The kitchen is the heart of the home, and it’s essential to have the right appliances to make cooking a breeze.
As bespoke kitchen designers, an important aspect of our consultation, design and installation process is the selection of appliances. We’ve spent many years researching and testing some of the best kitchen technology coming out to the market. We only want to work with the best brands for our clients and their handmade kitchens. Because we get asked a lot, we have compiled a guide to must-have kitchen appliances.
Cooler Drawers
Integrated CoolDrawer™ Multi-temperature Drawer by Fisher & Paykel is one of the most innovative bits of kit for luxury kitchens. Aimed for multi-use as a fridge, pantry or freezer with the push of a button, they can be customised with cabinetry or have a stainless-steel finish. The technology allows for variable temperatures, so it lets you change between five food modes – fridge, freezer, pantry, chill and wine.
For our Bristol kitchens, we work with our clients to maximise efficiency in their new kitchen, and we believe that cooler drawers are a must-have in a bespoke kitchen design.
For our Georgian Townhouse Kitchen in Bath, Somerset, our client wanted the latest technology, so we recommended two full-height refrigerators and freezers by Miele, a Zip boiling water tap and a CoolDrawer™ by Fischer Paykel to complete the transformational kitchen design.
Boiling Water Tap
Kettles are out, and boiling water taps are in. We’ve all had enough of limescale and replacing average kettles every few years. For luxury kitchens, the answer is adaptive water taps that boil, chill, filter and carbonate water. One of our favourite brands is Zip. They design and manufacture award-winning water technology for the home. They created the world’s first boiling water tap, which has revolutionised how we dispense water in the house, and our Bristol kitchens are no exception.
In Somerset, we installed two Zip taps in our Frome Kitchen project. The family wanted the latest technology for their mid-century-style kitchen, so we set the two sinks under parallel sash windows, separating the dedicated washing-up space from a drinks area.
Vacuum-Sealing Drawer
Vacuum-sealing drawers are perfect for food storage or preparing food for sous vide cooking. The Miele vacuum-sealing drawer features a wide variety of applications. They are also fantastic for reducing food waste because the process is ideal for freezing leftovers. They are better than food containers because they maximise space in the freezer or fridge and lengthen freshness. The nutrients, flavour and vitamins are retained much longer than conventional freezing.
For our Clifton Kitchen project, our brief was to add character, transform the space and incorporate the latest technology for the chef of the house. The Bristol kitchen had everything a luxury kitchen should have. A fully functioning bar for entertaining, the finest American walnut for the peninsular and coffee/breakfast station, and a Miele steam oven and vacuum drawer for sous vide cooking.
Pyrolytic Ovens
Ovens with pyrolytic cleaning are a must in any luxury kitchen. Pyrolytic ovens are basically self-cleaning, but they offer a better clean than catalytic ovens because they clean at a much higher temperature. Pyrolytic cleaning is much tougher on food residue than catalytic and cleans at a heat of over 400ºC.
In our Frome Kitchen project in Somerset, two obsidian black Miele ovens were installed within the handmade floor-ceiling cabinetry with plenty of storage. The busy family wanted their bespoke kitchen to be beautiful and highly functional to make their lives easier. The pyrolytic cleaning within the ovens made the arduous scrubbing and harmful chemicals within the house a thing of the past.
