Things to equip your kitchen with for use in cooking

If you want to start cooking, whether it be for a hobby or to treat your friends, you’re going to need some equipment to help you along the way. If you are new to cooking then read this article to get yourself acquainted with the different equipment you’ll be using, of course if you already know about cooking why not just take a look just to remind yourself or even find out something new.

First of is the major appliances, these will be things you most likely have.

The Cooker One of the main pieces of equipment you’ll ever have in cooking. The choice is up to you whether you pick an electric or gas oven, gas oven’s give instant heat meaning faster cooking though can be a little dangerous when it comes to using oil. Electric ovens are safe and you don’t have to worry about trying to light the flame, but of course the downside to these are that they do take a bit longer to heat up compared to a gas oven. There are different types of cookers aswell, some that need to be placed in an empty area (You’ll need to check how much space you need for the cooker) whereas others can be built into the work surface of your kitchen. When buying your oven make sure to check the placement of the the grill and the number of hobs, also take care to check the controls you may think cookers are simple things but you can get ovens with complicated timers that you programme to end up doing the cooking for you.

The Microwave Oven This is an appliance that uses microwave energies to heat up the liquids within food thus cooking them. Microwaves are a fast and easy way to cook your food but can in the end take away some of the flavour and even ruining the food (eg. burgers will shrink up and all the moisture would be left on the microwaves plate)

The Refrigerator This will be where you’ll keep most of your fresh ingrediants. When buying a refrigerator you should like with the cooker check the how much space there is, also you need to know how large you need the refrigerator so you can store the amount of ingredients that you want. You need to make sure the the refrigerator is big enough to fit what you need in it without over crowding, items kept inside need to be spaced apart so that the air can get around them and keep them below 5 degrees, aswell raw meat should never touch cooked meat incase of contamination.

The Freezer The first thing you need to do is check where you will place your freezer, a good place would be naturally cool and well ventilated room. There are a few types of freezer and they include; the chest type which is a low appliance which opens at the top best placed in a clean garage, the upright freezer which stands up on it’s end and can be opened up much like the refrigerator and the fridge-freezer whic is a combination of bother the freezer and refrigerator (be sure to check the size of the freezer and fridge section some come in different sizes). Check the controls for a fast freeze option and make sure it’s easy enough for you to get to. Make sure that the freezer has this symbol which tells you that it is capable of storing food for a long time and freezing fresh food.

The Dishwasher It would be benificial if you were to get youself a dishwasher, but if you have a small kitchen this would be the appliance you’d forget about getting since you can still easily wash the dishes and pots by hand. If you have a large family or like as i said earlier treating friends you might want to try and get one. If you are going to purchase one remember to check the selection of rackes for cutlery and dishes, last thing you want to buy is a dishwasher that’s more hassle than washing in the sink.

The waste disposal unit If you live in a flat or find it dificult to get rid of leftover bones and peelings then you should purhcase a waste disposal unit. A WDU grinds down anything from potatoe peelings tochicken bones into a pulp making it easy and safe to wash down the sink hole. When buying one you need to check for safety, yours and any families safety must come first. Check that it has an overload cut off switch and any mechanism that would stop the operation of the unit if hands are too near the grinder.