Appliances for ENTERTAINING

Get more out of hosting friends and family for sit-down dinners or appetizer spreads with the latest and greatest equipment.


As more and more home cooks embrace their inner celebrity chef, catalogs and websites fill our heads with visions of countertop dynamos and innovative major appliances designed to maximize food storage, prep, cooking and clean up. Whether it’s the holiday season or any festive occasion having appliances that are well-suited to your cooking needs can help home chefs do more, serve more and relish the whole process.

KEEP COOL
It seems that the centerpiece in every “dream kitchen” featured in magazines, sweepstakes emails and home renovation shows is a gleaming stainless steel refrigerator. A stainless exterior is one thing, but it’s what’s inside that makes a cook’s dreams come true. Top things to consider are the amount of space for a refrigerator in your kitchen, the appliance’s capacity, and, of course, your budget. Recent innovations include movable shelves and bins, space-efficient racks for bottles and cans and alarms that sound when doors
are left open. Also important to note is the unit’s energy efficiency, because refrigerators are on all day and night.


Refrigerator drawers are a great option for homeowners who do a lot of entertaining. These are handy for stocking with beverages for parties and get togethers. Under-counter icemakers are also practical when you’re serving a high volume of drinks. Wine enthusiasts relish having their whites and reds chilled
appropriately. Gourmet cooks can usually find space for a small 8-12-bottle unit or carve out a spot for a 30-100-plus unit. As with a standard refrigerator, look for a unit that fits your space, holds the capacity of bottles you desire and fits your budget. Also consider convenient features, such as dual zones for whites
and reds, pull-out shelves and tempered glass doors.


HOT STUFF
Feeding the masses in your home requires ample cooking capacity. Whether you choose a separate cooktop or a traditional range, look for a large capacity cooktop with 5, 6 or even 8 burners to turn out multiple dishes at once. Keep in mind that smooth-surface electric cooktop clean up quickly and easily, but if you gotta have gas, look for one with an all-in-one grate that lifts with just one motion for faster clean up than with individual grates.

These commercial-style cooking surfaces often include a griddle and/or a oversized burner for added flexibility and capacity. Most serious home cooks swear by a double oven—for two times the output. Wall ovens can take up space, but they do put the oven doors at a handy height, compared to a space-saving
range with a double oven.

Convection ovens feature a fan in the back of the unit, which circulates heated air to cook more evenly and about 25 percent faster than a traditional oven. Many microwaves can now double as a convection oven, which gives the functionality of two quickcooking appliances in one small package.

And finally, even the most talented home chef struggles occasionally to have everything done at the same time, warming drawers provide the perfect spot to keep hot foods in a holding pattern before service.


CLEANING UP
After all the fun and fabulous flavors have been shared, the dishes must be dealt with. The average dishwasher with a standard-size interior tub fits about 12 five-piece place settings. If you entertain large groups frequently, consider a dishwasher (or two) with an extra-tall tub, which typically does about 14 place settings and can easily handle large stockpots, vases, and cookie sheets.


Don’t forget the washers and dryers for all the laundry. Table linens, towels from the kitchen, bar and guest baths, along with sheets and towels for overnight guests, can add up to a mountain of laundry. Matched washer/dyer sets are ideal because their capacities are the same, resulting in efficient management of multiple loads.