Are you wanting to create the perfect chef’s kitchen? Mint Kitchen Group looks at all the incredible appliances and elements a modern kitchen can now include to become a budding chef’s dream and bring the essence of a commercial kitchen into your own home. 

Over the past few decades, the home chef has become more advanced and adventurous with their culinary creations. The rise of many cooking reality shows has heightened the home cook’s love of cooking and experimenting in areas once only privy to the commercial cookery sector. Today, many of us enjoy food fit for a restaurant in our very own homes.

Since this evolution and explosion in the art of home cooking, many appliances, and kitchen innovations, are now being offered to the homeowner and kitchen enthusiast. Here, we look at some of the more popular choices to bring that commercial edge into your new kitchen design.

Wine Fridges & Coolers

Luxury chef-inspired kitchens always need a place to store the wine – and at the correct temperature. Entertainers will know that having ample wine on hand is important for those scrumptious dinner parties. The options available today are not only practical and hugely functional, but they also look outstanding.

The benefit of having your wine on display without compromising on temperature is a big pulling point for many homeowners. Unlike your typical refrigerator, which is opened and closed regularly, these fridges allow the wine to be stored at the optimal temperature without constantly being disturbed and temperatures fluctuating – that can be harmful to certain wine. Plus, they are much more economical for the budding wine enthusiast than building a cellar, while being able to offer the same advantages of temperature and humidity control that allow your wine to stay fresher for longer. Very important for those extra expensive bottles of plonk!

Glass-fronted wine fridges can come in full-length sizes or smaller side-by-side options. The smaller options fit wonderfully under island benchtops, while full-length wine coolers can take pride of place in or near the kitchen entrance. Some also have the option of extra beverage drawers, to keep all your mixers easily at hand – cue the cocktails!

Steam Ovens

For the home chef, a steam oven is a very attractive option as they provide the ability to cook a variety of different foods to perfection. They are also renowned to be a much healthier option for cooking as they reduce the amount of oil used in and are the masters at preserving nutrients in food, with some brands claiming the steam oven can lock in up to 50% more nutrients in protein and vegetables.

Steam ovens are also much easier to keep clean and can cook food at a faster rate than conventional ovens, plus they produce succulent mouth-watering results. From roasting to baking, these ovens really add that tasty punch to any chef-inspired kitchen.

Many options seamlessly integrate into any kitchen design and are typically wall mounted, with multi-steam and clean options. Some also include convection cooking.

Convection Ovens

When it comes to convection ovens, consumers are spoilt for choice! This type of cooking is very popular for chefs and homeowners alike, as the fan and exhaust system in these overs allow hot air to blow over and around the food, resulting in food that cooks more evenly and a lot quicker – in fact around 25% quicker than a standard oven. They are generally also more energy efficient than your typical oven.

The options are endless, from wall ovens to dual fuel stand-alone choices (think gas cooktops and electric ovens), or convection ovens with induction cooktops. Many now also come with sleek touchscreen options to keep with the flush appeal of ultra-modern kitchens, or impressive statement ovens in a range of different colours for those more traditional kitchens. Convection double ovens are now also available in wall ovens with some even allowing for the French door set-up, rather than the typical pulldown option.

Technology has become a big feature on many ovens, with some even boasting built-in recipes and settings, while allowing you to control your oven from an app. Some models also provide a combination oven option– meaning they can not only be your standard convection oven, but they can also allow for steaming.

Refrigerated Drawer Systems

Cool drawers are all the rage, and we are not talking about being cool as an aesthetic! That’s right you can now install under-counter drawers that add to your cooling capacity in your kitchen. These are certainly growing in popularity with the budding home chef as they allow storage of your cold items in different drawers and away from the busy refrigerator. Providing homeowners the opportunity to store foods at the correct temperature without the constant fluctuations a typical fridge can experience due to the number of times it is opened and closed throughout the day.

They can be installed flush with cabinetry and are hidden easily allowing for a seamless approach to your kitchen design. From storing fruits, vegetables, or snacks, or providing the  prep drawer for your next dinner party. These drawers allow homeowners smaller flush options for their main refrigerator instead of the larger bulkier double doors, which can become a statement or an eye sore in your new kitchen design.

They permit chefs to have food prep on hand and ready to use without walking back and forth to the fridge while maximizing your kitchen space. They can also allow you to zone your kitchen easily – think snack zones and food prep stations.

Sous-Vide Drawer

This appliance is certainly one that will please any home chef and allow them to expand their cooking skills into a whole new dimension. The state-of-the-art sous-vide cooking style, these drawers can also double as a vacuum drawers to seal the food before cooking.

Sous vide cooking is the French art of cooking food under pressure. It involves sealing the food in a plastic bag that is vacuum sealed before being submerged into heated water to cook. Allowing food to cook gently without the risk of overcooking, with much less oil – the results are incredibly tasty dishes that are full of nutrients.

Blast Freezers

The rapid decrease in temperature allows blast freezers to add that edge to your cooking and storing needs. They allow for more moisture to be preserved than conventional freezing options and reduce the microcrystals that can be created between cells meaning food will keep its shape when freezing while also preventing flavour loss.

Ice cream and sorbet lovers (and those who adore whipping up cold deserts) will simply love this option. Blast freezers allow for fast freezing, to prevent ice crystals in all those delicious creamy and cold deserts. Plus, they have been known to help increase the sweetness and flavour in foods and help massively with freezing food hygienically as blast chillers allow for bacteria to become sterile.

They can help you save time and money when it comes to your freezing requirements and reduce food wastage. Fruit and vegetables can now be easily frozen for use all year round, without compromising on taste and texture. Some now also offer quick chill for bottles for those last-minute beverages.

With an array of different appliance options, you can easily bring the commercial kitchen into your home with ease, seamlessness, and style. Allowing you to create restaurant-quality food in the comfort of your own home.

If you are a serious home chef looking for a kitchen design option that addresses your needs, have a chat to one of our Mint Kitchen Group specialist designers.