Smart, sustainable, and sleek – no, we’re not talking about a Tesla. We’re referring to GROHE’s latest product, the GROHE Blue.
GROHE’s latest innovation aims to give you the taste of clean, filtered, and ‘tasty’ water without the need for stacking up plastic bottles. This intelligent filtration system avoids the need to constantly worry about the safety of water from your sources, and even serves it at a temperature and type – still, medium, or sparkling, you choose…
Available in two versions, GROHE Blue Home for personal use, and GROHE Blue Professional for an office or work setting, you’re essentially creating a clean water source that is greener, cheaper, and easier to manage.
Reviewers Gihan Hafez of LW Design and Giulia Quaglia of XBD Collective met us at the beautiful SARA Group showroom on Sheikh Zayed Road to experience the wonder of GROHE’s latest water system.
The Review Crew
Above from left: Gihan Hafez, Interior Designer, LW Design; Yeliz Olcay, Leader Architecture and Design MENA, GROHE; Giulia Quaglia, Senior Interior Designer, XBD Collective
Hidden Innovation
This no-brainer of a filtration and dispensing system requires little installation effort and maintenance. “It’s such a friendly and smart solution that allows you to actually enjoy drinking water,” says Yeliz Olcay, Leader Architecture & Design MENA at GROHE. “Very few systems in the market are able to provide water at a temperature you like, in addition to also offering options of sparkling or still.”
GROHE Blue is a simple filtration system that consists of a chiller and a small Carbon Dioxide cylinder. The heart of the system is the intelligent cooler that filters, chills, and delivers clean water straight from the tap. “The system is able to remove all odor, sediment, and harmful bacteria from the water,” explains Yeliz. “It’s an Ultra-Safe filter that is specially designed for the UAE Region and is able to kill 99% of bacteria. It’s also a cost saving solution because you don’t have to buy and stock up on bottles anymore. And there’s the additional space saving as those big bottles have a large footprint in your kitchen. Plus, it’s a sustainable solution! It’s the water filter we didn’t know we needed!”
A feature we particularly liked is the LED display indicating the water preference. Blue for still, turquoise for medium, and green for sparkling. Simply push the button in the right sequence and it will provide your drinking water of preference. All GROHE colour finishes are available, as well as the popular matt black.
Giulia: I’m amazed by how many components can fit in one setup. I’m still fascinated by the design and how sleek and functional it is. It can work on residential, commercial, or hospitality projects. The simplicity really helps it blend into most design styles.
Gihan: I like how it’s so compact yet delivers so much functionality. It’s handy, simple, but so well designed. There’s no need for any complexity here, and GROHE gets this. This would definitely serve more contemporary projects based on the design. I do feel it would work much better with more finishes, so I’m glad that there is such a selection available. The choice of three different spouts, including two pull-out options is also a great expansion of styles that really allows us to add more personality.
The Perfect Sip
GROHE Blue is available in three versions – Pure, Home, and Professional. Pure is the simplest, without the chiller and CO2, but with the same brilliant filtration system. The Home version is aimed at houses with up to five persons, while the Professional is purpose-built for offices, and designed to filter and provide larger volumes of water. The Professional version caters to around 30 people in an office space.
While it is hard to precisely determine how often the filter and CO2 need to be changed and refilled, as it is based purely on consumption, the average is about six months and every 3,000 litres. The filter is made by BWT, one of the world’s leading companies in filter technology, and features a three-stage process that is able to filter out bacteria and microplastics. It is engineered to be ultra-safe and specifically for the MENA region. The filter even removes traces of chlorine usually present in storage tanks.
The smart component of the Blue system isn’t limited to the chiller. GROHE has designed a mobile application that displays water consumption and CO2 levels. It also allows you to operate the tap remotely – an important feature. However, the filter is sensitive and accumulates bacteria if not used in regular intervals. The remote operation feature allows you to release water when needed to maintain the filter’s cleanliness. You can even adjust the volume of water, for example, to fill a 500 ml bottle whenever needed. Very clever!
Giulia: The app is great. It’s not some gimmick that no one’s going to use. It’s got very useful features that help track consumption and CO2 levels. The integrated technology is done really well, and it doesn’t forsake any simplicity or user-friendliness. It’s smart and clean. Even the color coding and design of the system for still or sparkling is so easy to understand. All of these factors, and given that it is a product that aids sustainability, makes a huge difference.
Gihan: It’s designed so well even kids don’t need help using it, which is important. They’ve thought through all aspects of the design and have considered all situations. The very aspect of taking away plastic bottles and reducing the need to stock up on unnecessary plastic is a big deal and shows the holistic design of the product. All you need to do is install it in a project and it’s ready to use when someone moves in.
Our Thoughts
There’s not much more we can add beyond the reviews mentioned above. The message is clear. GROHE Blue is a smart, sustainable, and brilliantly designed product. Furthermore, the initial investment is low compared to the value, whether it be for home or office use. Considering clean water consumption is quite simply one of the most important components to living a healthy life, we think GROHE Blue is the perfect solution!
