Remodelling your kitchen is a worthwhile investment, especially if you love cooking. However, not everybody has an unlimited budget. Therefore, it’s a wise move to choose a few solid items that can make your kitchen life a delight.
Wondering what things in your kitchen are worth a tiny bit of investment? Here are some suggestions for your Perth home.
Energy-Saving and Smart Appliances
As mentioned earlier, not everyone has an unlimited budget to outfit their kitchen with all the latest models of energy-saving and smart appliances. If you’re among the many who have to make a choice, some of the best candidates include refrigerators, dishwashers ovens, and cooktops.
Smart refrigerators usually have the option to adjust temperatures using a smartphone or tablet. There are also models that have see-through doors so you can see what’s inside and quickly get the item you need. Smart dishwashers have adjustable start and drying times, and some can even send cycle notifications to your phone. Of course, smart dishwashers are also often energy-efficient, allowing you to save water. For cooking, smart ovens and cooktops can be turned off, preheated, or adjusted with a single tap on your chosen device. They also maintain the ideal temperature for cooking various recipes, ensuring that you don’t use too much heat (and therefore energy) and end up ruining your dish.
Kitchen Cabinets
Kitchen cabinets provide you with much-needed storage and organization solutions, especially if you have a small kitchen. Get in touch with reliable Perth cabinet makers so that they can craft cabinets that not only maximise space but also work well with your design and decor. If you already have something in mind, cabinet makers can make your customised design come to life. The bottom line is that you shouldn’t hesitate to invest in quality kitchen cabinets. They look good, can be customised to create a truly unique kitchen, and can last for many years.
High-Quality Lighting
Lighting up your kitchen isn’t just about basic illumination. You should also account for proper lighting with strategic placement, so you can see what you’re doing when preparing ingredients and cooking your dishes. The key areas that should have optimal lighting would be above the stove and the counter, the sink, and near an oven. For a kitchen island or a dining space, you can lean a little more toward the creative than the practical side.
Good Knives
Having good knives at hand is important when you’re preparing and serving food. Expert cooks will probably have a set of trusty knives in their arsenal. As for those who are just beginning to learn how to cook or don’t do it often, two of the best knives to invest in are a chef’s knife and a paring knife. A chef’s knife is like a multi-tool that you can use in a variety of cutting tasks, including carving meat. You’ll be using this knife quite a lot, so don’t be afraid to shell out some money for a top-notch one. A paring knife, meanwhile, is ideal for slicing garlic, chipping or mincing herbs, and the like. In short, chopping or cutting jobs where a chef’s knife would be a little unwieldy to use or produce less ideal results. Don’t fall into the trap of buying a knife set, thinking you’ll save money. These two knives will carry you a long way and give you more value.
Wood and Plastic Cutting Boards
Ideally, a kitchen should have two cutting boards: a wood one and a plastic one. The former should be used for fruit and vegetables, while the latter is for preparing meat and fish. This way, you prevent cross-contamination. Maple is considered to be the best wood for cutting boards, along with walnut, teak, cherry, and beech. For plastic cutting boards, try to find something with a well to collect juices for easier cleanups. Make sure to also get one that’s certified to be non-porous and non-absorbent.
A Cast-Iron Skillet
What makes a cast-iron skillet so great in the kitchen is that it can be used for almost anything. You can sear meat on it, cook vegetables, and even use it for baking bread and cookies. Thanks to its structure, a cast-iron skillet evenly distributes heat and can safely maintain extreme temperatures. You can even put it in the oven if needed. Plus, with proper care, it can last forever. You can literally buy just one cast-iron skillet and use it for life.
An Instant Pot
Are you so busy that you don’t have any time to cook at all? Enter, the instant pot! It’s the ultimate time-saver, like a pressure cooker that does everything in half the time (or even shorter). You can braise ribs, cook fluffy rice, boil eggs, make soup, and do so much more with an instant pot in just an hour or less.
Air-Tight Containers
After all that cooking, you’ll probably have some leftovers. You need to store them in air-tight containers to make sure they’re preserved for as long as possible. Invest in glass ones that you can freeze and heat safely. Aside from storing cooked food, you can also use various sizes of airtight containers to store ingredients and spices, prepared food like sliced vegetables, and even as a marinating container. Portable-sized ones can even be used as lunch kits. Glass containers are ideal because, unlike plastic, they don’t easily get stained or foggy and can last a very long time.
Depending on how you use your kitchen, you will probably have different priorities in the furniture, tools, and appliances that you’re going to invest in. The items in this list, however, will find a lot of use in any kitchen.
