The Rieber Waterstation – Winner of Product Innovation Award for Kitchen 2005
The Rieber Waterstation® is a unique and revolutionary product that pushes the preparation work-centre concept beyond simple evolution. Lets face it, sink design hasn't moved beyond the 'sink with accessories' model for years, with varying levels of success. The Rieber Waterstation® is the first design that views work-centre design from a different angle. Here's why...
Sinks were originally a container, sometimes placed onto a table, and they have taken the same form for hundreds of years. A jug fulfilled the role of an easily accessible water supply. With the installation of a permanent water supply, and a hole with a removable plug, the concept moved on, and it is these features that are the mainstay of current design. Further refinements meant a permanent fixed installation, while an optional draining area alongside the bowl helped further. With the 'modern' sink, we have bowl sizes that have changed to suit larger objects, and additional accessories help us perform other kitchen preparation tasks. The result is the 'work- centre' concept. Most importantly, you can see sink design hasn't moved on too far from these basics, and in fact, without the accessories, work-centres are just strange looking sinks.
The Waterstation® is unique because the accessories are integral to the design, and in fact they were considered before the sink. This relationship between sink bowls and accessories became pivotal (excuse the pun) to the Waterstation® design.
When preparing a meal, we need immediately available accessories, always to hand, without taking up useful working surfaces, or cupboard space. The Waterstation® takes work-centre design to a new level, literally because containers work at different levels, and perform multiple functions. The Waterstation® allows a chef to work at one place. Wash, rinse, clean, soak, strain, drain, chop, slice, peel, dice…the list is endless, but all these things can be done at the same time. Multi-tasking in one unit, saving time, energy, effort, and resources. In turn, not only can it save you money, but it can also result in a reduced level of stress.
How does it do this?
Well, we spend 80% of our time in the kitchen preparing meals.
The preparation of food requires a variety of tools, and being able to multi-task in the same place is the key.
Time is an increasingly precious resource. The need to be efficient, and not waste energy by walking around the kitchen is obvious. With the Waterstation®, there is no need to move around the kitchen because the accessories are immediately to hand, often resting at the rear. Unlike other designs where stand-alone accessories take up space on precious worktop areas, the Waterstation® promotes efficient use of space, as the accessories can stay on the Waterstation® when not in use. Given the move to smaller dwellings and thus smaller kitchens, efficiency in the use of space is becoming more important.
You also have a safer kitchen because the accessories do not need to be carried. When you want to use one, just push or pull it into place. Supported on the front ledge, and by the hub at the rear, the accessories are also very stable when pushed into place. Thus, the centrally placed hub acts as a pivot, as well as holding key controls like the pop-up waste or tap. Being left handed or right handed, it makes no difference because the design allows total flexibility.
Before long, complex meals are being prepared with ease, because the Waterstation® efficient use of space allows multi-tasking at the same place at the same time. Now you can imagine a number of people working together, reducing preparation time further. No other sink is designed to accommodate 6 people or more, working at the same appliance at the same time. This results in more time for the client, because they're spending less time on a chore.
Multi-use accessories are also key. 1/6 size means that six different accessories can be left on the Waterstation® even when it is not in use. Slide them around until the one you require is to hand. Swap them over so they operate in the order you want. They can even be placed at the lower level to allow other accessories to slide over them, even when they are in use.
The chopping boards are reversible, one side designed to keep the 1/2 bowl container steady in place. Material choice is wood or a food grade polymer, with four colour choices available.
They also have a hand-sized notch taken out so they are easily removed even when another accessory is placed alongside.
The 1/12th. size accessory boards (with cut-outs) accepts two small ingredient bowls, that keeps them flush to the board surface thus, chopped ingredients can be scraped from the main board straight into an ingredient bowl. The accessory board holes are also a universal size so they hold a variety of freely available bowls & containers (from various manufacturers), keeping them steady while remaining accessible.
The ½ bowl insert can be used as a small waste container, or in the holding of other ingredients. You can even cook with it, because it's made from stainless steel.
The 1/6th. containers (perforated and solid) can be used in marinading, washing, straining, or soaking various ingredients, again with the flexibility and absolute hygiene required in the preparation of food. You may even be able to use them on the hob.
Throughout, great thought was given to the real-life day-to-day way we prepare food in the kitchen, and how the accessories can integrate with the other components including the sink bowls, the tap or overhead spray unit.
The need for cleanliness meant material choice was simple. Stainless steel is still the most hygienic material when it comes to food safety and therefore no other material would do. Cleaning is easy because being stainless steel, they fit straight into a dishwasher.
The design also required creating some complex and difficult shapes, deep drawn from sheet stainless steel. Rieber has the specialist skills required to produce such a difficult product, relying on many years' experience of forming, pressing, and welding stainless steel sheet into complex shapes.
In conclusion, the Waterstation® is not only a stunning architectural piece for any kitchen, it is also one of the most useful, flexible and imaginative concepts to have been launched over the last few years. Housed in a 1000mm wide unit, this completely integrated and multi-purpose work-centre is designed to help chef's handle the preparation of complex meals at home!
This extraordinary design is less to do with aesthetic beauty or current fashion and more to do with the need for form to follow function.
