18 September 2020

Four Things to Keep in Mind When Designing a Kitchen

Photo by Aaron Huber on Unsplash

There is no denial of the fact that designing a kitchen is the most crucial aspect when it comes to building a house. The kitchen is the beauty of the house and should be designed in such a way that it sets a style statement of your house. It represents you and should be designed according to your wants and needs. All the kitchens which you may have come across your entire life must be different, and each of them uniquely suits the needs of the family. A kitchen should be designed by keeping into consideration the functionality and purpose of different things. You may have seen many kitchens that aren’t even designed properly and pose a bad impression on the visitors. 

The way you design, plan, and organize your kitchen will have a significant impact on both the dining and the cooking. Starting off from the basic structure to furniture and decor, you have the opportunity to design everything according to your imagination. You can gather countless ideas from your friends, family, and internet, and picture your kitchen as the exotic zone of the house. 

The following are some kitchen design tips that can be taken into consideration when designing the kitchen. 

Go For an Open Kitchen Plan

Gone are the days when people used to be more inclined towards having a separate room for the kitchen. Today’s modern homes have open kitchens as they are more in demand. An open kitchen has a more welcoming and inviting atmosphere. The kitchen space is more open to entertainment as its open; after all, what’s better than a kitchen that has no barrier between it and the social space of your home. It looks highly sophisticated and luxurious. Open kitchens also give you an opportunity to keep an eye on your children, as they’ll be playing around in front of your eyes. 

Make Sure That the Kitchen has Enough Natural Light

A kitchen is the place of your house where you spend a significant amount of time out of your daily routine. Being dependent only on tube lights and light bulbs is going to add a burden to your electricity bills. Therefore, it is essential to have windows inside your kitchen and allow maximum amount of natural light inside during the day. You can install window blinds to control the amount of light coming inside; for inexpensive custom roman shades click here. Installing windows will keep the mood of your kitchen fresh and full of air. 

Have a Proper Ventilation System

Having an efficient ventilation system is a need that is often ignored. It has to be understood that a kitchen can never be a comfortable place if it doesn’t have a proper ventilation system. When you cook, the hot air, being less dense, accumulates near your kitchen ceiling. It has to be wiped out; otherwise, it creates oxygen deficiency inside your kitchen. Because of high humidity, a person can’t stand there for too long, and this honestly creates a miserable atmosphere inside a kitchen. Different smells can accumulate as well and can be very unpleasant. Therefore, an efficient ventilation system is required to keep the inside environment of your kitchen bearable and pleasant.  Kitchen hoods are an essential part of the kitchen as they eradicate any odors, fumes, and pungent smells from your kitchen. 

Have Enough Storage Space

Having inadequate storage space is a common mistake made by many individuals while designing the kitchen. You need to carefully plan where you are going to place the cupboards. Make sure that the cupboards are easily reachable so that they can be used properly. Purchasing frequently used kitchen tools is the key to an organized kitchen. You can buy a utensil hanger and can place it over your counter to hang pans and spoons on it. Make sure that your kitchen counter has drawers to store different items. By following all these storage tips, it would be much easier for you to manage your kitchen and organize all the items in a proper manner. Significant storage space will also make your kitchen look tidy and big. 

16 September 2020

Best Tips to Improve Your Knife Skills

Photo by Viviana Rishe on Unsplash

Knowing when to use the proper knife for the proper cutting is itself a skill that needs to be mastered if you want to become a good chef. Wondering how to chop, dice, or mince, the article brings all the crucial knife skills you should follow to make yourself feel confident while cooking. These skills can be used easily in daily life and will help you sharpen your knives skills.

Keeping the knives sharp

Dull knives are not safer for cooking so always use a sharp knife. You can keep your knives sharp by honing tools. It is better to sharpen your knives by a trained knife sharpener. Detergents have adhered effect on some knives. So it is better to wash your knives by hand. However stainless steel is safe for dishwasher use. They can be washed in the dishwasher.

Having the proper knives

Knives vary in their size like you must have a four-inch and an eight-inch chef’s knife in your kitchen. These knives must be included in your standard kitchen knife stand. An eight-inch bread knife that we also call a tomato knife is also a must-have knife.

Split and slice

You must place your thumb and index finger on the handle of the knife. Chefs call it “choke up”. The thumb and knuckle of your hands should have a hard grip on the blade in the handle while the rest of the remaining fingers wrap around the handle. All of this gives you extra control, which will help you in using the knife more easily. One more thing, you don’t want to hold your grip tightly as this will strangle the knife.  

Use it like as saw

You should use your knife like a saw, instead of moving up and down slice it through. It helps you in handling the food or vegetables more efficiently. You just need to hold your knife firmly and slice it through like a saw motion.  

Instead of visiting the stores, you can also buy sharp knives online. There are many websites that provide critic reviews to the knives that they are selling. You may use cheap discount codes purple and you can avail discounts while online shopping.

Cut in half to create a flat surface

Cutting, chopping, or slicing your round products in half will help in creating a flat surface. To do this, you must keep your knife above the height of your elbow as it will put more control and pressure. Now using gravity to your advantage, cut it through nicely and firmly.

The claw technique

Making a claw while cutting the food is very helpful. In the process, your fingertips must be towards the cutting board. It will help you in cutting more precisely and harmlessly. This skill takes time and a lot of patience. So while cutting the onion, hold the onion in the hand and make a claw. You can dice the onion painlessly. 

Following the above-mentioned tips, you can refine your knife skills and can easily become a master chef.