I’ll readily admit it: I love Wolf appliances. My first experience with Wolf came in culinary school, where I used their commercial ranges and ovens to cook countless meals over the years.
And the first time I saw one of their home ranges, with all its glistening metal and those iconic red knobs, I vowed someday I would have such a glorious tool in my own kitchen.
That dream is still on hold. Even after my 40-year-old, original-to-the-house range died after a self-cleaning cycle. Yeah, don’t ever do that.
Yes, I could shell out the $6,000-plus starting price for a Wolf range, but the truth is, I need an entire kitchen remodel. And I don’t have the $50,000-plus lying around to do that at the moment. I’ve checked the couch cushions numerous times.
So that left me in a quandary. I needed an oven that was far more capable than my Breville toaster oven, but one that wouldn’t set me back thousands of dollars or involve tearing up a kitchen. Then I recalled that Wolf made a giant toaster oven — technically it’s called a “countertop oven.” But at a retail cost of $949, even that came with a Wolf-worthy price tag.
Thankfully, I found one on sale for about half that price last year and snatched it up. I’ve been cooking up a storm with it ever since, and finally got around to reviewing it in this video. But in prepping for the video, I noticed that all the appliances under the Wolf Gourmet brand were out of stock. So I did some digging.
Turns out that the Wolf company that builds those high-end, made-in-USA appliances isn’t the one that makes the Wolf Gourmet Elite Countertop Oven. Back in 2015, Wolf licensed its name to Hamilton Beach, which not only makes the Wolf Gourmet countertop oven, but the other appliances in the lineup, such as a mixer, blender, toaster, and multi-cooker.
That relationship is coming to an end, according to a Hamilton Beach representative I reached out to. But the appliances themselves aren’t going away. They will be reborn under an all-new brand: Lotus.
“We can confirm that the Wolf Gourmet line is being phased out and that a new brand, Lotus, will be launching soon,” the representative told me. “The Lotus countertop oven is expected to be available in September and will be sold exclusively through Williams-Sonoma, both in stores and online.”
This makes a lot of sense. After all, Hamilton Beach has already done the R&D and is producing these high-end appliances. Rebirthing them under a new brand sounds smart to me.
Most of the design and features appear to be the same, but there will be one key differentiator between the Wolf Gourmet Countertop Oven and the new one by Lotus, called The Perfectionist. The Wolf’s roast setting will be replaced by an air fry mode in the Lotus. Again, smart thinking, given how popular air fryer recipes are these days.
The other differentiator is they won’t have Wolf’s iconic red knobs. Boo. The Perfectionist’s are silver. I should note, though, that the Wolf model comes with silver and black knobs in addition to the red ones that are fitted on it. I would imagine that if you really want the red knobs going forward, you could buy these and put them on.
The upcoming Lotus Perfectionist countertop oven will have a lower MSRP than the Wolf Gourmet version does, but it’s still pricey: $799.95.
Is that worth it, and who might this high-end toaster oven be suited for? I answer all that in the video above. As for me, I’m personally glad I scored the Wolf when I did and at the price I did.
Some may still be out there for sale, and if you miss it now, the new Lotus lineup looks equally bold.