Bought a house, estimated the renovation budget plus 10-15% for inevitable extras, and we set aside 5000 EUR for the kitchen!!!!
That’s how it started... at first, I was in a bit of shock, but we still had time. First step: remove all the walls for a new layout—I need space...
Let’s start with the (according to the agent) move-in ready property. The small kitchen, just under 8 square meters (about 86 square feet), had its 1970s pass-through removed. The wall including the kitchen door is gone! The wall next to the cellar stairs is gone too! Actually, the entire slanted wall, nearly 7 meters (23 feet) high, removed completely...
The window had to go as well since we needed a different working height than the standard 90 cm (35 inches). New screed installed, we switched to underfloor heating, all electrical wiring and water pipes are new.
After almost six months, the realization slowly sank in: the kitchen budget will not exceed 5000 EUR, so we had to look for a used kitchen... something special, but very cheap.
The search criteria: within a 100 km (62 miles) radius, up to 1000 EUR, because I still want new appliances.
That’s how it started... at first, I was in a bit of shock, but we still had time. First step: remove all the walls for a new layout—I need space...
Let’s start with the (according to the agent) move-in ready property. The small kitchen, just under 8 square meters (about 86 square feet), had its 1970s pass-through removed. The wall including the kitchen door is gone! The wall next to the cellar stairs is gone too! Actually, the entire slanted wall, nearly 7 meters (23 feet) high, removed completely...
The window had to go as well since we needed a different working height than the standard 90 cm (35 inches). New screed installed, we switched to underfloor heating, all electrical wiring and water pipes are new.
After almost six months, the realization slowly sank in: the kitchen budget will not exceed 5000 EUR, so we had to look for a used kitchen... something special, but very cheap.
The search criteria: within a 100 km (62 miles) radius, up to 1000 EUR, because I still want new appliances.
Respect, but that would never work for us—I don’t think I want to give up a draining board. I tend to be rather messy when cooking. However, I’m currently also looking at slightly larger sinks where I can place grid inserts inside and that only have a small draining section.
The alternative to the dark backsplash was a glass panel. The friendly lady from the kitchen studio will send me a drawing of it. On the right side of our plan, there is a three-meter-wide (about 10 feet) floor-to-ceiling window/patio door facing south. The natural light is very nice and bright, so I think the kitchen will still feel bright enough despite the dark countertop and possibly dark backsplash. The kitchen is open to the living room behind the worktop, where there are also several large floor-to-ceiling windows or doors, all facing south and southwest.
The alternative to the dark backsplash was a glass panel. The friendly lady from the kitchen studio will send me a drawing of it. On the right side of our plan, there is a three-meter-wide (about 10 feet) floor-to-ceiling window/patio door facing south. The natural light is very nice and bright, so I think the kitchen will still feel bright enough despite the dark countertop and possibly dark backsplash. The kitchen is open to the living room behind the worktop, where there are also several large floor-to-ceiling windows or doors, all facing south and southwest.
hampshire schrieb:
It works perfectly fine without a dishwasher and without a draining board in our household of 2+2 people.
Teamwork after meals: wash, dry, put away. It works. Why do you do it that way? I'm curious.
H
hampshire26 Feb 2020 15:35Bookstar schrieb:
Why do you do this? I’m curious. There are three reasons:
- We have, among other things, dishes and cutlery that simply are not dishwasher safe. You can consider that just as much a “bad purchase” as a mechanical watch. Or not.
- We decided to incorporate a typical part of the quality of life we enjoy on vacation in our campervan into our everyday routine. Taking a moment after meals to wash up and put things away together is quality time for us, during which we have good conversations and coordinate.
- Over the past years, I kept getting annoyed that dirty dishes and glasses ended up on top of the dishwasher, not inside it, and the kids would argue about who should unload it. Also, things kept getting broken because a well-meaning but inexperienced helper put them away improperly.
It’s not about saving money, since a base cabinet isn’t much cheaper than a dishwasher, but a few good knives or a damaged set of Laguiole cutlery certainly are.
guckuck2 schrieb:
Dishwashers are more efficient than washing by hand, not to mention the time saved. You’re absolutely right. Efficiency and time are simply not important to us at this point—we manage perfectly well with our 24 hours a day.
Ok, cool, thanks. Some of it makes sense to me personally, which is why I didn’t want a smart home or something similar, since certain things are essential for slowing down and relaxing in everyday life, and the idea of a vacation also plays a part in that (-:
But doing the dishes was never my strength..
But doing the dishes was never my strength..
I can’t really understand it myself – I’ve always hated washing up even when camping – but you obviously put a lot of thought into this. However, my good knives definitely don’t go in there, nor does my lead crystal (which mostly just means I hardly use it anymore because I’m just too lazy).
Regarding the teppanyaki area: admittedly, we use it quite rarely. We had pictured it a bit differently. Maybe that will change. I often need some time to get used to new appliances and the workflows that come with them. We’ll see. During the demonstration, we thought it was fantastic and knew we wanted it. Also, we were told that with a steam oven, you wouldn’t cook that much with pots anymore. That made sense to us back then. I wouldn’t see it that way today. Right now, we’d probably choose two induction cooktops instead of one induction and one teppanyaki. That said, you can still put pots on the teppanyaki and it gets hot enough to keep food warm or reheat it, so it’s not a big problem (especially at Christmas, with three types of cabbage and gravy that still needed seasoning – it did get quite tight then). When we do use it correctly, it’s great! For steaks and such, for example. Sausages are better in a pan because the sides of the pan hold the heat close to the sausage – at least, a raw sausage cooks faster in a pan. Honestly though, we have a gas grill outside, and my husband often just goes out there for steaks because you don’t get grill marks on the teppanyaki. That’s obviously less ideal when it’s really cold, but the few times a year he does it, the steak could have just as well been cooked in the pan.
During the demo, the chef made an excellent caramelized Kaiserschmarrn on the teppanyaki – I was impressed and convinced it’s versatile. We haven’t tried it yet because we hardly ever eat desserts *laughs*. But the advantage was that you could make a large quantity all over the surface at once. Otherwise, you’d need three pans or three batches to get that amount. As I said, I’m sure I could use the teppanyaki more often than I do now, but if I had to choose my cooktops again, I’d probably go with two induction cooking zones.
Now a question to the group:
We specifically chose a steam oven with water supply and drainage. The kitchen showroom told us this would be convenient because you wouldn’t have to empty the water tank all the time, and you wouldn’t risk leaving the water tank full before going on vacation and coming back to a mess *shudder*.
Back then, we were considering Gaggenau but ultimately decided on Miele. With the Miele, there is still a water tank that needs to be emptied after every use. I find that ridiculous – so what’s the drainage tube for??? Did we miss something? Is it like that with Gaggenau but not with Miele? Why have a drainage at all if you still have to manually empty water? Doesn’t make sense to me. I even called Miele’s customer service because I was worried ours might be installed incorrectly, but the lady just said that’s how it is and it’s correct.
Sometimes I regret not going with Gaggenau. I believe theirs has no water tank at all, so no emptying needed. Well, live and learn...
How often do you use your steam oven? I had really high hopes, but just the fact that you have to clean, dry, and wipe it after every use is a bit off-putting.
I’m also a bit disappointed. I enthusiastically gave my beloved (and often used) pressure cooker to my mother-in-law because I now have a steam oven! Well, that backfired... I used to cook game in the pressure cooker, where it turned out tender and juicy. In the steam oven, it takes ages and ends up dry, which I really didn’t expect! So I’m pretty disillusioned and thinking about how I could “take back” the pressure cooker from my mother-in-law *grin*, since she hasn’t used it yet.
In the steam oven, I mostly cook vegetables that I either blanch first or steam using a steaming insert, or I reheat food (which works really well!). But honestly, the vegetables come out just as well with the steaming insert, and then I just put that in the dishwasher and rinse the pot quickly—done. Now I have to clean, dry, wipe, and empty the water tank *ugh*. Really, it’s more effort and only worth it if you cook about 5 kilograms (11 pounds) of vegetables, which is rare for a two-person household.
As an oven, compared to a “real” oven, it’s quite disappointing. I noticed this when baking cookies, enthusiastically using both ovens so I could bake on four trays at once: the cookies from the steam oven didn’t turn out as nicely as those from the regular oven (same settings).
In short, I’m rather disappointed with the steam oven (at least the one we have), but I’m still hoping I just haven’t learned to use it properly yet.
So my question to you: how do you use yours? Is there anything you’d say: Thank goodness I have the steam oven now – I’d really miss it otherwise. What am I doing wrong (for example with dry, tough game)?
I was so excited about this appliance and now I’m quite frustrated.
Regarding the teppanyaki area: admittedly, we use it quite rarely. We had pictured it a bit differently. Maybe that will change. I often need some time to get used to new appliances and the workflows that come with them. We’ll see. During the demonstration, we thought it was fantastic and knew we wanted it. Also, we were told that with a steam oven, you wouldn’t cook that much with pots anymore. That made sense to us back then. I wouldn’t see it that way today. Right now, we’d probably choose two induction cooktops instead of one induction and one teppanyaki. That said, you can still put pots on the teppanyaki and it gets hot enough to keep food warm or reheat it, so it’s not a big problem (especially at Christmas, with three types of cabbage and gravy that still needed seasoning – it did get quite tight then). When we do use it correctly, it’s great! For steaks and such, for example. Sausages are better in a pan because the sides of the pan hold the heat close to the sausage – at least, a raw sausage cooks faster in a pan. Honestly though, we have a gas grill outside, and my husband often just goes out there for steaks because you don’t get grill marks on the teppanyaki. That’s obviously less ideal when it’s really cold, but the few times a year he does it, the steak could have just as well been cooked in the pan.
During the demo, the chef made an excellent caramelized Kaiserschmarrn on the teppanyaki – I was impressed and convinced it’s versatile. We haven’t tried it yet because we hardly ever eat desserts *laughs*. But the advantage was that you could make a large quantity all over the surface at once. Otherwise, you’d need three pans or three batches to get that amount. As I said, I’m sure I could use the teppanyaki more often than I do now, but if I had to choose my cooktops again, I’d probably go with two induction cooking zones.
Now a question to the group:
We specifically chose a steam oven with water supply and drainage. The kitchen showroom told us this would be convenient because you wouldn’t have to empty the water tank all the time, and you wouldn’t risk leaving the water tank full before going on vacation and coming back to a mess *shudder*.
Back then, we were considering Gaggenau but ultimately decided on Miele. With the Miele, there is still a water tank that needs to be emptied after every use. I find that ridiculous – so what’s the drainage tube for??? Did we miss something? Is it like that with Gaggenau but not with Miele? Why have a drainage at all if you still have to manually empty water? Doesn’t make sense to me. I even called Miele’s customer service because I was worried ours might be installed incorrectly, but the lady just said that’s how it is and it’s correct.
Sometimes I regret not going with Gaggenau. I believe theirs has no water tank at all, so no emptying needed. Well, live and learn...
How often do you use your steam oven? I had really high hopes, but just the fact that you have to clean, dry, and wipe it after every use is a bit off-putting.
I’m also a bit disappointed. I enthusiastically gave my beloved (and often used) pressure cooker to my mother-in-law because I now have a steam oven! Well, that backfired... I used to cook game in the pressure cooker, where it turned out tender and juicy. In the steam oven, it takes ages and ends up dry, which I really didn’t expect! So I’m pretty disillusioned and thinking about how I could “take back” the pressure cooker from my mother-in-law *grin*, since she hasn’t used it yet.
In the steam oven, I mostly cook vegetables that I either blanch first or steam using a steaming insert, or I reheat food (which works really well!). But honestly, the vegetables come out just as well with the steaming insert, and then I just put that in the dishwasher and rinse the pot quickly—done. Now I have to clean, dry, wipe, and empty the water tank *ugh*. Really, it’s more effort and only worth it if you cook about 5 kilograms (11 pounds) of vegetables, which is rare for a two-person household.
As an oven, compared to a “real” oven, it’s quite disappointing. I noticed this when baking cookies, enthusiastically using both ovens so I could bake on four trays at once: the cookies from the steam oven didn’t turn out as nicely as those from the regular oven (same settings).
In short, I’m rather disappointed with the steam oven (at least the one we have), but I’m still hoping I just haven’t learned to use it properly yet.
So my question to you: how do you use yours? Is there anything you’d say: Thank goodness I have the steam oven now – I’d really miss it otherwise. What am I doing wrong (for example with dry, tough game)?
I was so excited about this appliance and now I’m quite frustrated.
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