacor has equipped all burners with Smart Flame^™ technology, which ensures the burner flames do not directly contact the fingers of the porcelain-coated cast iron grates, helping to extend the life of the grates.

The latest offering from Dacor's new Distinctive Series, the Distinctive 36" Cooktop, contains the features of higher-end cooktops, while remaining in a competitive price range. The Distinctive Series provides a premium culinary experience to a wider group of customers through a crop of recently launched products, including the Distinctive Range, the Single and Double Wall Ovens, the 36" and 30" Rangetop, and the 24" Dishwasher. With the Distinctive Series, more homes can now incorporate the modern design and innovative features normally found on higher-priced appliances. The new Cooktop rolls out to authorized Dacor dealers on November 1, 2010 with an MSRP of $1210.

About Dacor: Family-owned since its beginning in 1965, Dacor is the innovator of stylish, American-made, luxury kitchen appliances that provide a premium culinary experience for those who are passionate for the details and finer points of gourmet cooking. The company has introduced many industry firsts including an outdoor grill with built-in halogen lights, Illumina™ Burner Controls with blue LED lights, the patented RapidHeat™ Bake Element, color-infused glass appliances. Offering a complete line of luxury kitchen appliances, which includes wall ovens, ranges, cooktops, dishwashers, warming drawers, microwaves, ventilation hoods, refrigerators, wine storage and outdoor appliances, the company also features an affordable line of designer appliances to bring the luxury of Dacor to a broader range of consumers.  Dacor is committed to reducing the energy demands of its operations, maximizing the efficiency of its products and implementing sustainable business practices.

For more information on Dacor, its product line and local dealer locations, visit http://www.dacor.com/, contact Customer Care at (800) 793-0093 or visit the Dacor Design & Culinary Centers in Atlanta or San Francisco.

About BMW Group DesignworksUSA

BMW Group DesignworksUSA provides design strategy, research, design development, sustainability consulting, brand communications, 3D modeling, and color, materials, and finish to many of the world's great brands. In addition to being the creative partner to BMW Group, which includes BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, additional DesignworksUSA clients include Boeing Business Jets, HEAD, Hewlett Packard, Microsoft, Saeco, and Sony. The company was founded in 1972 by Charles W. Pelly in Malibu, California, and acquired by BMW Group in 1995. Since December 2009, President Laurenz Schaffer has led DesignworksUSA's strategy and operations, which includes studios in Los Angeles, Munich, and Singapore. With global resources and clients across a spectrum of forward-thinking industries, DesignworksUSA has an unparalleled understanding of consumers and the world of design that surrounds them, both today and many years into the future.  In 2010, Fast Company magazine ranked DesignworksUSA as the world's "#1 Most Innovative Company in Design," and among the "Most Innovative Companies for 2010."  www.designworksusa.com.  

SOURCE Dacor