Tag: cooking appliances

Cooking Appliances For Tiny Living

The concept of tiny living has taken the world by storm, and more people are aspiring to downsize their lives. Tiny living is both economically beneficially and eco-friendly, but it can be difficult to find great appliances for a tiny home. So, here we will explore some of the best cooking appliances that are great for tiny living.

The Tiny Living Phenomenon

Tiny houses have been shown to be far more environmentally friendly compared to a standard home. The average tiny home occupies just 186 square feet compared to the average standard home in the U.S with a 2,598 square foot area. Tiny houses also use only 6 light bulbs compared to an average of 45 in a standard home.
What is even more compelling is that 18% of greenhouse gases can be traced to residential houses. The average home needs approximately 28,000 pounds of CO2 annually, while a tiny house needs only 2,000 pounds.

Those choosing to adopt the tiny living lifestyle can appreciate the value of smaller living. Most tiny homeowners don’t have a mortgage and typically have more savings compared to an average American. It costs an impressive 10 times less in order to build a tiny house, and they are designed to be DIY friendly. While you will be able to enjoy a greener lifestyle, you will be faced with the decision of using grid electricity or running your appliances on propane, which can make the prospect of finding the right appliances even more challenging. When you start looking for cooking appliances, you’ll need to really consider how often you’ll cook and how many people you’ll be cooking for to make the right choice.

Avanti

Avanti is a good brand for tiny homes as they specialize in offering compact appliances. The brand even offers complete compact kitchens designed to provide a fridge, electric heating elements, a storage drawer and a sink in the space needed for a standard range.

Avanti has a great selection of small sized appliances with freestanding ranges in both gas and electric. You can even create a more upscale aesthetic with some modern looking models to create a sophisticated look to your new tiny kitchen.

Ranges

If you prefer to go for a small-scale version of a tradition range, there are some great options. Fagor and Fisher & Paykel both offer some excellent dual fuel options that are just 24”. These ranges provide warming drawers, 4 burners, and a 2 cu. Ft. oven with neat features like a self-clean mode. Some models even provide convection ovens and variable BTU burners, so you can create a culinary hub in your tiny house.

Cooktops

If you’re not a serious foodie or keen chef, you may prefer to opt for a cooktop. There are plenty of options available for the space conscious. You can choose a 2 or 4 burner model in both electric or gas. You’ll need to ask yourself whether you plan to cook full meals or eat out more. If all you need it to heat a pan of soup, a 2 burner cooktop will take up next to no space and suit your requirements.

Electric cooktops are easy to clean, but gas offers excellent heat control and reliability. Either option will provide a quality appliance as the industry continues to advance rapidly. Some brands now offer induction technology in smaller models that provide fantastic efficiency, easy cleaning and fast cooking, making them ideal for a smaller home.

A tiny home is a test of creativity as you’ll need to think about multiple uses to fit your aesthetic. Before you start shopping for your appliance, you will need to seriously consider your daily habits, lifestyle, and dietary habits. If you are considering tiny living, you can explore the cooking options with this online collection of small cooking appliances. For further help or advice, you can also speak to a home appliance expert.

Convection, Speed, and Steam: What Does it All Mean For Your Appliance Purchase Decision?

When you start shopping for a new cooking appliance, you’ll find yourself with an array of features and cooking styles to choose from. Each of these has pros and cons, with seemingly complex terminology that can hinder your purchasing decision process, so let’s break down some of these cooking styles and terms to help you determine which is the best option for your kitchen.

Convection

Convection cooking involves moving the air around inside the oven to distribute the heat evenly. Many of us have had a bad experience with a turkey that is golden brown on one side and pink on the other, or a cake that has only risen beautifully in certain areas. On its own, a convection oven uses a fan to move the hot air around the oven cavity, filtering the air through an exhaust system at the back of the appliance. This allows faster cooking times to save energy and time while achieving even cooking. Convection is great for most baking, but the dry environment may not work well for some recipes and delicate dishes, such as soufflés, can suffer from a lack of slow and steady cooking.

Steam

While convection is fantastic for roasting, baking, and toasting, if you want to moisten food, steam is the best option. Steam cooking can also provide a healthier option as the nutrients and moisture of the food is preserved. It can also be an excellent way to reheat food as it won’t dry out.

Steam ovens feature a water reservoir that holds water. Through the heat of the oven, this is converted into steam. Steam ovens can be used to proof bread, allow oil-free cooking and encourage perfect results for delicate items such as choux pastry, but steam cannot manage heavy cooking duties and will take a long time to cook full meals. For this reason, many manufacturers offer Steam Convection cooking appliances.

Steam Convection

Steam convection provides the best of both cooking styles. Steam can allow you to cook delicate items that may dry out or easily burn, but convection allows you to effectively brown your foods. The convection cooking moves the heat around, while steam can add moisture, so whatever dish you are preparing, you’ll have the ideal oven conditions.

Speed Ovens

If you need to cook on the go and don’t have the time to wait around in your kitchen, you may wish to consider a speed oven. The speed oven is considered one of the fastest cooking appliances on the market. As the name suggests, these ovens cook food at a far more rapid rate using relatively new technology. This innovative cooking method uses a combination of convection and microwaving. The convection method ensures that heat is created and evenly distributed throughout the oven, while the RF microwaving increases the rate of cooking. The microwave to convection ratio depends on the type of food you’re preparing and the selected cycle.

Speed ovens are fantastic time saving and multipurpose appliances. You can cook a full-size turkey in approximately 20 minutes, so it can make preparing family dinners super-fast and easy.

Cleaning and Maintenance

While cooking style is important, another consideration is maintenance, particularly cleaning. Steam naturally prevents the baking on of food, so it is easier to clean. This feature is not available with a speed or convection oven, so accidental spills can be problematic. Fortunately, some models do have a self-cleaning function to vaporize any food gunk with the minimum of fuss.

If you’re thinking about a new oven, you can explore the options with this online collection or speak to a home appliance professional for more specialized service.

The Benefits Of A Range Hood

The kitchens of the past were simple utilitarian spaces designed solely for cooking. But the modern kitchen is a more diverse living space, intended for food storage and preparation as well as entertaining friends, family, and loved ones. While today’s homes are filled with a selection of advanced and innovative kitchen appliances, many homeowners ignore the importance of investing in a powerful range hood.

Range hoods are installed above your cooking range, and provide added ventilation for the cooking space. This may not seem necessary, but there are actually many benefits of a range hood. When combined, these benefits help provide both cleanliness and comfort to your home, bringing 21st-century amenities to your kitchen.

Promote Kitchen Cleanliness

The primary purpose of a range hood is to ventilate your kitchen, removing airborne grease, smoke, steam, and other debris from your cooking space. With the push of a button, your hood will begin to filter these pollutants from the area above your cooking range, reducing the potential for bacteria growth in your kitchen while also improving indoor air quality. Using a range hood will ultimately help make your kitchen clean, healthy living space.

Remove Excess Kitchen Heat

Range hoods are designed to provide added ventilation to your kitchen, and a benefit of a hood’s ventilation functions is the removal of excess heat.

When a range hood removes smoke and steam from your kitchen, it also removes heat from the space. The hood’s fan blower will suck up steam, smoke, and hot air from your kitchen, pushing it out of your home through a duct or recirculating it into the space with a slight cooling effect. While a range hood will not cool your kitchen as well as an air conditioner will, using a hood can help transform a steamy or hot kitchen into a more comfortable cooking space.

Extra Light In Your Kitchen

The kitchen is a hub of activity in your home, whether that be cooking, cleaning, or entertaining guests. A range hood will help you keep this space clean, but it can also provide extra light in your kitchen.

Most of today’s range hoods feature built-in lights to illuminate your cooking space, providing an added convenience feature that pleases many homeowners. These lights are a particular benefit when you’re cleaning your cooktop or other nearby cooking areas, with the extra illumination helping you find hidden gunk, grime, and grease. This added convenience helps you add the ideal amount of light to your kitchen for almost any situation, bringing additional comfort to the room.

Added Style For Luxurious Atmosphere

The range hoods of the past were bulky, loud, and unattractive appliances. But today’s range hoods are almost the exact opposite, exuding style and flair while promoting cleanliness in your kitchen.

Today’s range hoods operate quietly and efficiently, and come a wide variety of elegant designs that provide style and class to your kitchen. A unique range hood can provide the perfect “wow” effect in any kitchen, elevating your room’s style without sacrificing functionality. Appliance brands recognize the importance of marrying style and functionality, and there a host of artfully crafted range hoods on the market today. A modern range hood’s powerful ventilation features combined with its stylish design are all but guaranteed to bring luxury to your kitchen.

Superior Range Hoods From Premium Manufacturers

The kitchen buzzes with activity at all hours of the day. It should be a comfortable place where you enjoy spending your time cooking delicious meals and gathering with loved ones, and a range hood will certainly help bring that goal to life. Thanks to a host of benefits including powerful ventilation features, additional kitchen lighting, and impeccable style, an advanced, modern range hood is the perfect addition to any home kitchen.

To begin your search for the ideal appliance, consider using this online collection of range hoods.