The Basic Essentials for Every Kitchen

Our kitchens are one of the most important rooms in the house.  Not only the place where our meals are cooked but a place that most families come together at the end of the day to share the events of that day and spend time together.  You need your kitchen to be functional as well as a pleasant room to be in.  You need plenty of space and modern appliances like the Bosch dishwasher, that save time and are energy efficient.  When you look around your kitchen be aware of how expensive it would be if you had to replace everything due to theft or a fire, so make sure your contents insurance is kept up to date and covering any newly purchased appliances or renovations.

Fridge

No house can function without a fridge, certainly not in today’s modern society where so many food products need to be kept cool.  Our ancestors used to manage without one but instead they would have a cool room and sometimes meat or fish was killed or caught the same day it was eaten.  This is no longer a common practice so we need our fridges.  When buying a fridge get one that is big enough for your family.  That is, the more people in your household the more food you will have and the more space  you will need in your fridge.

Dishwasher

Having a dishwasher makes life so much easier.  It also helps you keep your kitchen tidier because rather than having dirty dishes stacked beside the sink waiting for you to wash them you can put them straight in the dishwasher.  A dishwasher also uses less water than washing dishes by hand.

Microwave

You might not use your microwave to cook with, although you can, and there are plenty of cookbooks will recipes specifically tailored for the microwave.  Even if you don’t use it to cook a meal they are certain handy for re-heating leftovers, melting butter, chocolate or other ingredients when cooking and when you want to quickly heat up food like baked beans or pasta.

Storage 

A must for any kitchen is having plenty of storage space.  If you are designing your kitchen yourself think about what cooking utensils and appliances that you have that you want to be able to put away.  Have a large deep drawer for your saucepans and another one that will hold things like your sandwich press, your mixer or blender.  Don’t forget you can have overhead cupboards.  Overhead cupboards with glass fronts also look nice as well as being practical as you can have some of your better crockery, vases, jugs and knick knacks on display.

Water filter

You can have a water filter fitted to your kitchen tap, otherwise you can buy a simple water filter jug or ceramic water filter that sits on your bench.  It will encourage you to drink more water if you can have easy access to fresh pure filtered water.

Bench space

Every kitchen needs plenty of bench space.  Design your kitchen around having this luxury as you will appreciate it when you are entertaining or even just cooking the evening meal.

Coffee machine

For coffee lovers having a coffee machine is a lovely luxury.  If you are going to drink coffee you might as well drink the good stuff, and it will end up saving you money as you don’t have to go out for great coffee.

Non-stick frying pan

Buy a good quality non-stick frying pan as it will last you a lot longer, as long as you look after it.  It may set you back over $100 but it is well worth it.  It will make cooking and cleaning up much easier and a good quality one is better for you than Teflon pans, which if they get scratched can contaminate your food.

Sharp knives

Have a good set of sharp knives so that you can work efficiently when cooking.  Have a proper knife sharpener too.

Sandwich press 

A handy gadget in any kitchen for those quick meals when you have run out of anything else.  Whip up a few toasted sandwiches quickly and easily with a sandwich press.  You can have a whole range of fillings such as cheese and Vegemite, canned spaghetti or baked beans, ham, cheese and tomato or even stewed apple and sultanas for a sweet treat.