What Did You Learn About Your Kitchen Over Thanksgiving

aloha2009

12 years ago

As I prepared for Thanksgiving this year, I carefully observed what I was doing when it came to really using every square inch of kitchen.

1. I will need all the work spaces I will have (6', 6' and 5') when preparing expansive meals.

2. Instead of staring into a wall of cabinets, I will be able to look out the new windows to be installed. I can hardly wait!

3. I have often used a SS sink as a landing zone for hot pans and lids. Buying corian countertops and sink would cease this activity immediately. Gave me great pause.

4. Lots of activity around the range. Most days aren't like that but it sure would be nice to have a wall oven when it's really busy.

5. DW gets filled up crazy fast and our current one is NOISY!

What did you learn from preparing a grandiose meal?

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Comments (11)

lavender_lass
12 years ago
I need more counterspace...but I already knew that! LOL

Aloha- Stainless steel might be a good surface to incorporate somewhere for your countertops. Maybe a landing area, on the left side of the cooktop...sort of close to your oven?

I think EVERYONE wishes they had two dishwashers and possibly two ovens, on Thanksgiving :)
espresso
12 years ago
My new island is wonderfully large to really get down and dirty in the kitchen. What was there before was a semi-functional, ugly blob with a stove in the middle.

Induction cooking is the new "fast food". ;)

I would not go with a deep sink again. Too much bending over to reach the bottom, and it takes forever to fill.
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Ditto the comments about sufficient work surfaces. Also am grateful for two sinks. I appreciate the ability to keep visitors outside the work area without banning them entirely. Am glad I've got so many different kinds of ingredients and pans so close at hand--don't have to head to basement for things this time. Workspace is sufficient, so interruptions are not disastrous. Pull-out wooden surfaces give me flexibility. (Our neighbor has had a sudden downturn in health, so in the midst of our Thanksgiving food planning and early assembly, I was able to construct a large lasagne for the neighbor's relatives this afternoon without getting testy or feeling that I was setting behind my own holiday meal.) We now have a coat closet, a front step, welcoming exterior lighting, a shovel-able driveway--all great for guests. Am thrilled to have table leaves, table cloths, china, vases, silver flatware, stemware, trays, and vacuum cleaner close at hand to the dining room. Am glad I got out the checkbook and paid for repair & reupholstery of dining chairs two months ago--no last minute probs. The lower drawers are working out well. Nice to not have those open lower cab doors in my way and don't have to bend over as much. I can see my baking ingredients easier. Having leftovers processing station is already paying off--wraps, containers, plastic bags, etc. Gel mats keep me from quitting too early because of sore feet and legs; I keep going. Quiet insulated niche for our dishwasher has proved to be good--allows me to listen to radio or people even when dishwasher is working. Similarly, am loving the low setting on my range hood--allows me to hear radio or telephone. DH decided to fill our two dehydrators with apple slices yesterday--AARGH! Why couldn't he wait a couple days? But at least the units are in closet and apples aren't in my way. There are sufficient closet shelf space and outlets to allow this and we put vented door on the closet so the closet doesn't overheat. If he comes home with gamebirds tonight, finishing that cleanup won't set me behind either. (But now I have fewer excuses for not being ready when guests come tomorrow.) Love the good lighting. Enjoying the decor. Am thankful that our home equity loan is at abt 3.5 percent still, so we're maximizing our available cash.
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Congrats, Gigi. It sounds like it's working well even half installed, which really says something. Mine's not new any more and this is its third Thanksgiving, but it did better than ever. The L-counter plus island has room for several people to work at once--lovely, but no longer great once a dozen more crowd in on top of them to serve from a buffet set up on the island and kitchen dining table. Unfortunately, for this number of people the living and dining area are stocked with extra-size tables and seating, and there's just not room for a large buffet out there. This year, though, we cooked almost everything we could, including turkey, stuffing and gravy, etc., etc., etc., earlier. That still left a lot to pull together at the end, but nevertheless my pretty kitchen was tidy and showing off its holiday decoration when we called everyone in to dish up around the island.
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Definitely. My Thanksgiving Day holiday ended at 8:30 this morning when DS and his family left for the drive back home. They arrived at my house from out of state early Wednesday morning. Thanksgiving day dinner #1 was at his DD's at noonish and as usual was great. Later in the afternoon we went to my DD's DS's for TD dinner #2, which included huge steaks along with the turkey. So much food!! Of course, leftovers from both were brought back to my house. My "kids" understand that I don't do a lot of cooking anymore. Unfortunately, none of us have room enough to have both sides of the families at one time. The weather has been freezing and below, but inside, we all had full tummies and enjoyed being able to visit and recall "back in the day" happy times; still remembering sad times too. The best thing, over all to me, was seeing two of my 12 year old Great Grandsons meet each other for the first time. They immediately became best friends, and chose to spend the night at my house, where they could be together until time to leave for home. That involved a little extra driving for my DS, but it was not a problem, and I loved having them here. Even though this morning, I see that my computer has been places I didn't even know existed, and I find I can't get into my Facebook. I think one of them must have signed on with the password they use. Not a problem. I just need to go back and hunt up mine, or FB will give me a new one. I am grateful that they can stay in touch this way. And of course they have those other "gadgets" that are foreign to me. So the answer is yes, it has been a happy time all around. Sue
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itsallaboutthefood
12 years ago
All went well in my new kitchen...it's wonderful that I can put anything hot on the soapstone counters. My 2 cutting board pull-outs were put to good use. And I know longer have to dig through the garage for my large platters etc. They all have a place in my new kitchen.

But even though I went from a 24" wall oven to a 30" oven in my Wolf range, and my new oven is plenty large enough for a 20 lb turkey, it's still not large enough to put anything else in the oven with the turkey like extra stuffing. However, I'm not complaining...we used to have to cook the turkey in the bbq outside! But it is good to also have a good toaster oven to handle side dishes!
chicagoans
12 years ago
I learned that my oven, which I've had for 3 years, has a probe. I usually use 2 remote thermometers (one for the turkey on the grill, one for the turkey in the oven) and the one I usually borrow from my sister was left behind by mistake. I was pulling out the turkey lifters from a bottom drawer, and found the probe for the oven. Never used it before, but it worked great!

I also learned that I've lost a number for flatware pieces over the years. We had 24 people, and I thought I had plenty of flatware, but ended up supplementing the knives with steak knives, and at the second table we skipped the salad forks. Time to get another set, maybe before our next hosting gig.
melissastar
12 years ago
That oven in my 36" capital prestige range is actually quite short. I usually butterfly my large turkey and roast it on top of a roasting pan filled with stuffing.
In this oven, that put the pan of stuffing very close to the bottom of the oven and much of it burned. Bummer.
macybaby
12 years ago
I learned that I still love the "perfect turkey" setting on my Elux oven. I still love two ovens, though I was thinking a third might not be so bad.
aprilmack
12 years ago
I learned that I really do need that peninsula. Gulp! Now I'm back to the drawing board. I also realized that my current layout is not all that bad.
stephct
12 years ago
MElissastar-That sounds delicious! Do you have a recipe? The stuffing must be amazing!
Stephanie
melissastar
12 years ago
Hi Stephanie...I'm a major devotee of Cooks Illustrated. I follow their directions for butterflying the turkey, and roasting it on top of slotted broiler pan, set on top of the roasting pan full of stuffing. But I don't use their stufffing recipes; I adapt a recipe for apricot/almond/grand marnier stuffing that I've been using for 20 years. It's from one of the old Silver Palate cookbooks. When you put it under the butterflied bird, it soaks up a lot of the turkey juices, so essentially you reduce by about half any liquid used in the stuffing and a lot of the butter. Send me a PM if you want the specifics.
jstehl
12 years ago
I have only had my kitchen in working order for about a week and the final touches to make it ready enough to use happened the night before Thanksgiving. I was so thankful to have a kitchen but also found just about everything worked great. I love my GE Cafe oven. I was able to cook a 20 lb turkey in the oven using the probe with the oven letting me know it had reached the intended temperature. The lower oven cooked the candied sweet potatoes and the green bean casserole. My 30" Kraus sink handled all of the pots and pans and kept them out of sight. The kitchen layout was perfect for all my cooking needs. I don't think I would change a thing at this point. I just love it and I have GW to thank for so many of my choices.
chibimimi
12 years ago
I learned that a convection oven can really cook a turkey fast -- maybe too fast!

What Did You Learn About Your Kitchen Over Thanksgiving

Comments (11)

lavender_lass

espresso

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