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My kitchen is the most important room in my house. I live alone with a pet or 3 but I cook/prepare most of my meals there. Having everything organized and available is important so when I work in there, it works for me instead of aggravating me. I tend to cook in batches, then freeze in meal size portions. These I take to work and eat at home, but the kitchen is used every day. It isn't currently fancy but a recent half remodel increased the usability tremendously. It will be much nicer looking when I do the full remodel in the next couple of years.
Eating out is pretty rare and takeout is never now. The food I make is so much healthier for me.
I have everything organized, mess aggravates me, I cook in batches and freeze them, and I pack lunches. I have not remodelled, but I guess it will help me a bit. I need another fridge, and have been wondering about the commercial grade ones. But being a vegetarian, maybe I should somehow make do with one. Sometimes, when I stockpile on sale items like extra milk and stuff, it gets too full and that overwhelms me!
When designing our new home - the kitchen was to be the focal point. We entertain a lot and have a lot of family gatherings so, we wanted a space that everyone could gather and participate in meal prep.
Our appliances were selected on the various types of meals we prepare. We even installed two dishwashers!
When designing our new home - the kitchen was to be the focal point. We entertain a lot and have a lot of family gatherings so, we wanted a space that everyone could gather and participate in meal prep.
Our appliances were selected on the various types of meals we prepare. We even installed two dishwashers!
I would gladly move into your kitchen. Sounds like a dream. Post pictures of your kitchen, people.
use the kitchen everyday, numerous times! I do the cooking. I really try to get someone else to clean up afterwards, but that doesn't always happen. we remodeled about a year and half ago and added an island and reconfigured the counter top area. I like it soooo much more now. have more storage and work space. outlet on the island etc. new appliances. that should keep pretty happy for awhile
We use the kitchen daily and cook most nights of the week. The house was built in 1946and we have the original cabinets and ceramic tile, although we are hopeful about a remodel in the next year or so. We have a gas stove/oven and no dishwasher.
Ahhh. Halogen elements. That's the problem. I cooked on one those quirks back about 10 years ago and found them hard to regulate. High temperature cooking was nice, but anything below medium was frustrating because the heat pulsed on and off so frequently... Halogen elements are essentially light bulbs--not the most efficient way of cooking. My smoothtop uses radiant elements, which are kind of like a thin coil(the same type your toaster has). It's VERY efficient. Water boils rapidly, and the glass holds a nice uniform heat. The elements still cycle, but the glass retains enough residual heat that you don't even notice the fluctuations... Some cooktops use Ceran, mine's a "EuroKera" top...
Since we're on the topic of ranges, does anyone remember those God-awful "solid elements" they experimented with back in the late 80's and early 90's? They remained grey, even on the highest setting. As I recall, they basically had two temperatures: Off or on, and even though they had full range "infinite" type heat controls, it didn't matter where you set the dial. The blasted things were *ALWAYS* way too hot. You could boil a pot of water for pasta, shut off the element, and by the time the burner had cooled down sufficiently, the pasta would be completely cooked--a full 15 minutes cool down time before the water stopped boiling! Thank goodness manufacturers long abandoned those things... They're still popular in Europe apparently, though for the life of me, I can't understand why...
We've got a Frigidaire smoothtop, and so far, so good. A rule of thumb to remember is that the more power the element has, the hotter it gets, therefore the longer it will take for the "cool down" cycle. I have found that even at the lowest setting, my soups and sauces still have a "slow" boil to them... Apparently, some ranges now have a "simmer select" option that lets you fine-tune your lower heat settings. I believe all this feature does however is drop the voltage of the element from 240 down to 120... I use Lagostina "Elysee-Pro" cookware, which are fairly heavy, tight fitting lids, and hold their heat VERY well.
The key to smoothtop cooking--as has been mentioned countless of times before--is having the proper cookware and matching your pots to size of the element zone. It's very crucial that you observe this simple rule. Stay far away from cheap aluminum and copper pots/pans. There's no weight to that stuff, the bottoms warp under high temperatures(resulting in poor contact with the glass), and they can leave permanent marks on your burner zones which are a nightmare to remove. I use Cerama-Bryte after every use, and rely on Mr. Clean Magic Eraser for the tough cooked-on stuff and so far, it's kept its shine and no scratching/etching that I can see...
Use the kitchen daily - all day . . . DH and I both work at home. We have separate offices in opposite ends of the house. I adore my DH . . . but my oh me. He makes messes in the kitchen all day long. SIGH. I liked it better when he was not in the house all day (as far as cleaning) and it shows how much of a mess he makes when he travels. But I like having him at home other than the messes he makes . . . so one cannot complain (too much, anyway, LOL!!!) He leaves a trail of crumbs . . .
So since we are here all day, we also cook nearly every evening. Sometimes I wish we didn't cook so much b/c the kitchen seems to rarely stay really clean for very long. Always yet another round of pots/pans/dishes and sweeping and . . . well, ya'll know what I mean.
I like my kitchen - love my cabinets and countertops . . .
We have always used our kitchen at least once or twice daily. My husband is a wonderful cook, loves to grill out and loves to eat! Our kitchen has always been a special place for us and our family.
We used to live where we could grow our own cows. So we got a calf and our children named it. Needless to say when the cow made it to the dinner table none of us could eat it. Our neighbor enjoyed it though!
We used to live where we could grow our own cows. So we got a calf and our children named it. Needless to say when the cow made it to the dinner table none of us could eat it. Our neighbor enjoyed it though!
Dunroven
LOL LOL! That was cute...
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. Sounds like a dream. Post pictures of your kitchen, people.
