The International Home + Housewares Show? Yes, please! I always enjoy attending the Show, and this year made no exception. Held in Chicago every spring, the International Home + Housewares Show brings together thousands of exhibitors from around the world, all eager to display their latest housewares products, to secure deals and to network. This is the place to be if you want to build or to consolidate your brand, to attract potential customers or to find out all about “the latest and greatest” industry trends.
To be honest, I couldn’t wait for the Show. Getting out of my stressful routine seemed like a blessing, and I was looking forward to discovering new kitchen gadgets, sampling good food, meeting old friends – and making new ones. 🙂
Speaking of friends, I couldn’t wait to check out Hamilton Beach’s latest products on display at the Show. As a Hamilton Beach Ambassador, I am familiar with the brand and I use its appliances regularly – I highly recommend their slow cookers if you’re looking for quality, affordability and convenience (you can read my full review here). This year Hamilton Beach offers a new range of power blenders, a high performance food processor and various additions to the slow cooker family, including a sous vide slow cooker, a digital rice/hot cereal cooker and a casserole slow cooker. Also, in response to increasing consumer demand, Hamilton Beach has created a 3-in-1 spiralizer, with a spiral cutter, a ribbon cutter and a grater. This gadget is so much fun!
I also checked out the latest products from Contigo. Rose Quartz and Serenity have been named the 2016 Pantone color of the year, and Contigo marked the occasion with a range of travel mugs in these delicate shades. I was excited to discover they also offer a new take on their popular Ashland water bottle (you can read my review here): an infuser bottle, with a removable bottom strainer which gives you the option to infuse your water with fresh fruits or herbs.
As usual, I couldn’t stop taking pics of their kids’ water bottles – they are soo cute!
This summer KitchenAid is launching an Artisan Mini stand mixer, which is geared towards millennials, urban dwellers and empty nesters. The “Mini” has a 3.5-quart capacity and is 25% lighter than its larger sibling. I got the chance to check out the “Mini” at the Show and was very impressed with its compact design and seductive looks. The Guava Glaze color stayed with me – as you can see from these pics 🙂
As the owner of an Omega juicer, I couldn’t wait to see what Omega has in store for its customers this year. The Juice Cube stood out from the very beginning thanks to its compact storage system, which adds countertop appeal to outstanding juicing performance. I can definitely see the benefits of this design – I have yet to find a good storage space for some of my Omega juicer accessories 🙁 Besides the Cube, Omega also exhibited a range of horsepower blenders, while its sister companies Excalibur and Zeroll showcased additions to their well-established lines of food dehydrators, slicers and peelers and ice cream scoops, respectively.
I never miss the “New Exhibitor Preview” section of the Show, which gives first-time exhibitors the chance to meet the media and prospective buyers in a relaxed setting the first day of the Show. If I were to single out one company out of the 60 “newcomers” I observed, that would be Eco Nuts. I am familiar with the wonderful cleaning power of soap berries from the years I spent in the UK, where soap berries are growing in popularity, and it was a pleasant surprise to “meet” these berries again, this time in Chicago. I got the chance to talk to Mona Weiss, the Eco Nuts Chief Creative Officer, and was impressed with her strong concern for the environment and commitment to social responsibility. What a great addition to the International Home + Housewares Show!
There were lots of food and beverage sampling opportunities at the Show, which was great because I was up very early and needed plenty of nourishment to get me through the day. I had an enjoyable time eating pizza at the Cookina booth and chocolate at the Croquade booth. In the afternoon, the fresh cup of latte from the iCoffee stand, crostini from All-Clad and gourmet cheese from the Viking stand gave me the extra energy I needed to complete my tour of the show floor. There was so much to see – and so little time!
All in all, I had a great time at this Year’s Home + Housewares Show: it was exhausting, yet well worth it. The 2017 Show cannot come fast enough 🙂
*Disclaimer: I was not financially compensated by any of the companies mentioned or shown in this post. All opinions expressed here are my own.
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