Neff GmbH (

stylized In the visual arts, style is a "...distinctive manner which permits the grouping of works into related categories" or "...any distinctive, and therefore recognizable, way in which an act is performed or an artifact made or ought to be performed a ...

as NEFF in its logo) is a German manufacturer of high-end

kitchen appliance A home appliance, also referred to as a domestic appliance, an electric appliance or a household appliance, is a machine which assists in household functions such as cooking, cleaning and food preservation. Appliances are divided into three ty ...

s headquartered in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. The company was founded by

Carl Andreas Neff Carl may refer to: *Carl, Georgia, city in USA *Carl, West Virginia, an unincorporated community * Carl (name), includes info about the name, variations of the name, and a list of people with the name *Carl², a TV series * "Carl", an episode of te ...

in 1877 and has been a wholly owned subsidiary of BSH Hausgeräte GmbH since 1982.

History

Formation

It was founded as a small family company in

Bretten Bretten (; South Franconian German, South Franconian: ''Bredde'') is a town in the state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located on Bertha Benz Memorial Route. Geography Bretten lies in the centre of a rectangle that is formed by Heidelber ...

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

, Germany, on 12 June 1877 by

. It was first known as Carl Neff Herd und Ofenfabrik (stove and oven factory). In 1914 the company first made a gas oven. In 1950, they introduced their first oven with a

thermostat A thermostat is a regulating device component which senses the temperature of a physical system and performs actions so that the system's temperature is maintained near a desired setpoint. Thermostats are used in any device or system tha ...

. By 1955, they were making appliances in different colours, to suit a bespoke

fitted kitchen A kitchen is a room or part of a room used for cooking and food preparation in a dwelling or in a commercial establishment. A modern middle-class residential kitchen is typically equipped with a stove, a sink with hot and cold running water, a ...

. The company had the slogan ''im Haus - der Zeit voraus''.

Innovations

In 1957, it introduced the first

microwave oven A microwave oven (commonly referred to as a microwave) is an electric oven that heats and cooks food by exposing it to electromagnetic radiation in the microwave frequency range. This induces polar molecules in the food to rotate and produce t ...

. In 1957, it introduced the first induction cooker (hob) in Europe, marketing it under the revolutionary slogan of ''Kochen auf der kalten Platte'' (cook on a cold surface). In 1961 it introduced the first integrated cooker units in Europe, built into other kitchen units - the built-in oven. Also in the same year they began selling larger microwave cookers for commercial (

catering Catering is the business of providing food service at a remote site or a site such as a hotel, hospital, pub, aircraft, cruise ship, park, festival, filming location or film studio. History of catering The earliest account of major services be ...

) uses. By 1970 it was branching out into providing for the full range of units to make up a fitted kitchen. By the early 1970s the cookers were among the first to be controlled with a digital clock. In 1971 it introduced its ''Circotherm'' system whereby hot air was circulated around the oven to allow a distribution of cooking with more regularity. These cookers are known as

convection oven A convection oven (also known as a fan-assisted oven or simply a fan oven) is an oven that has fans to circulate air around food to create an evenly heated environment. The increased air circulation causes a fan-assisted oven to cook food fast ...

or fan ovens, and are still for a specialist market. The Circotherm system was patented by the company, marketed under the slogan ''Rundum-Hitze ist mehr'' (all around heat is more). In 1985, the convection oven system was first introduced for gas ovens.

AEG

In the late twentieth century NEFF-Werke was a subsidiary of

AEG Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft AG (AEG; ) was a German producer of electrical equipment founded in Berlin as the ''Deutsche Edison-Gesellschaft für angewandte Elektricität'' in 1883 by Emil Rathenau. During the Second World War, AEG ...

Telefunken Telefunken was a German radio and television apparatus company, founded in Berlin in 1903, as a joint venture of Siemens & Halske and the ''Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft'' (AEG) ('General electricity company'). The name "Telefunken" app ...

(Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft, formed in 1967). The other subsidiaries were AEG-Telefunken Hausgeräte and Zanker. The NEFF factory was in

in the north-west of

, where it employed around 2,000 people. In August 1982, AEG was having financial problems. AEG was bought by

Daimler-Benz The Mercedes-Benz Group Aktiengesellschaft, AG (previously named Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler and Daimler) is a German Multinational corporation, multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It ...

in 1985, and ceased to exist in 1997.

Bosch and Siemens

In 1967,

Robert Bosch GmbH Robert Bosch GmbH (; ), commonly known as Bosch and stylized as BOSCH, is a German multinational engineering and technology company headquartered in Gerlingen, Germany. The company was founded by Robert Bosch in Stuttgart in 1886. Bosch is 9 ...

of Stuttgart and

Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad. The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...

AG of Munich formed a joint venture,

Bosch und Siemens Hausgeräte GmbH Bosch may refer to: People * Bosch (surname) * Hieronymus Bosch (c. 1450 – 1516), painter * Van den Bosch, a Dutch toponymic surname * Carl Bosch, a German chemical engineer and nephew of Robert Bosch * Robert Bosch, founder of Robert Bosch GmbH ...

. It bought NEFF in 1982 when AEG went bankrupt.

International sales

When Britain joined the EEC in 1973, NEFF products, with other German kitchen appliance brands, began to be available. This would have been mostly in the south of England.

International

The company is owned by BSH Home Appliances Ltd, based in Germany. The UK head office is based in

Wolverton Wolverton is a constituent town of Milton Keynes, England. It is located at the northern edge of Milton Keynes, beside the West Coast Main Line, the Grand Union Canal and the river Great Ouse. It is the administrative seat of Wolverton and Gre ...

, Buckinghamshire. Its 4 UK kitchen appliance brands are Bosch, Siemens, Neff and

Gaggenau Gaggenau is a town in the district of Rastatt, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located some 8 km northeast of Baden-Baden. History Gaggenau was first mentioned in local records in 1243 under the name "Gaggenaw". The present distric ...

. Globally it is joined by other BSH brands: Thermador, Balay, Coldex, Constructa, Pitsos, Ufesa, Profilo, Zelmer, Junker, & Viva.

Products

* Conventional ovens * Microwave ovens * Hobs * Dishwashers * Fridges * Freezers * Washing machines * Tumble dryers * Coffeemakers

External links

Video clips

Australian YouTube channel
{{Home appliance brands Robert Bosch GmbH Siemens German brands German companies established in 1877 Manufacturing companies established in 1877 Home appliance manufacturers of Germany Home appliance brands Manufacturing companies based in Munich