National Survey Reveals Widespread "Cheating on Preheating"

HUNTINGTON BEACH, CA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- May 16, 2007 -- A new national survey commissioned by luxury appliance manufacturer Thermador reveals that many American consumers are cheaters -- at least when it comes to preheating their ovens. Looking at the cooking habits of adults 18 and older, the survey showed that preheating cheaters outnumber those who always wait for their ovens to fully preheat by almost three to one.

Conducted online during April 2007, the survey revealed that 15 percent of respondents "never" or "rarely" wait for their ovens to fully preheat, while 17.6 percent report "sometimes" waiting. Some 39.6 percent profess to "usually" giving their ovens time to preheat, but only 27.8 percent say they "always" wait. A whopping 40.3 percent of respondents admitted that they sometimes skip preheating altogether.

"We were not surprised to learn that consumers are cheating on preheating. In this day and age, with our busy schedules, every minute counts," said Franz J. Bosshard, president and CEO of Thermador. "For that reason, Thermador's new built-in wall ovens feature an exclusive lightning fast preheat that takes less than seven minutes to reach 325-degrees Fahrenheit in the True Convection mode -- an industry best."

Ironically, cheating on preheating is not a reliable method of saving time, since 50 percent of respondents reported that they compensate by cooking their food longer. Reasons given for failing to wait for their ovens to completely preheat included "I am anxious to get dinner started" (42.9 percent) and "I have time constraints" (43.4 percent).

Despite the prevalence of the practice, more than one third of respondents believe that not preheating their ovens for the full period of time has a negative effect on the quality, taste and texture of food.

"They're correct," says Judy Barber, senior consumer scientist for Thermador. "This is especially true of baked items, which can suffer from uneven browning or consistency, sticking and insufficient rising when prepared in an oven that has not been adequately preheated."

In addition to rapid preheating, Thermador's latest collection of wall ovens offers additional timesaving features. Both the new chiseled Masterpiece™ and robust Professional Series ovens feature a Speed Convection mode that reduces cooking time by up to 30% and is perfect for the quick, efficient preparation of frozen foods such as gourmet pizza or previously prepared casseroles -- without preheating.

The convenient EasyCook™ function uses 20 pre-programmed recipes to assist with convection cooking by automatically setting the correct temperature and cooking time. Consumers can also save their four favorite recipes for easy access. Thermador's exclusive CookSmart™ oven models, with technology that combines microwave and convection heating to cut down on cooking times by up to 50%, are also available in the Masterpiece Series. Additionally, an exclusive self-cleaning cycle completely cleans the entire oven cavity and rack supports in 2 hours -- half the time of comparable models.

Conducted by Persuadable Research Corp, the survey results are based on 313 respondents with a margin of error of 4.5 percent.

About Thermador

Thermador is part of BSH Home Appliances Corporation, a fully-owned subsidiary of BSH Bosch und Siemens Hausgeräte GmbH, the third largest appliance manufacturer in the world. For more than 70 years, Thermador has been empowering America's cooking enthusiasts with revolutionary products -- from the world's first wall ovens to gas cooktops with the patented Star® Burner and a speedcooking oven that reduces cooking time by 50%. Today, Thermador continues to fuse state-of-the-art cooking functionality with classic American style to create the ultimate in powerful luxury kitchen appliances. For more information, please visit www.thermador.com or call 800.656.9226 to request a catalog. Thermador and Star Burner are registered trademarks; An American Icon, Masterpiece, EasyCook and CookSmart™ are trademarks of BSH Home Appliances Corporation.

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