By Shivaun Hales

As Kleenmaid’s former directors return to the courts facing fraud charges, the “new generation” Kleenmaid brand is trying to make a come back with a range of European designed appliances, unveiled at its new Sydney showroom last night.

Directors Andrew Young, Bradley Young and Gary Armstrong have been accused of 20 criminal charges including a $13 million fraud and insolvent trading, following an investigation by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

Kleenmaid went into administration in May 2009, and was acquired eight months later by Compass Capital Partners, led by CEO Danny Hamilton.

Compass Capital Partners has spent “millions of dollars” revitalizing the Kleenmaid name and appliance collection, revealing a full kitchen appliance line-up to the media in Alexandria last night, with laundry appliances to follow later this year.

The sleek new range made up of multifunction ovens, built-in coffee machines, gas and induction cooktops, is claiming a different market position to the original Kleenmaid brand.

“The products are very inexpensive compared to what Kleenmaid used to be, about 30 to 40% less,” Hamilton said at the launch.

“We completely redesigned, working with Italian designers to create a new range of kitchen appliances,” he added.

Kleenmaid is also taking an alternate route to selling the appliances, available exclusively through kitchen designers and manufacturers.

“We thought we would go retail, but the more we looked into retail the more we realised people were frustrated with the process,” said Hamilton.

Hamilton said the company adopted an approach of selling seen in Europe, where appliances are sold through “kitchen studios”.

Kleenmaid appliances are now available in 21 centres on the east coast, with the cabinet makers endorsing the brand and assisting consumers with the complete kitchen design process. Hamilton said the company plans to expand into Adelaide and Perth.

Although Compass Capital Partners acquired the Kleenmaid brand, the company was unable to gain rights to the existing Kleenmaid customer database or the website www.kleenmaid.com.au which is taken over by Aussie Whitegoods Rescue.