About The Series
This is the latest series to go live on our blog. Team Guarented is not just passionate about crafting great furniture for our customers and providing premium-quality furniture, we also take a keen interest in setting up and decorating various parts of a home. From the living room to the kitchen, we love to ideate about how to implement various designs on a restrained if not tight budget. Not that we’re against splurging on home products, we’re just keeping everyone in mind which means that we write content that caters to everyone’s budgets.
The Kitchen
/ˈkɪtʃɪn,ˈkɪtʃ(ə)n/
noun:
a room or area where food is prepared and cooked.
The first of the Essentials Series and where better to start than the very heart of a home. A kitchen is a place that falls in either of the two categories – “very important”, if a family is residing or “actively ignored”, if it’s just a bunch of singles surviving on takeout. No matter what category your kitchen falls into, some things just cannot be avoided in a kitchen. If you’re setting up your first kitchen, this article will address everything that you need to get in order to get a functional and efficient kitchen.
To Cook Or Not To Cook
Cooking is a basic adult skill and acquiring it is highly recommended. However, since we don’t come preprogrammed with cooking skills in our DNA ( especially not women) and that means we have to take an active effort to learn. Thanks to Youtube and other content creators online, it’s not hard to learn to cook. But the stuff that you need to actually perform cooking can’t be accessed virtually. You’ll need to source utensils, pots and pans, knives and other tools you need. Here’s a basic list for your convenience –
- Chopping board
- One large sharp knife or a knife set, scissors
- Skillet, nonstick-cookware, pressure cooker
- Spatulas, spoons, forks and basic cutlery
- Serveware, plates, bowls, glasses
- Storage containers, ziplock bags, and tinfoil
This is a basic list. And while you’re sourcing stuff, take a minute to consider avoiding single-use plastic as much as you can. Let’s be kind to the earth, shall we?
If you don’t plan on doing much cooking, you can just skip a majority of the items of the list and source just cutlery, plates and storage items like containers, tinfoil and zip locks.
Can’t Do Without Appliances
If you are not a fan of going through the trouble of getting a gas connection, you can shout your thanks out to technology for giving us the induction cooktop and microwave ovens. Both of these appliances are so damn cool and the microwave oven, in particular, is singlehandedly capable of doing a range of cooking tasks. So it is not surprising that it gets the top spot on our list of essential kitchen appliances
- Convection microwave oven – it can cook, fry, broil, grill, bake and more depending on the feature list of that particular model. Also great for a simple cup of tea/coffee and for reheating leftover takeout food.
- Induction Cooktop – If you want a portable source of heat for simple recipes, this is your best friend.
- A blender or a tabletop mixie. Great for juices, smoothies, chutneys and simple stuff.
- Refrigerator – very, very important. If not for major stuff, at least for storing ice, medicines, water, basic groceries like eggs, bread, milk etc. All homes definitely need a refrigerator in our humble opinion.
Basic Storage & Organization
If you don’t have built-in kitchen cabinets, rent or buy a normal wardrobe. You can organize all your utensils, cutlery, and other miscellaneous items neatly in one wardrobe if you don’t have too much stuff. Storage also covers storing food, so containers! Steel or glass is recommended because remember? We’re trying to be kind to our home planet. You could invest in a bar cabinet if you’re fond of drinks and have friends over often, but it could be an expensive investment and not a “vital” thing by any standards in a basic kitchen.
If you don’t have a lot of floor space in your kitchen, try making use of your walls to hang and display your wares instead. Heavy-duty hooks or nails drilled into the walls can be used to hang utensils or you can shop budget-friendly wall shelves and install them to stack your stuff.
When storing or rather arranging stuff in your kitchen, make sure that everything that is directly needed in cooking, is within reachable distance. Spices and condiments have to be very close to the heat source – either the stove, induction cooktop or microwave. As should be the stirring ladles, spatulas and other tools. If you’re aren’t going to cook much, you have permission to skip this step :).
And Lastly, Personalize
If you’re fond of spending time in the kitchen, you need to make it welcoming and fun. Boring, dull spaces wear you down easily. As you need to be alert and active around hot utensils, sharp objects and spices that set your tongue on fire, you might as well make the effort to add a personal touch to the whole area.
Hanging up photos are the most budget-friendly form of personalizing any space. Put some up. Or display your spices in nice jars, Buy a wall decal off the internet (would only cost a 100 odd bucks), put up your paintings, write recipes in a fancy font or use posters – the options are endless. Google some tiny kitchen decor ideas for inspiration and go crazy!
Customized Interiors For Your Kitchen
Not all kitchens come in standard sizes and that means standard dimensions won’t always work. If you need a cabinet or a storage drawer or a table in a particular measurement, you’ll need to get one specifically made. This is where Guarented steps in. We have a stellar team of carpenters, craftsmen, and artisans who can create beautiful furniture in designs that you request. Just drop us an email with your details and a description of the furniture you want to be custom-made for you and we’ll take it from there.
In the meantime, browse Guarented’s product catalog and buy microwave ovens, refrigerators, and other household furniture products!