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Home On The Range - When One Kitchen Is Not Enough
The prize for the most innovative goes to Whirlpool’s Polara refrigerated range. Let’s say you’re planning a roast chicken for dinner. You take the raw, frozen bird out of the freezer in the morning and put it in the Polara, which you program to cool, allowing the bird to thaw slowly and safely. You set the oven to switch to baking mode at 5 p.m., resulting in a perfectly browned, ready to carve chicken at 7. If you get delayed at the office and don’t get home until 8, the oven will automatically switch to warming mode, instead of burning the chicken to a crisp. If the day turns into a real disaster, the range will return to the refrigeration setting and keep the chicken chilled for up to 24 hours. The Polara is 30-inches wide and will fit in any standard space. The compressor for the refrigerator is in the bottom of the oven, occupying the space that used to be reserved for storage drawers. Manufacturers also are stealing that storage drawer space to accommodate a warming drawer that will keep food at a constant temperature or take a pizza delivered late and heat it back up again. Moist/dry vent controls help keep crisp food crisp and half racks allow the cook to stack multiple pans. Having two warming drawers can make entertaining much simpler. Some manufacturers including GE have introduced a “Sabbath Mode” that meets the requirements of the national kosher-certifying agency, Star-K. When Sabbath Mode is activated, it overrides the safety device that shuts down the oven’s power after it has been operating for 12 consecutive hours. That allows those whose religious beliefs keep them from cooking foods over the Sabbath to eat hot meals. While conventional and convection ovens both use air heated by gas or an electric burner at the bottom of the chamber to cook food, a convection oven has a fan in the back that circulates the heat. Food cooks faster because it’s more evenly surrounded by heat. GE recently introduced the Trivection oven, which goes one step further. It uses reversible convection fans for more even heating and microwave energy to speed cooking times. GE claims the new oven roasts a turkey in half the normal time, bakes bread in a third the normal time, and cooks side dishes in a quarter of the usual time. To help the cook adjust to the faster schedule, the controls will display the old recommended cooking time versus the new. Multiple ovens in one kitchen isn’t a new thing—especially multiple wall ovens, but Maytag’s dual ovens in one 30-inch standard size range is innovative. The ovens can be used simultaneously at different temperatures. The upper oven can preheat quickly and will function as a warming drawer. If you are short on space, designers suggest putting an auxiliary oven in an out-of-the-way place, since you’ll probably use it infrequently for entertaining and other special occasions. When One Kitchen Is Not Enough The greatest return on money invested in home remodeling comes from adding outdoor living space, according to Remodeling magazine’s annual survey. With that kind of encouragement, homeowners are going far beyond the simple outdoor barbecue grill to full-scale outdoor kitchens.Some of the nicest-to-have features in an outdoor kitchen include a smoker system, a heavy-duty rotisserie, plenty of side burners, and large capacity warming drawers that keep food fresh and bugs out. A protective stainless steel lid that opens and closes easily is also important. Another company that has extended its indoor lines outside in a big way is KitchenAid. Its Architect series of stainless steel appliances now includes professional-quality grills in a variety of sizes. Dacor has also extended its Epicure group with grills that feature built-in halogen lighting and warming drawers. DCS, Thermador, and Wolf also have full outdoor lines Second kitchens also can be indoors in places like the master suite. Miele makes small-size cooktops and regular as well as convection ovens that are smaller than 30 inches. Everything is full featured and even the smallest oven has a rotisserie. If that’s still too big for you, Topdeq offers a Kit Case compact kitchen, which is completely mobile and plugs into a standard outlet. It comes with a freezer, refrigerator, a single burner stove, a sink, and counter, all in an easy-to-roll steel case on casters. Whichever stove you select, it will set the tone for your kitchen and that in turn will be central to the way you live. Give yourself time to look around and choose what suits you and your family best. More Editorials |
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