The iF product design Jury gives the thumbs up to Hettich Easys for refrigerators. Easys features a slimline universal design and has the lowest installed height on the market. Easys can be used for any carcase material thickness and door opening direction.

Hettich’s Easys electromechanical opening system for refrigerators comes out top among 5,575 entries. Easys neatly incorporates refrigerators into handle-less kitchen design. Besides its space saving installed height, the 58 members on the 2017 iF Design Award’s international adjudicating panel were also impressed with its user friendly functions.

Easys features intelligent functionality with all working parts hidden from view. The Easys assisted opening is so powerful that it easily overcomes a refrigerator’s magnetic door seal, opening the door in response to a light press on the front. The refrigerator door then opens ajar for a few seconds, leaving it to be pulled open all the way by hand. Making the system particularly user friendly, the time the door is left ajar can be varied to suit any delay in opening it. An intelligent control system prevents the refrigerator from being opened unintentionally.

At only 22 mm, Easys features slimline universal design and has the lowest installed height on the market. The function unit can be used for any carcase material thickness and door opening direction. It is normally installed above the appliance and concealed with a loose shelf. A designer profile discreetly incorporates Easys into the kitchen’s design. The iF Design Award has been an internationally recognised hallmark of design excellence for over 60 years. It ranks among the world’s most prestigious design prizes. The award presentation took place on 10 March 2017 at BMW World Munich.

In other Hettich news, Hettich presented their second sustainability report on environmental and social responsibility. Holding its ground in a global economic context and at the same time pushing ahead with positive developments in the sphere of environmental and social sustainability is a challenge the family firm of Hettich has set itself for years. Targets and results have been published for the second time in 2017 in a sustainability report. “Our aim is to connect business success with ecological and social responsibility. Our sustainability strategy emphasizes the long term”, Dr. Andreas Hettich stressed. “The sustainability report contains information about targets we have already attained and the challenges we will set ourselves in future.” These include for example further systematically increasing the efficient use of energy and resources in production and infrastructure. The report can be downloaded at www.hettich.com/sustainability-report