Smeg was founded by Vittorio Bertazzoni in 1948 as Smalterie Metallurgiche Emiliane Guastalla (metal enamelling factory in the village of Guastalla, Reggio Emilia). The company is still in the hands of the Bertazzoni family, currently under the direct control of Roberto Bertazzoni.
Its headquarters are a short distance from Guastalla in Northern Italy.
They are well known in the UK for their 1950's "retro" refrigerators that have curved corners and come in a variety of colours, for example blue, green and special editions as well as unique paintwork.

The iconic Fab fridge range shownhere in various finishes
More recently they have expanded their product range to include integrated washing machines and washer dryers to their range of products. In addition they have scored a hit with sales on the "Opera" range of freestanding range cookers, such as the A1 which has almost become a style icon, much like the famed FAB28 fridge and its derivatives. These products, along with style led design in other areas, has led to Smeg being regarded as leading the industry in design terms and aesthetics.
Smeg have always been strong in cooking products with gas hobs, ceramic hobs, ovens and stylish cooker hoods with a designer flavor about them.

One Smeg's signature products, the famed A1 Range cooker
Smeg do buy in products from other companies, some of the components for the retro range of refrigeration is currently manufactured by Gorenje and they also sell products to third parties, such as dishwashers to MFI which are in turn sold under the Diplomat and Hygena brand names. However it has to be said that the quality level on some Smeg products are not up to the level that many people buying Smeg expect.
Smeg seems to focus much more on the design of the products in terms of how they look than hwo well built that they are.
Smeg Retail Position
Smeg products don't generally come cheap bar the low-end "contract" ranges which are generally only used for new build contracts, no doubt in an effort to grow the brand into this high volume area, however these products do not carry the same style as the more expensive appliances.
Products from Smeg can be found discounted on the internet and are quite pervasive on the net but are also available through a wide range of specialist kitchen retailers and the Euronics chain. Either of the latter will likely offer far better advice and be able to draw from the full range of products from Smeg.
Smeg Spares
Spares can be expensive for Smeg machines. Some spare parts such as control modules (timers and PCB controls) seem expensive as do many cosmetic items such as trims and the likes. Spares are easily available through the network of repair agents and also from UK Whitegoods who have a direct spares access to Smeg UK.
As Smeg buy in products from other companies, such as Gorenje for their refrigeration, you can get a lot of spares a lot cheaper by buying it using another manufacturer's part number, if you know where to and how to find that. We stock a lot of such spares and we can obtain almost any Smeg spare part still available.
Smeg service is handled by a network of independent agents, many of whom offer their services in the UK whitegoods Find An Engineer service. The network is controlled on Smeg's behalf in the UK by a company called Servevast based in Walshall near Birmingham.
Generally service information is relatively freely available within the industry although some of it is not the best it has to be said. However trade technical support is given by a number of engineers on the UK whitegoods forum so getting information or help is not too difficult.
Smeg have also started to make all their user manuals or instruction books downloadable freely as PDF files from their website.
Getting help, buying spare parts or getting a service engineer for can range from the simplest task in the world to a daunting one as you try to pick your way through model numbers, serial numbers, ranges and all sorts of information. We try to make this as simple as possible for you and take out any hassle but, sometimes, we know that we all need a little help from the experts.
| To get technical help for a product then please click here for the help and support forums | |
| Contact us for spare parts using our online contact form, simply click this link for our contact page |
Find out even more on including faults, spare parts, help, support and repairs using the custom Google search below which will search our forums, the spare parts store and all articles.
With notes on where to get the best help at the end of each line:
Spares Help - From the store "Contact Us" option or spares@ukwhitegoods.co.uk
Technical Help - Please use the forums
How To Repair Problems - Please use the forums