If you’ve never seen how a high-end refrigerator is made, the Sub-Zero/Wolf plant outside Madison, Wisconsin, is the place to go. I rendezvoused there recently with Publisher Jennifer Matthews and Regional Manager Kate Sollitt to meet with Michele Bedard, Director of Marketing, and Christopher Parr, Consumer Marketing Manager, to see what was new at Sub-Zero/Wolf. What struck us first was the new Sub-Zero/Wolf headquarters themselves. The structure is designed to be extremely energy-efficient and also very open, contemporary and dramatic inside. After bringing each other up to date with our respective companies over coffee, Chris Parr walked us through a display of the company’s history (or companies’ histories, actually, since Sub-Zero and Wolf only joined forces in 2001). It was fascinating to see photos of the early Sub-Zero models created by company founder Westye F. Bakke (they still have a very cool retro-chic look!) and the advertising campaigns from the 1940s through today. Before being acquired by Sub-Zero, Wolf was a Southern California company that made industrial ovens for restaurants and other commercial concerns. It’s interesting to trace how these small, entrepreneurial businesses survived, thrived and have now become international luxury brands–chic, must-have products for the modern kitchen.