Remodeling your kitchen can be awesome fun if you’ve got a healthy budget. Design options and colors are head-spinning and full of potential to help you create a loving and warm home.
And if you love a touch of tech, then the latest appliances and gadgets might blow your mind.
In my experience as a local real estate agent, I’ve found the kitchen to be the most important room with many buyers. It’s where everyone gathers and where memories are created – a great kitchen can really sell a home.
New homeowners will often pour any remaining funds set aside for their purchase into a new kitchen. Likewise, if you’re thinking of selling right now, a high-spec cooktop and stove will set your property apart and help maximize its value.
Here’s a round-up of innovations in cookers and ovens by companies such as Westinghouse, Bosch, Whirlpool and Miele to give you a taste of what’s available.
You don’t have to bake any of these manufacturers into your thinking – although these are among America’s favorites – but just let the idea of owning the world’s best cooking technology simmer away in the back of your mind!
- Open sesame – New high tech stove doors will automatically open at the end of a cooking cycle. If you forget about the food or become distracted, the oven will allow heat to escape but keep the food warm as it rests.
- Say cheese – A camera in the stove monitors the food, and you can watch it cook and even alter the settings with an app from anywhere in the world, although you’ll probably be somewhere else in the house!
- Cool doors – Literally, the doors are cool. High-spec ovens have fans that force cool air between the double-panes of thermal glass in the door. This forms a veil of cool air that makes the door safe to touch. If you have children running around the kitchen, it’s a cool safety feature.
- Smart cooking – Let your oven automatically select the right temperature, cooking time and range function based on the type of food. Some models will even suggest which shelf to place the dish on for optimal results.
- Climate change – Several manufacturers offer ovens with a sealed environment to ensure roasts retain nutrients, flavors and natural juices. They promise cakes will rise evenly, and pastry will be evenly crisp and not burn.
- Stretch-out – That awkward maneuver of pulling a hot tray from the oven to check the food is history. Shelves now have telescopic arms, so trays slide out easily.
- Need for speed – Top-of-the-range ovens are now promising to heat twice as quickly as those designed less than five years ago.
- Get steamed up – Settings offer a mix of steam and heat designed to avoid drying out food, such as fish and meat, while crisping skins and fat.
- Heat is on – When it comes to cleaning an oven, forget the scrubbing bush. The pyrolytic cycle heats to more than 900 degrees, carbonizing food residue and grease. All you’re left with is a small amount of ash that you wipe away.
- Spotless ovens – Watch out for an oven interior surface called ever-clean enamel. It retains its flawless finish and is durable and easy to maintain, according to designers.