
It is that time of year when the evenings are darker, the weather is pretty cold and we need to be getting Leicestershire kitchens ready to prepare hearty meals that many (across Leicestershire) affectionately refer to as ‘Winter Warmers’.
After all we have removed our winter coats, hats, scarves and gloves from storage ready to use outdoors, but what preparations have we made in the kitchen one of the most important rooms in our homes to cook larger hearty winter meals?
Plenty of Space on Worksurfaces
It is the season for large vegetables and pumpkins around Halloween create an instant picture in our minds of these, but we are also thinking about other root vegetables that are great in stews and casseroles, such as suede, carrots, leaks, turnip and parsnip. When you start to unpack these onto the worksurface in your kitchen to begin the process of chopping up these larger vegetables you instantly realise that lots of space on your worksurface is a requirement. Trying to balance the kettle on top of the toaster and perching the bread bin precariously above the tea, coffee and sugar canisters to give you more room to work often ends in disaster with a combination of food and broken pots crashing down to the kitchen floor.
It is worth thinking about the space you will need on your worksurfaces at various points throughout the year when you are planning a new kitchen. The key is to allow for plenty of storage, so that in the winter items like salad spinners, BBQ tools, ice cream makers can be put away until the summer, but you also want fast access to your blender, bread maker, crock pots, baking dishes and other useful kitchen tools and accessories. These items are better kept on shelves or within cupboards rather than stored on worksurfaces, which need to be kept clear ready for food preparation.
Clear Access between Hob and Sink
It is the season for boiling items such as pasta, potatoes, vegetables and rice. Sometimes this is part of the process of making stews, casseroles and pasta bakes, other times it’s simply to get the vegetables cooked ready for Sunday lunch. At the point where we are boiling items it always seems quite hectic in the kitchen when you need to carry pans across to the sink to drain boiling water from them, so you do need to consider your route to the sink and that it is safe and close at hand.
There are many different shapes and sizes of room space allocated to fit all the items that make a beautiful and functional kitchen. Bettinsons Kitchens and Appliances Leicester’s vast experience of designing and fitting kitchens to work within these spaces alongside our customer’s requirements has helped us develop a superb knowledge of what works well. Help and advice from John Bettinson and the team is readily available alongside ranges of high quality and beautifully crafted kitchens, so we would highly recommend a visit to our showroom on Saffron Lane Leicester when you are looking to buy a new kitchen.