Span Ows wades into the debate and reckons that the ideal hob/oven/microwave layout is like this:
a) I can see the practical appeal of that layout - microwave and grill/oven at eye level; nice big drawer below the oven to put your pans in etc. This is much the same layout as we have in the house we are renting.*
b) Although electric ovens are every bit as good as gas ovens**, I don't like electric hobs, especially not these new-fangled glass induction ones. They just aren't as cosy as gas hobs. And at least you could light a cigarette on the old fashioned electric rings.
c) I think we'll mark him down for having fridge/freezer right next to the oven, but there is a small gap between them so fair enough.
* It's just that when I was a lad we had 'cookers' where the hob was always directly above the oven, and then the grill for making toast was directly above that (tastes much better than electric toast), it all being the same lump of metal. So even though nowadays the 'hob' and the 'oven/grill' are two quite separate bits, I still struggle with the idea that you can site them independently of each other.
** Godwin's Law.
Wednesday, 9 March 2011
Good kitchen design (2)
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15 comments:
Gas hobs are better than electric hobs because you can use them with all sorts of pans, whereas the old type electric hobs needed pans with flat bottoms and the new type induction hobs don't like stainless pans. Mind you, you have to be a lot more determined to burn yourself on an induction hob.
Pah! THIS is top Level kitchen design:
http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/1298160029064565905IbBguN
With you on b)gas hobs. Much more versatile.
Ditto c). Heat source next to the heat exchanger of a fridge/freezer doesn't do a lot for the latter,
The best bit of kit we bought for our kitchen is a fridge with drawers rather than the stupid conventional shelves. The worst is a smoothiemaker that we won. We find that if we have a nice piece of fruit we tend to eat it rather than liquidise it so the smoothiemaker repines unused.
On the one hand i'm liking it but then some retard has put the kettle in the space where hot oven trays are meant to sit. THERE IS SUPPOSED TO BE BARE WORKTOP NEXT TO OVEN!!
I would also like to add that I too prefer the idea of a gas hob because in the event of a power cut you can still have a nice cuppa.
Not with you on enclosed microwaves or eye-level ovens, Mr W.
Microwaves give off a lot of heat and moisture, enclosing them plays merry buggery with all but the very best quality units. Not now, but in a few years' time. Kitchen fitters love them because they lead to repeat business. You might as well have a built-in kettle or coffee machine.
The problem with high ovens is that it is far easier to keep a pan steady if you are lifing it upwards than if you have to remove it and then lower it to another surface for stirring/serving. If you remove a pan at chest level and have to drop it down your elbows and shoulders are working all the time and have to execute two distinct movements - one horizontal and the other vertical, not so if you are lifting something from knee level.
This manifests itself most at the extremes such as a heavy roasting tray (as per festive fowl) or a full casserole dish (perhaps containing my award winning lamb ragout). A loss of grip or balance in the hand results in an unstable boiling pot four or five feet off the ground.
Not only that but a spillage of boiling liquid has a greater chance of hitting the scrotum area if it starts above waist level than below.
As for fridge next to cooker, that it a complete no-no, it makes the fridge work far too hard and reduces its life expectancy hugely while also increasing the leccy bill more than a tad.
Incidentally, sinks under kitchen windows did not occur by accident. It allowed mummy to keep an eye on the children in the garden while she was washing nappies or dishes or preparing vegetative accompaniments for dinner.
B, agreed on gas hobs.
MA, on a Friday evening, maybe.
VFTS, there appears to be a one inch gap, so let's go easy on him.
D, we've a freezer with drawers which is v. handy but does it work with fridges as well? Do you also have a sandwich toaster which you've never used?
SW, go easy on the kettle! I'm sure he can pick it up and move it before he needs to plonk something down. (It was the pale green colour which bothered me, to be honest).
TFB, where we are renting our oven is exactly the same height as SO's and it is very handy (with separate hob). I would argue the opposite of what you say - you can open the oven door and remove the cooked stuff and move it laterally to the work surface; it's the floor level ovens which require bending and lifting.
I dunno about built in microwave, but in the previous episode I showed what the best way of doing it was (on a shelf below a low unit).
My Dad explained the sink/windows/garden/kids thing to me as well, but even in flats without gardens, it's nice to have sink under window.
hahaha...excellent! I too prefer gas! But the newer electric hobs are incredible (seen the ad where a bar of chocolate on a working hob doesn't melt but the half in the pan does melt...incredible.
The kettle was a gift (in Spain they just ARE NOT available so I got what I was given and didn't look at the horses teeth. Also, it can be plugged in about 1.5 metres to the right along with my prize possession: the liquidiser :-)
FatBigot, never spilt a drop of anything yet and the kitchen is 5 years old*...but looks new :-)
* I guess only more time will tell if your microwave point is a cert or not.
"..freezer with drawers..does it work with fridges as well?" Yep: when we looked only Bosch did them, so we hied to J Lewis who sold us one reduced by being their last, and further reduced by having been their display model. Yippee!
"Do you also have a sandwich toaster which you've never used?" Of course: we gave it to our daughter but she returned it unused. At least we can joke that our sandwich toaster has been to university.
Someone was bound to start this, so it'd better be me.
I have an Aga (oil) and an eye level microwave. Plus a toaster. No electric kettle tho' - Aga kettle.
being a 'true believer' I use the Aga for taosting and defrosting, and rarely use MW or toaster.
Aga keeps going during power cuts and heats a fair area of our house.
Clearly you can't have an eye level Aga oven - at least I haven't seen one yet.
Personally I like cooking on an Aga - no controls to fiddle about with. And once you've cracked the Hot oven/ warm oven; hot hot plate/not so hot hotplate technique it's dead easy. Also you end up with lots of space to dish things up.
And to get to the nitty gritty kippers done in a fish kettle in the top oven are to die for...
"kippers done in a fish kettle in the top oven are to die for...": I shall mention that to my best beloved.
We find that the lesshotplate is wonderful for making dropscones: a wipe of oil, a splash of mixture and Bob's your uncle.
DM - re drop scones - me too.
Tip: Add small slice pf lemon for each kipper (undyed on the bone) plus a bay leak in the water below the tray). Yum Yum.
L, what's Mark doing in your kitchen if he's rarely used?
D, my grandma used to make dropscones like that on the AGA. They were delicious, AFAICR, but I've not had them since.
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