Viking: Restaurant-Quality Grills in Your Own Backyard
Some of the best products are born of sheer need. That was certainly the case when Fred Carl, Jr. created the precursor to today's Viking simply because he wanted a restaurant-quality stove in his own home. The result: a flourishing company and a Luxist award nomination in the best grills category.
Carl first dreamed up the idea of building ranges when he and his wife were designing and building a new home in 1980. A fourth-generation contractor by trade, Carl wanted to include an industrial-grade stove in his kitchen, but he soon found himself lacking options. Stoves made for restaurants were accompanied by extremely high surface temperatures and few safety features, and residential ranges just didn't pack the same punch.
So from 1981-1982, Carl designed a hybrid range that could combine the best elements of both residential and commercial contraptions. He added features including automatic ignition (no pilot light), in-the-oven broiling, convenient controls and ample insulation to keep the heat from escaping into his kitchen. His prototype was so well designed that he eventually decided to develop it for commercial use, and thus Viking was born.
Viking applies the same rigor and attention to detail to its outdoor products today. Clad in stainless steel, the E-Series Grill and Outdoor Gravity Feed Smoker are two of the company's most popular products. They're sold by 13 distributors in all 50 states, and the grills are available in 80 countries around the globe-all because Fred Carl wanted a better range for his kitchen.
Vote for the Grill line that you believe is the best of breed. The voting period runs through July 31 and winners will be announced on August 1.
