Building a Kitchen to Work for You

A well-designed kitchen can be one of the most beautiful rooms in your home, but when it comes down to it, your kitchen is ground zero for plenty of daily work. Whether it’s cooking, cleaning or doing other home tasks, kitchens are where a lot of labor takes place. So while aesthetic qualities are nice, practicality rules supreme in this part of the home.

Thanks to new technology and other household innovations, though, consumers have access to a range of features that can be installed in the home to make life easier. If you’re looking to upgrade part of your kitchen, or undertake a ceiling-to-floor renovation, you might want to consider adding some of these amenities to improve the function and efficiency of your kitchen.

Smart dishwashers

Today’s dishwasher is tricked out with technology to make it more efficient and effective. Depending on the specific model you choose, a smart dishwasher has sensors that can detect the size of the dish load, and the amount of dirt and grime, and adjust water usage accordingly. That means each load receives a custom wash, and in the process conserves water that would otherwise be unnecessary. And many are good enough that the need for a pre-rinse is greatly reduced and, in some cases, eliminated entirely.

Efficient ranges

New ranges currently out on the market are better at managing temperatures for consistency. With this new installation, you could help maintain a more consistent temperature while cooking. Better warming drawers will also manage to keep food at an ideal temperature.

Refrigerators

This appliance has been constantly upgraded over the past couple of decades, with ice machines, water filters and other features slowly becoming mainstay features. Today’s big attraction in the world of refrigerators are double-door entrances, which allow for wider fridges and a better view of the interior while reducing the space taken up by the door’s swing.

Freezers

Not every home makes kitchen space for freezers, but integrating this appliance into the kitchen itself will inevitably help you get more use out of it. Furthermore, freezing your food can make prep time easier and give you more options for cooking meals. If you’re someone who likes to prepare meals at home, this can be a great addition.

KitchenAid Mixers

Widely regarded as one of the best all-around cooking appliances you can get, the KitchenAid Mixer will make innumerable recipes less daunting. A mixer takes a lot of the grunt work out of recipes, especially when it comes to baking. It can also be used to toss foods, whether for stir-fries, potatoes or other recipes. And this appliance also looks good sitting on your countertops.

Keurig

The big innovation in the coffee world is the rise of the Keurig, which makes brewing coffee easier than ever and cuts down on the time required to clean up. You can brew flavored coffee in one-serving sizes, and if you’re not a coffee drinker there’s also hot coca and tea alternatives.

Crockpot

Yes, crockpots have been around for years, but they’re not less valuable to busy professionals. Throw in your meal before you leave for work and come home to the incredible aromas of a home-cooked meal that’s ready and waiting for you to dig into.

Life in the kitchen can be as easy or as hard as you decide to make it. If you want to simplify your kitchen duties without sacrificing quality of living, consider these features to take some of the workload off of your shoulders. After all, nothing says luxury quite like having a kitchen that does the work for you.

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