Upgrade Your Kitchen With These Must Have Appliances for Modern Living
No matter your cooking style – from gourmet to 30-minute meal creation – modern kitchen appliances offer high-tech convenience for both professional chefs and casual home chefs alike. From smart refrigerators to high-quality blenders, these must-haves can enhance your culinary journey and boost creativity in the kitchen.
Beatrice de Jong of Opendoor notes that stainless-steel appliances remain popular with potential buyers and will add instantaneous flair to any kitchen space. Investing in these attractive fixtures will refresh the space quickly.
1. Microwave
Few kitchen appliances can rival the convenience of a microwave. From warming up a bag of popcorn to creating an entire dinner meal, the best microwaves offer fast, even heating that eliminates hot spots or cold centers.
Microwave ovens come in all shapes and sizes to meet different cooking needs, from larger models with numerous presets for pasta, potatoes and beverages to less powerful units with smart features like the GE Smart’s Barcode Scanner or responding to voice command from Amazon Alexa.
The Toshiba 1.1-Cubic Foot Black Stainless Steel Countertop Microwave delivers solid performance at an economical price point, featuring multiple presets, plus-30 second button, child safety lock and childproof locks. Our tests found this model to be among the most reliable with food being heated evenly and quickly; Panasonic inverter technology ensures efficient power distribution to ensure thorough heating.
2. Refrigerator
Kitchens are where we try our hand at creating delicious meals (both masterpieces and failures) while gathering with family and friends for holidays, projects, birthdays or other special events. However, like any room, they can become dull over time.
Fresh paint can quickly give any room an updated appearance at an economical cost, and new hardware on cabinet doors and drawers can bring your whole space alive with energy and renewal.
Investing in new appliances can give your kitchen an updated appearance, but experts advise against spending more than necessary to realize maximum return. Installing granite or marble countertops may not return their costs over time; de Jong suggests quartzite materials as more cost-effective solutions that offer similar aesthetics at less expense.
3. Cooktop
Cooktops and ranges both feature burners, yet there is a key difference when it comes to kitchen layout and functionality. A cooktop can be installed directly into countertops or kitchen islands for quick installation whereas ranges can be combined with wall ovens for more cooking options.
Ranges can be more cumbersome to work around when multiple people are simultaneously cooking; therefore, if you prefer cooking alone then perhaps a cooktop would better suit your lifestyle.
For an elegant kitchen, combine a cooktop with a wall oven to form a dual-zone setup. This setup can help make meal prep less cumbersome for cooks working in larger kitchens while making for safer cooking conditions for families with young children who might reach over hot stovetop burners. Whichever appliance you decide upon – range or cooktop – don’t forget to protect it all with American Home Shield’s Home Warranty plan!
4. Dishwasher
Kitchens are at the core of home life. Family and friends gather here for delicious home-cooked meals and to share memorable life events together. A fresh look and feel in this key space are achievable through proper upgrades that transform it.
Smart dishwashers can save time by cutting cooking and cleaning times while offering features such as recipe recommendations, food preservation, voice-activated commands and voice activated controls. A high-quality blender is essential for creating smoothies, soups and homemade sauces.
Stainless-steel appliances remain an elegant, timeless choice that looks great with all sorts of wood tones and is easy to keep clean. If you want a bolder statement piece, go for black stainless steel!
Designers advise updating lighting and hardware in your kitchen in order to refresh its aesthetics, adding decorative pieces like wooden cutting boards, wall art, and cute hand towels for styling purposes. Incorporating a backsplash as a textural accent may also add depth. Furthermore, luxury vinyl or laminate flooring would be good choices to replace old flooring materials like carpet or hardwood tiles for additional durability and softness.
