How one man turned a dream into a leading American appliance brand
Though Viking Range LLC is a relatively young company, its products are already a must-have staple for many high-end American kitchens. The Viking story is in many ways the story of the American dream, and today the company continues to embrace values of innovation and patriotism as it evolves.
Viking’s First Appliances
Viking Range LLC brings commercial-style appliances to residential kitchens. Its first product was a commercial-type range that founder Fred Carl Jr designed to satisfy his wife’s desire for a heavy-duty, classic-looking stainless steel range in their new home.
Relying on his own can-do spirit, Carl spent much of the 1980s refining his vision of a commercial-residential range hybrid, eventually getting approval to bring the world’s first commercial-type range specifically designed and approved for home use to market in 1987. Carl’s innovative Viking range design eliminated the factors which made ordinary commercial grade ranges unsuitable for residential use, such as unsafe surface temperatures and excessive energy consumption, while retaining everything he and his wife liked about commercial ranges: high-performance cooking, lots of burners, heavy-duty construction, and professional style.
The new design also incorporated plenty of extra features that people demand in a residential range, such as automatic ignition, user-friendly controls, broiling ability, extra insulation to keep the kitchen from heating up, and dimensions suitable for residential cabinetry.
Viking’s Commitment to American Manufacturing
While the first Viking ranges were made by contractors, in 1989 Viking decided to take control of the manufacturing process by opening its own facilities. Carl chose his hometown of Greenwood, Mississippi as the site of his company’s manufacturing plants, in an effort to bring new jobs to a region that had been struggling since the demise of the cotton industry.
Building on its original success with the commercial-type range, Viking began to add more commercial-residential hybrid appliances to its product line. All of these products, which include refrigerators, ovens, dishwashers, trash compactors, warming drawers, and garbage disposals, are manufactured right here in the USA.
Viking’s leadership is fully committed to keeping production on American soil. The company focuses on keeping production costs down through constant efficiency-generating workflow improvements, which allows the company to remain competitive in spite of the higher costs of manufacturing here as opposed to overseas.
Ongoing Innovation at Viking
In addition to workflow improvements designed to enhance their own bottom line, Viking is also always on the lookout for innovations that will provide a better product for their customers and a better world for all of us. Many Viking appliances incorporate eco-friendly features like high-efficiency range burners, recycled refrigerator coolant, and recycled steel.
If you’re looking for a high-end appliance you can be proud of, why not choose a Viking appliance? Doing so will enable you to support American manufacturing and green ideals while at the same time enjoying a superior product in your kitchen.
