Winning Appliances has opened a new showroom in Melbourne where customers can immerse themselves in fully-designed lifestyle kitchens, watch professional cooks prepare food in a ‘culinary theatre’, grab a coffee and – oh yeah – shop for fridges, washing machines and other appliances from leading brands.

The showroom, located on Swan Street in Richmond, aims to provide a unique, multi-sensory shopping experience.

“It’s been designed to allow customers to imagine what the appliances will look like in their dream kitchen, in different styles, rather than just the products themselves,” John Winning, the CEO of Winning Group, said in a statement about the showroom.

The Richmond store is the 16th showroom and 5th flagship for the 113-year-old family business and follows Winning’s acquisition of Brighton-based Michael’s Appliance Centre last year.

It’s the first store in Winning’s network to stock luxury overseas brands The Galley, Kalamazoo and Fhiaba, alongside leading appliance brands, including Gaggenau, Miele, V-Zug,

Designed by Melbourne-based studio Cera Stribley Architects, the showroom is meant to evoke a luxury home environment, with steel-frame windows, brick walls and timber floorboards.

As a company spokesperson pointed out, light-coloured flooring would not typically be the first choice for a store that is expected to get high levels of foot traffic.

Speaking at a launch event on Wednesday evening, Winning said the company does not build “cookie-cutter” stores and it doesn’t offer “cookie-cutter” customer service.

“We pride ourselves on the old-fashioned customer service we’ve been offering for many generations. I’m the fourth generation [to work in the business],” he said.

Winning was joined on stage for the ribbon cutting ceremony by his parents and uncle, who is an ambassador of the Winning brand.