BRAND
WMF
Origin: Alemania · Founded in 1853
Some brands arrive at live-fire cooking from the outside, carrying a history that has little to do with the open grill, and still bring something worthwhile. WMF is one of them: a German house that has spent generations refining metal for the kitchen, and when it steps onto barbecue ground it does so with the restraint of a maker that has nothing to oversell.
Roots and philosophy
WMF began as the Württembergische Metallwarenfabrik in Geislingen an der Steige in 1853, founded by Daniel Straub and the Schweizer brothers. That modest metalworking workshop grew, by the early twentieth century, into one of the world's largest exporters of household metalware, with Jugendstil pieces that now sit in museums. Since 2016 it has belonged to France's Groupe SEB, yet its identity stays rooted in cutlery, cookware and steel.
What sets WMF apart
At heart, WMF is a kitchen-metallurgy brand, not a barbecue specialist, and that is exactly where its value lies when the subject is safety. From its catalogue we stock the 40 cm leather barbecue gloves, sold as a pair, and what draws us to them is precisely that: the length. Forty centimetres shield the whole forearm, not just the hand, which you appreciate the moment you reach under the dome of a glowing kamado or inside a pizza oven. Leather also tolerates brief contact with hot metal far better than synthetic fibres, which simply melt.
How they perform for us
On our terrace in Torrevieja we have used them to turn trays of lamb and lift the baking stone once it is genuinely scorching. What wins us over is the coverage: you stop flinching your arm away for fear of brushing the rim. That said, these are gloves for gripping and moving, not for cradling red-hot iron — leather buys you seconds, not immunity.
What you will find from WMF here
From WMF we carry a single piece, the pair of long 40 cm leather gloves. It is not the brand for kamado accessories, but it is the choice if you want serious hand protection, honest materials and the backing of a metalworking tradition few barbecue brands can match.
