My kitchen must-haves
We all know that the kitchen is the heart of the home. Mine is especially so because it is actually part of the living/dining room and the first room you see when you come up the stairs from the front entry area. There’s also the fact that I do love to bake - breads, cookies, squares, muffins, granola etc. I cook, too, including family dinner for seven one night a week.
Now that we’ve established the importance of the kitchen, let’s discuss the appliances and accessories that make all that culinary activity faster and more pleasurable.
First up, my workhorse of a mixer, a Kenwood, that has been going strong for close to 40 years! In addition to a regular beater, it came with a whisk (great for whipped cream), and a dough hook. There’s a very useful grating accessory with different sized disks that I pop on top to make short work of any kind of sliced or grated fruit, veggies, or cheese. It is a stellar performer!
No cook is worth his/her/their salt without sharp knives. Mine are from Sabatier. Enough said.
When I moved into this house 5 years ago, I realized there was no built-in microwave and I didn’t want to give one valuable counter space. So I bought a Breville toaster oven and have been very pleased with how fast it warms up, probably saving me energy $$, and I love that warmed up muffins come out crisp on top instead of soggy or overdone like in the microwave. Yes heating soup requires an extra pot, but you can’t have everything!
The Illy espresso machine is small and great looking and makes delicious morning lattes without a lot of fuss. However, I’m not happy about the excess packaging waste so the Breville Barista Express is on my wish list.
And on the subject of hot drinks, I do love the Alessi tea kettle with the whistling bird. (I’m on my third bird due to incidents with my previous gas cooktop. That issue is hopefully now solved!)
Finally a note about using nice cutlery and plates and one small clever gadget. I adore beautiful china plates and bowls. I have a few patterns that are fun to mix and match, old and new, along with a selection of glasses, linen table runners and woven place mats. Setting the table should be fun!
For wine enthusiasts who (like me) never finish a whole bottle of wine: a simple air extractor gadget lets you keep red wine fresh for much longer (Vacu Vin pump is less than $20).