Appliances on kitchen counters - need cook's perspective
gwlolo
11 years ago
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colleenoz
11 years agograinlady_ks
11 years agoRelated Discussions
Need help choosing cooking appliances
Comments (19)Great decision! I misspoke up topic. I was distracted by your choices. My induction cooktop is 24" (it's from Europe) but has the big double element. Some 30" cooktops don't, but your 36" will. It's great for stockpots, round griddles, bean pots, etc. Thanks! For me, my kitchen is ideal! I suffered with really awful appliances for years waiting for the money tree to shed enough leaves that I could get exactly what I wanted. If you're likely to move during the life of your kitchen keeping a hard line on the budget is a good idea. If you expect to be there to enjoy it, the more you can scrimp on unimportant things and put toward the functional ones, the better. That said, by the time my kitchen was done, I really didn't have the need for speed that I thought the Advantium would be great for and I've never learned to use it to its greatest advantage. OTOH, it's the best microwave I've ever used and, while the operation is weird, running on convection oven mode, it's a really good oven. There's a rack that holds my 17" Pyrex baking dish. In the steam oven, I blanch or steam vegetables all the time, make "convenience foods" like chicken tenders, poach... And sometimes I just have something small that seems to want to go in it. I learned that putting a pot in to finish on convection mode isn't the best idea if the regular oven is available because cleaning spatter out of the combi-steam is a dreadful chore, and my regular oven has the best self-clean function out there. :) If something drippy goes in the combi-steam, now, I try to remember to put a solid pan underneath. In the regular, big, oven, I bake, broil, etc., as one normally would. If I have small things that need to to be oven baked, I often will use the Advantium because it's convenient. That would be the kind of things people often put in a toaster oven, like a tray of borekes (homemade) from the freezer. With the enamelled trays that you can use as baking sheets, and the fact that my Advantium is at the most convenient level, this is very convenient. Rewarming a composed plate of food is nigh on miraculous in the Gaggenau combi-steam. I'm not familiar enough with the other makes to know if they do similarly. There are still things that I zap, like a bowl of pasta or soup for a quick meal, or a sandwich. The Advantium does a great job on microwave mode. If I were making lovely sandwiches for company, however, and wanted to heat and melt, I'd use the steam like they do in the fancy sandwich shops, and if I have more than a single bowl of soup or pasta to heat, I do it on the stove. I chose my warming drawer so that it had a low enough setting to heat plates. My combi-steam will as well. The big oven has a plate heating setting at 120°, which is too warm for my purposes. The warming drawer and combi- go down to 85°. The warming drawer is the most convenient by far for plate heating, however. Because they have these temperatures, both the big oven and the combi- are also appropriate for keeping foods warm. I don't remember how low the Advantium goes since I have so many other choices. So, for the recent Seder feast, I made a kugel (vegetable casserole) and partially cooked the brisket a day ahead. I also had steamed all the root vegetables for the tsimmis (roots and dried fruit). The soup was tomato consomme, and I used the combi-steam to blanch the tomatoes for peeling, and made the soup on the stove, then froze it about a week early. Dessert was French macarons, which I baked in the regular, big oven a week ahead and froze. For matzah toffee (dairy, not for Seder), I melt the butter and sugar in a one quart saucier on the smallest induction element. No double boiler necessary, not even for chocolate. The matzah is spread on parchment on a baking tray that comes with my big, regular oven. It has raised sides and fits six squares perfectly. It also fits perfectly in the fridge (the housing of which is made by the same company as the oven). So the toffee is poured on the matzah, chocolate chips are sprinkled over and heated in the oven, then spread once warm to a complete layer, and sprinkled with dried fruit and nuts mix, and chilled overnight before being broken up. Day of, I sliced the brisket and moved it to the small graniteware roaster and covered with foil, and put it in the combi-steam on convection mode. The gigantabird (turkey) went in the regular oven, and several foiled potatoes for the strange eaters went around it at the appropriate time. I had my stockpot simmering with matzah balls, which I make on the day because they don't come out when I do them ahead, on the big double element, and the soup defrosting in my old Farberware stockpot on the gas flames. On the most powerful single induction element, I had the tsimmis: sauteed the onion, combined all the steamed veg, added the macerated fruit, and tried to get it all combined and hot. This was in my 9-quart bean pot. I had been pulled away from starting it on time, and I knew it would never be hot and well married in time, so I put it in the Advantium for the 1-1.5 hrs. I had before I absolutely had to put in the kugel. That went in the Advantium, on the shelf, just before we sat down to read the story and do the blessings. For boneless skinless chicken, just to make cooked chicken, I put the pieces in a solid pan from the combi-steam, brush the pieces with some kind of sauce or marinade, and sprinkle with a seasoning blend and an herb blend. Steam at 360 for about 25 minutes for tenders (not very full pan) or 40-45 minutes for breasts. Small boneless thighs somewhere between, and an extra five minutes or a little more if there are bones. Instant food, dead easy. Another version is to fill the bottom of the pan with vegetables (mirepoix, trinity or whatever) and put chicken breasts or a whole butterflied chicken on top, and steam for 1-1.5 hrs. depending on the quantity. OTOH, for true roasted chickens, I'll do them vertically in the regular big oven, with some wine in the pan, or else use the rotisserie. I tend to be too lazy for the rotisserie. It's heavy to pull in and out, and messy, and the chickens need to be trussed. They come out just as well on a vertical roaster and if they need tying a silicone "rubber" band or two is generally adequate since they're not moving. I've only done one chicken in the Advantium, which isn't a fair test (Freudian slip? I typo'd "don't" for "done". Easy to do when the mind has moved on to the next word before the fingers are done typing, however it might have been some kind of subconscious warning! :D ). It was fine, but had more of a microwaved taste than I care for. I do use some of the speed programs for intermediate things, but I've underutilized the speed since I really have the luxury now to do slow. :) Favorite thing that I never ate before the new kitchen: Barely blanched blue lake green beans. OMG! I love green beans but I hate blanching in a pot of water with a vengeance and hate using steamer baskets to do it even more. Green beans blanched in the steam oven, but still crisp are SO amazing and fab at any temperature (hot from the oven, room temp or cold from the fridge). My father doesn't like them though. He thinks they're not cooked enough. :) That's a choice. :) For blanching green beans or asparagus or whatever, I take the time to line them up neatly in a single layer, and keep the time short since they'll continue to cook in their own heat. The beans get waterlogged if you ice bath them, so I just run under cold water then transfer them to a cold, flat glass container as fast as possible. For full grown green beans or medium sized asparagus, I do 100% steam, 215°, 6 minutes. For matchstick asparagus or haricots verts, more like 4 minutes. Hope this helps you envision things....See MoreNeed Cooking Appliance Advice
Comments (2)I can answer the first part. If your budget can afford it, go with the 3 appliances. The cooktop can be used as a light work surface if space is tight (with proper protection) The best reason to separate the cooktop and oven is to keep the cook from overheating. With induction, there is very little heat escaping from the surface so you stay much cooler so why put something hot under the cook surface? The other reason is ergonomics so you don't need to do gymnastics to use the oven. Even raising the oven 10-20 inches off the floor makes baking so much easier I will defer to others on the speed oven other than 2 comments(maybe 3) 1. You can mix and match appliances. I have a wolf and an advantium. 2. You can use a setting for something other than what it is designed to cook. I frequently choose a speed setting for a similar type of food (but also understand the custom settings but don't always take the time to create a new program. If Bosch allows custom settings, just figure out the basics and the world is your. I do create custom settings frequently on the advantium in addition to using what is in the programs 3. Side opening woud be nice especially if you are putting it above a regular oven. By design, our advantium is at max height. When we sell our house in 18-20 years, a shorter person would not like the heighr....See MoreBest kitchen appliances for a cook?
Comments (19)I just sold my forever house (figures), and in it, I had a Miele fridge, Miele DW, Sharp MW drawer, double Wolf E series ovens, and a Wolf induction top. I loved all of these appliances, but the control panel in the ovens was starting to be glitchy, and they never cooked as evenly as I expected for the price point. The appliances were about five years old when we moved. I miss the DW most! I'm planning a new build, and we got lucky with some scratch/dent/opened items last time. I'm trying to repeat that feat this time, but if I don't get as lucky and can't stretch my budget as far, this is what I'm planning: two Miele DW, Blue Star 48" range top, double Bosch side-opening ovens, Sharp MW drawer. Jury is out on the fridge. We are planning on a mid-range French door or maybe the full size Fridgidaire Twins. I'm hoping to run across a good deal on a built in, but I can't spend $8-9,000 on a fridge this time around. We strongly considered a range due to our layout this time, but I decided to stick with the separate cooktop/double wall ovens because my kids are getting older and are eager to help cook. Separating these appliances allows two of them to be cooking at the same time without being in each other's (or my) way as much. The only thing I didn't love about wall ovens was having to sort of bend around the door to get stuff out. I'm hoping to alleviate some of that this time with the side opening ovens. Good luck! The appliance forum is full of great info, too....See MoreWhat appliances have a permanent residence on your kitchen counters?
Comments (126)I don't drink coffee, and so I do not need a "caffeine fix" in the morning. Sometimes I will drink one cup of tea in the morning, but sometimes I forget, and it seems not to matter. I would hate to be addicted to caffeine. I think the Mormons got this one right. Here's what I do have on my counters in L.A.: Kitchenaide stand mixer Vitamix blender Toaster oven (I make toast in it, so no need for a separate toaster) Foodsaver Duxtop portable induction burner I bought the portable induction burner to find out whether I like induction cooking - I don't. But I do store my Fagor pressure cooker on it because that is the only pan that I like to use with induction, partly because the burner has a timer and turns itself off. In addition, I have an IKEA kitchen cart that holds my Avantco meat slicer (which is quite heavy). There is no room for anything else on top of the cart, and the cart is 33½" high, which is a better height than my counters, which are 36½" high. In my Cathedral City kitchen (which is way smaller), I have a lot more appliances because I have nowhere else to store them: Cuisinart meat slicer (which I use mainly for bread) Foodsaver (behind the meat slicer) Chef's Choice knife sharpener (I use whetstones in L.A.) Oster Blender (makes better smoothies/shakes than the more expensive Vitamix) Medium size food processor (forget the brand) Toaster oven I would prefer to store the food processor in a cabinet, and it's not that heavy, unlike the one I have in L.A., which I store in the kitchen cart below the meat slicer. I would also prefer to store the knife sharpener somewhere else, but at least it does not take up much space. I use the blender almost every day, and so it needs to stay out. Here's a sketch of the kitchen, done by the cabinet company, showing preliminary replacement cabinets: This will give you an idea of how small it is....See MoreIslay_Corbel
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