Being able to cook well is an enviable skill, but it’s one that takes practice to achieve. If you want to take your cooking ability to the next level, you’re going to need a next-level kitchen. Whether you’re actually aspiring to a career as a chef, or whether you just enjoy cooking for its own sake and want the opportunity to try out new ideas, upgrading your kitchen will help you to achieve your potential and realise your cooking ambitions. Here are five great hacks to upgrade your kitchen and set your inner chef free.
- Bookcase for recipe books
If you’re set on trying out some exciting and challenging new recipes from your latest cookbooks, you want to keep these where you can find them easily. A heap in the cupboard under the kitchen sink just isn’t good enough, and although making space for a decent-sized bookcase isn’t everyone’s idea of a priority in the kitchen, you’ll soon find that having those recipe books to hand will prove invaluable when you’re cooking up a storm and haven’t the time to go rooting around.
- Install window shutters
Again, not always the first thing that you’d think of, but DIY window shutters have several advantages over curtains or blinds for the budding chef. Keeping the windows open while you’re cooking will reduce concentrations and allow smoke, steam and odours to escape, but keeping one shutter closed will stop wind, rain or bright light getting where you don’t want it. You can get custom shutters fitted into your kitchen so that you aren’t changing the design of your home. Curtains can be a fire hazard in the kitchen and can quickly become discoloured, but shutters are safer and easier to wipe down after cooking.
- Under-cabinet lighting
You can never have too much light when you’re cooking, but frequently you’ll be working at a surface or on a hob where you’re in the shade of overhead cupboards. On a kitchen island or a kitchen table you might be able to have the glow of some led pendant lights to light up your work space, however under cabinets, the light is blocked. The obvious solution is under-cabinet lighting that can be switched on and off separately from the main ceiling lights. These lights can also be adjusted to move in different directions for even greater versatility. Get in touch with professional electricians such as W3 Electric (visit their service page here at https://callw3.com/service-areas/mckinney/) who could help you with the installation of these lights in your kitchen.
- Get a serious spice rack
As any serious chef will tell you, herbs, spices and seasoning are essential for making an ordinary dish taste extraordinary. Keeping decent amounts of all your spices and herbs on a large floor-standing spice rack therefore makes sense; you can see what you’ve got at a glance, make decisions as to what to add on the fly, and there’s no excuse for ever running out of a vital ingredient.
- Invest in a proper pot rack
Your kitchen layout should be intuitive, with the items that you most need in a place where you can easily get to them. What could be more essential to cooking than pots and pans? Having these hanging on an overhead rack rather than piled up in a cupboard means that you can grab the size that you want and get going, and then quickly hang it up out of the way when you’re done.
These tips will help you to get a kitchen that works for you rather than against you. Having everything to hand in a space that you feel comfortable in will bring out your budding chef in no time!