May 6, 2016 (Gephardt Daily) – If your inner chef is coming to life this spring but you aren’t sure if you can cook like the pros at home, take heart. Just a few reasonable changes can transform your kitchen into the efficient and organized space used by the professionals.
Install A High-Profile Faucet. A high-arc faucet that is easy to pull-down and control the nozzle on makes filling big pots and rinsing larger pans and plates quick and efficient. The newest models on the market are designed to make maneuvering them effortless and docking them simple. This will be one of the higher priced items you’ll need to make your kitchen cook worthy. The Trinsic Pro 9659 from Delta is priced at $500 and will be available late summer. Meanwhile, the Align Spring from Moen is available now for about $433.
Set Up Kitchen Zones. The pros assign work space and storage areas to everything in the kitchen including baking, beverages, lunch-making, and dinner preparation. That means you might have to separate items that actually seem to fit together like spatulas…a few by the cooktop and others by the Panini maker. No expense involved here, just organizing based on meal preparation. Also remember: You must have room to work so it’s critical that you put away items you do not use every day. Storing the things you do not need on a regular basis will help you avoid a laboratory look in the kitchen.
Expand Lighting Options in the Kitchen. Pendant lights (the kind that hang from the ceiling) as well as under-cabinet lighting are both key to assembling your chef ready-to-cook kitchen. The workspace must be well-lit but it’s also nice to dim the lights when dinner is served and the pendant lights often can be dimmed using special bulbs and the proper dimmer switch. This is one device you might have to consult with an electrician on to make sure it’s wired safely. However, you should not need an electrician to install the under-cabinet lights. The newest gadget …. an adhesive-backed strip of LED lights that plugs into an outlet and operates by remote control. One of the most reasonably priced units is about 16 feet from Lamps Plus Style #3Y455 for $60.
Choose Easy to Grab Cabinet Hardware. The best chefs demand easy access to their gear and ingredients as they prepare meals. It might seem like a small detail but one very important one: cabinet hardware. Long, pulls in rectangular shapes are much easier to grab than latches, nubs, or so-called bin pulls that you have to grab from below. Ring pulls and U-shaped knobs are the easiest to get open, even with one finger, if the others are messy and/or wet. Some suggestions: Larkin Finger Pull for $11 from Rejuvenation, the Sugatsune DR finger pull for $15.30 from ATG Stores, and the U-Pull M552 for $7.30 from Top Knobs.
Keep Gear in Sight and Easy to Reach. Efficiency is key to running a cook friendly kitchen. Open shelves might work for stacking dishes but you need to make sure those plates and bowls are used often so dust does not collect on them. Meanwhile, try wall or ceiling mounts for pans and pots and utensil holders attached to a backsplash along with pegboards with hooks for smaller kitchen items.
Finally, you might want to check out the variety of unusual and very durable cutting boards on the market. They can literally put you a cut above the other home chefs. Prices range from $14.99 for the Catchall Groove board from Ikea to the Nonslip Edges board for $24.99 from OXO and the Hand Grips board from Teakhaus for $95.99.
Turning your home kitchen into one a chef could easily cook in will feel like a remodel without dishing out the big bucks. And, you can bring out your inner chef throughout the week without paying restaurant prices.
