Your kitchen is one of the most important rooms in your house. While it’s certainly true that you’ll spend around a third of your life in your bedroom (sleeping, naturally), your kitchen is where you’ll go to prepare your meals, clean your implements, and – if you’re lucky enough to have a dining table – eating as well. As such, making sure you get your kitchen looking and feeling right is important. Whether you’re just moving into a new property or you’re looking to revamp your existing area, here are 10 things your kitchen needs in 2022.
1. Good fittings
It’s not just about the ingredients you’re putting in your kitchen, nor is it about your appliances. Having good kitchen fittings – doors, worktops, and other fixtures – will make your life much easier when it comes to preparing meals. It’s worth seeking out replacement kitchen doors if yours are looking a little worse for wear, because there’s nothing more frustrating than dealing with fittings that won’t cooperate when you’re trying to construct a delicious meal.
2. Decent knives and other implements
It’s frustrating trying to prepare ingredients when your knives are blunt. Don’t skimp on decent knives; when you’re hacking away at vegetables or meat and wishing you’d bought something a little more robust, we guarantee you’ll regret it. The same goes for other kitchen implements like chopping boards, cutlery, and vessels (dishes and plates, for example). When you’re shopping for new kitchen equipment, be sure to spend a little extra if you can and get yourself a good set of knives.
3. An ergonomic layout
Have you ever heard of the Triangle Rule? It’s a “law” that dictates how you should lay out your kitchen. Naturally, you don’t necessarily need to obey it, but it states that your sink, your refrigerator, and your oven should be laid out in a rough triangle shape so that you can stand in the middle and get to all of them easily. Whether you follow this rule or not, make sure that your kitchen is ergonomically laid out so that you find it easy to access all of the things you need.
4. Disposal equipment
You’ll also need an excellent set of disposal equipment if you want to maximise your kitchen’s potential. This means a robust garbage bin that won’t fall apart or malfunction, as well as a set of receptacles for recyclable goods. Don’t just throw away plastics or other materials that can be recycled; do your bit for the environment and make sure to sort them into their respective recycling bins. You’ll get used to doing so once you’ve made it a habit.
5. A slow cooker
When you’ve never used a slow cooker, doing so for the first time is a revelation. You can prepare a meal early in the day, then simply bask in the incredible smells emanating from your cooker as the day goes on. When it’s time to eat, you can just lift the lid, serve the food out, and benefit from the extended cooking time the slow cooker allows. It’s best used for meat, since the juices and flavours can soak and meld together, but you can also slow-cook vegetable dishes.
6. Organised storage
There’s nothing more frustrating than trying to find something in your kitchen, only to realise it’s been put somewhere it doesn’t belong. Allocate storage areas to your shelves and other areas and make sure that they’re consistent. You don’t necessarily need to adhere to any existing system; as long as your storage methods make sense to you, that’s fine. You could, for example, group all of your pots and pans together, or you could group cooking implements based on the meals you’re preparing with them.
7. A high-quality kettle
A hot drink can be an incredibly comforting thing after a long, hard day at work, or on a wintry evening when the temperature is low and the darkness is drawing in. Your kettle will serve as a stalwart companion, so again, it’s not worth skimping on cost for a good-quality option. If you’ve got the cash and you’re tech-savvy, you might want to opt for a smart kettle, which can prepare water based on input from an app and can also interact with other smart elements of your home.
8. A large fridge-freezer combo
Having all of your ingredients in one place is extremely convenient, so think about picking up a fridge-freezer combo rather than a separate refrigerator and freezer. It’s also worth making sure that the fridge-freezer you opt for is a large one, so that you can store as many ingredients, meals, and other things inside as you like. Running out of space in your fridge is very frustrating, and it’s more common than you might think, especially if you have a large family!
9. A blender and a food processor
You might think that blenders and food processors essentially perform the same task, but you’d be wrong. A blender, well, blends – it purees food and liquids, making it ideal for making smoothies, soups, and other non-solid food. A processor, however, will chop and dice food for you, but won’t blend it, so you’ll get a rougher and more solid consistency. You should think about having both tools in your kitchen if you’ve got the space, as they can both come in handy.
10. Suitable air flow
This might be down to quirks of construction more than anything over which you have direct control, but your kitchen should have suitable air flow. By necessity, it’s a room that’s going to get extremely hot, so it’s important to have enough air circulating through to get rid of fumes and steam. You should also make sure you’re wiping down your surfaces regularly, because you could be putting yourself at risk of food poisoning if you don’t keep your kitchen clean.
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