KITCHEN REMODELING IDEAS FOR FOODIES

Culinary pros and interior designers on how they’d customize a home cook’s dream kitchen

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Years ago, as a skinny, 23-year-old line cook, Chris Jaeckle spent almost every cent to his name buying a used commercial stove for his apartment at a restaurant supply store on Manhattan’s Bowery. It was $900. But he was short the $250 delivery fee. So Jaeckle, now the executive chef and founder of an acclaimed made-to-order sushi restaurant in New York City, asked the store to wrap the 480-pound behemoth in plastic. “Then I pushed it all the way home in the bike lane,” says Jaeckle.

As an up-and-coming chef, Jaeckle needed a stove that wouldn’t melt down no matter how hard he tested it. “I used high heat on all burners and kept the oven blasted on 500 degrees,” he says. “I’ve had the range for 14 years now and it still rocks.”

If you’re the kind of cook who daydreams about 22,000 BTU burners and Japanese white-steel knives, researching and designing a kitchen renovation has a certain kid-in-a-candy-store appeal. The challenge? Selecting appliances and kitchen tools with staying power, and avoiding costly bonus features you’ll never use.

That’s why it can make sense to start with a visit to a high-end kitchen showroom, where you can touch, turn and test appliances and hardware. “The appliances are often hooked up to gas, electric and water so you can experience their functionality,” says Tampa Bay, Florida, interior designer Sara Chiarilli.

Before you invest in the next sous vide system, learn more about the features culinary professionals and design experts would add to a devoted cook’s kitchen remodel.

A functional food-prep pattern

Are your key kitchen tools and appliances five steps away from your food prep area?

Chiarilli watches her clients in the kitchen to assess their travel patterns. Recognizing little details and habits — such as where your most-used tools are located or how much time you spend at the sink — can result in subtle design tweaks that have a bigger impact than brand-new appliances.

To analyze your own pattern, pay attention the next time you cook your go-to weekly meal. “Everything you need — from spices to serving platters — should be within five steps,” says Chiarilli. “If they’re not, your kitchen isn’t laid out correctly.”

Steam and convection combination ovens

These wall-mounted ovens known as “combis,” range in price from $3,000 to $6,000 and deliver a few key features for serious cooks. Because water conducts heat more quickly than air, steam ovens reheat or cook foods fast. Steam cooking also scores health points because the steam prevents foods from drying out, which can reduce the need to use butter or oil to add flavor and moisture. Steam ovens alone do not brown foods, but the added convection feature can roast a chicken to crispy-skin perfection.

Buyer pointers:

* Consider installation needs and costs, because combis may require connection to water and drainage pipes.

* Chiarilli recommends using a professional to find the appropriate height for installing these ovens, because steam may billow out when you open the door.

* Steam ovens need to be wiped dry after every use, Chiarilli says. Steam may also cause lime deposit buildup, which means you may have to “descale” the oven with a cleaning solution (similar to cleaning a coffee pot). Always read and follow the manufacturer’s guidelines for cleaning and use.

36 inches of space

Why is 36 inches the magic number? “Because you can fit four plates across, a large platter and maybe a cutting board, or you can take out a cookie sheet or baking pan and it fits directly on the counter,” says Chiarilli, who recommends earmarking at least this much space (if possible) on each side of the refrigerator and the stove when you’re reconfiguring your kitchen.

Think of the kitchen as work area — you need clear surfaces next to where you prep food and cook, which is why physical space can be even more useful and valuable than high-end appliances and fixtures. “Many people think they don’t have enough counter space, but I tell them their counters are in the wrong place,” says Chiarilli.

Quartz countertops

36 inches

Plan for at least this much countertop space flanking the refrigerator and stove in a redesign.

Quartz countertop are stain-resistant and non-porous—key features when you’re considering kitchen surface areas for food prep.

Quartz countertops are made from a composite stone (not a single stone slab, like granite) made from crushed quartz mixed with coloring pigments, polymers and resin to make the surface hard and smooth like granite. Although both granite and quartz start at about $80 per square foot, the composition of quartz countertops make them very durable, according to Atlanta designer Megan Harris, who has designed more than 100 kitchens in the last three years. “It’s stain/scratch resistant, and it’s non-porous, which is very important for food prep.”

Buyer pointers:

* If quartz is coarsely ground, countertops will have a flecked surface; finely ground quartz countertops have a more smooth, even look.

* Quartz is designed to be stain resistant, but it can discolor with prolonged exposure to strong sunlight.