Visiting LG’s SKS Seoul and D5 flagship stores

There’s a difference between seeing an appliance on a shop floor and seeing how it fits into a home designed around it. During my trip to South Korea with LG, we got to explore both sides of that idea at its SKS Seoul showroom and D5 flagship.

These visits formed part of a broader tour that included LG’s Smart Park in Changwon, a closer look at its WashTower heat-pump offering, and its vision for a “Zero Labour Home”.

The showrooms added another layer: how LG brings its technology, design and home-living ambitions together in spaces people can actually walk through.

LG’s Signature Kitchen Suite range is not available locally, and most of the appliances we saw on these showroom visits aren’t part of the South African offering either. This wasn’t a preview of everything heading our way, but an opportunity to see a side of LG we don’t often encounter at home.

SKS SEOUL: LOOKING AT THE KITCHEN AS A WHOLE 

Our visit to SKS Seoul in Nonhyeon-dong put the focus on the kitchen, but not in the usual rows-of-fridges-and-ovens sense.

SKS is the new name for LG’s luxury built-in appliance brand, previously known as Signature Kitchen Suite. LG announced the rebranding in 2025, so you may recognise the older name.

Designed by Korean architect Min Sung-jin, the 1,918-square-metre showroom spans six levels, including a basement. Rather than treating appliances as individual purchases, it places them within complete interiors, with cabinetry, furniture and finishes doing as much of the storytelling as the technology.

On the ground floor, that means an SKS kitchen paired with Italian furniture from Molteni&C. Elsewhere, the displays bring in contemporary furnishings and kitchens from Italian brand Arclinea.

The approach makes sense for built-in appliances. You’re not simply choosing a fridge you like and finding somewhere to put it. Refrigerator and freezer columns, a wine cellar, ovens, a dishwasher and an induction hob all need to work with the cabinetry and the way you use the room.

Seeing them together shifts the conversation from “What does this appliance do?” to “How would this kitchen work?”

Visitors can also speak to professional designers about planning and installation. That’s a different experience from comparing specifications on a shop floor, particularly when the appliances are intended to disappear into the overall design.

One of the smaller details that illustrates this thinking is LG’s Fit & Max refrigerator, which was also represented in the showroom. Its Zero Clearance Hinge is designed to reduce the gap needed beside a wall. It’s not necessarily the first feature you’d get excited about when shopping for a fridge, but in a fitted kitchen, those few centimetres matter.

The space extends beyond display kitchens, too. SKS Dining occupies the fourth floor, while a private cooking studio on the fifth hosts invited guests and chef-led classes. The idea is to connect the appliances to what happens around them: preparing food, entertaining and spending time in the kitchen.

D5: A BROADER VIEW OF LG

If SKS Seoul was the focused kitchen visit, LG’s D5 flagship on Dosan-daero offered the wider picture.

Its name refers to “Dimension 5”, bringing together technology, art, everyday life and the future. The five-storey, 2700-square-metre space was previously an LG Best Shop branch, but its current format goes beyond a conventional electronics store.

That starts with the building itself. The white terracotta exterior has a sculptural appearance during the day and becomes a media façade after dark. Inside, the ground-floor welcome area combines concierge service with large displays used for digital art.

From there, the floors move through different parts of LG’s business. The second focuses on entertainment and IT, including OLED TVs, CineBeam projectors, monitors and LG gram laptops. It’s the more familiar side of the brand before the visit moves further into its home-appliance offering.

The third floor brings together living, kitchen and air-care products, including dedicated premium kitchen and LG Signature areas. The fourth takes a more residential approach, placing SKS built-in appliances and LG’s Objet Collection within recreated living spaces.

As at SKS Seoul, the point is to see the products in context rather than in isolation. A fridge’s finish or an appliance’s proportions become part of the room, not just another item on a specification sheet. Visitors planning their own interiors can also book a one-to-one Premium Consultation.

Coming from SA, these floors offered a look at a much broader appliance portfolio than what we see locally. They also helped connect the wider tour’s themes: it’s one thing to hear about a more connected, less labour-intensive home, and another to see how LG presents that idea across a kitchen or living space.

At the top of D5, the emphasis shifts again. A heritage lounge looks back at LG’s history, while the Vision Hall uses kinetic art, transparent displays and projection mapping for a more immersive look towards the future.

It’s part shop, part exhibition, and a change of pace from the factory and product-focused portions of our trip.

ANOTHER PIECE OF THE BIGGER PICTURE

Together, the two visits showed us how LG wants its products to be experienced, not just how it wants their features explained. SKS Seoul kept that story tightly focused on the kitchen. D5 expanded it across entertainment, appliances, interiors and the brand itself.

Neither should be mistaken for a South African shopping guide. But as part of the broader tour, it provided useful context alongside the manufacturing, individual products and future-home ambitions, we got to see how LG brings those ideas together under one roof.

LG’s AI appliances can be viewed on the LG South Africa website.