Ingredients for a Professional Style Kitchen at Home
Many people with a passion for cooking may dream of creating a commercial-style kitchen at home. It's easier than ever to create a practical, well-equipped workspace for cooking and entertaining in a style that would make a professional chef proud. But there are more pieces to the puzzle than just installing a beautiful, but huge, 6-burner range.
Professional Grade or Professional Style?
For starters, there's an important difference between professional style and professional grade. Professional grade, for example, might mean a boxy, 1,000-pound, stainless steel, dual fuel stove blasting 33,000 BTUs from 10 burners and requiring commercial ventilation and structural reinforcement. Professional style, however, can include anything from an ultra-sleek cooktop and double wall ovens to a gorgeous red-enameled range. We can guide you to the appliances that are matched to your needs and properly scaled for your home.
Elements of a Professional Kitchen
Ranges, Cooktops and Ovens: Look for dual-fuel models. For burners, many cooks prefer the responsiveness of gas. Continuous stovetop grates give you the flexibility to use griddles, wok rings and other large pots, pans and accessories. Convection ovens offer faster cooking times.
Ventilation: Pan-searing steaks without smoking up your new kitchen makes a powerful venting system a must! Make your selection early in the design process so ductwork can be incorporated most efficiently and attractively into your kitchen design. Sinks and Faucets: In a commercial-style kitchen, the stove may be your stage, but the sink is command central. It needs to be large, deep and versatile. Stainless steel is a popular choice for a hard-working sink. Faucets need to be equally hard-working, including being tall enough to handle large pots. High-powered sprays and flexible hoses make rinsing vegetables and cleaning up quick and easy. Installing a pot-filler faucet near the stove is a great convenience.
Right-Sized Appliances: Large-capacity refrigerators and dishwashers are key elements of a commercial-style kitchen. There are so many options for these that it's important to match your choices to how you cook and entertain.
Space Planning and Finishes for Your Gourmet Kitchen
Professional-style kitchens aren't just attractive, they're practical. That's why space planning and finishes are so important:
- Open Floor Plan: Will you entertain as you cook? Do you want several people to use the kitchen at the same time? A good floor plan eliminates unnecessary steps for the cook (or cooks) while creating an open area for sharing the fun of cooking.
- Convenience: What is the best way to keep pots, pans, utensils, dishes and food at hand? For some, the answer may be open shelves. For others, it may be clever storage that keeps what's needed at hand – while also keeping the kitchen clean and visually uncluttered.
- Easy-to-Clean Surfaces: Commercial kitchens often have lots of stainless steel and tile. These may be easy to keep clean, but they may not be the finishes that you want for your own kitchen floor, counters and backsplashes. We can show you flooring and counter materials that are both easy to maintain and attractive.
In fact, we'd love to show you all kinds of beautifully practical elements. Give us a call and let's talk about how to build or remodel a kitchen that lets you cook with the ease – and fun – of a professional chef.
Maintenance Tip: Keeping Your Cool
A ceiling fan is an easy and energy-efficient way to feel cooler, using as little energy as a 100-watt light bulb. Keep in mind, however, that it does little good to run it when you're not around. The fan really isn't cooling the room. Like a breeze on a hot summer day, it's the blowing air moving across your body that makes you feel cooler.
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See you next month!
Michael Winn
and the WINN Design+Build team |
