As with any celebrity product tie in, you often wonder what the celebrity is brining to the table, other than their namesake as whilst the George Foreman grill has sold over 100 million units worldwide, the grill was invented by Michael Boehm and Robert Johnson, and not George Foreman.

So then, whilst we all know you are not going to gain any boxing prowess using the George Foreman  grill, any more than George Foreman knows how to cook, what about a kitchen appliance created with input from a professional chef?

As with the range of Sage small kitchen appliances using the Heston Blumenthal name, the website has quotes from Heston Blumenthal suggesting tips and reasons why these appliances may produce a better cake mix, or cup of tea but the actual Sage by Heston Blumenthal website was notably lacking in technical or detailed information that these products has been created by a professional chef, but enhanced cooking, food prep etc and it was difficult at first glance to see, other than the name, whether these small appliances are any better or worse than say a Miele coffee maker, or Bosch small machines?

So, doing a little more digging we found this from one of the retailers selling the Sage by Heston Blumenthal appliances:

It takes a lot for an electrical kitchen appliance to stop us in our tracks, but the entire Sage by Heston Blumenthal range did just that! Intelligent and innovative, every item in the Sage range – from the kettles, toasters, citrus press and juicer through to the ice cream maker, mixer and multi cooker – has been exactingly considered. Working with Sage’s engineers, Heston Blumenthal, the ultimate food thinker and experimental chef, was involved in testing and production, and it’s Heston’s attention to detail that’s helped make the Sage electrical range what it is – an advanced, high-spec collection that’s head and shoulders above the competition.

Brand new to the UK, all Sage by Heston Blumenthal appliances are simple to use with straight-forward controls, and give very precise results. The instructions and recipes come with hints and tips from Heston to help you get the most out of your stainless steel blender, tea maker, coffee machine or slicer. And, so that you can achieve chef-standard results, these powerful, heavy-duty machines have an array of automatic, pre-set programmes that replicate commercial appliances and do all the thinking for you. Thanks to Heston and Sage, prepping, boiling, whisking, whipping, cooking and baking has never been so easy!

The appliances are on sale at Lakland, where the above press was taken from, or John Lewis, with Debenhams, Harrods, Selfridges and House of Fraser coming soon apparently.

Verdict?

Too Early to tell as there isn’t much unbiased info about, but one question would be this. What is it that makes Heston Blumenthal a good chef?

It certainly isn’t kitchen appliances (but his molecular gastronomic and scientific approach) and whilst his branded appliances may well have the odd interesting  feature such as a mixer with a windscreen wiper to scrape the bowl while it mixes, are these features unique and do they justify the cost over non Heston Blumenthal branded appliances as the thing that made Heston Blumenthal a great chef was the science of food and its hard not to see these appliances as cashing in a little bit in that they don’t seem to be as pioneering as his restaurant or menus.

However, whilst George Foreman can be argued as one of the biggest celebrities cashing in, even appearing as a judge on American Inventor, despite not inventing the grill baring his name, as the grill was invented by Russell Hobbs before approaching the boxer as they looked to tie it in with Foreman’s claims that his boxing success was due to his healthy eating, you would like to think that Heston Blumenthal is lending more than his name to these appliances.

Retailer Update

Please note that since the above post was first published, the Sage small kitchen appliances by Heston Blumenthal are now available at House of Fraser.

To purchase the Heston Blumenthal appliances you can follow this link; to relevant section of the House of Fraser website