Kitchens are the heart of any home, and its design matters a lot. So, here we’re going to look at some must-haves that are both practical for your kitchen, as well as necessary to make your work easy and fun…
A Heavy-duty Countertop
Unlike many, Indian kitchens tend to see some heavy-duty cooking. There’s frying, adding a million spices, and a lot more on the top of large quantities of food prepared, as many live in joint families. So, it comes as no surprise when we see modular kitchens in Thrissur, Bangalore, Kochi, and so on give great preference to having a durable countertop. Mostly people go for quartz and granite as countertop materials. There are also households that prefer solid surfaces, like Corian. For your hardcore counter space, you will need a material that is non-porous, hardy, doesn’t stain easily, can stand up to a decent amount of wear and tear, and isn’t high maintenance.
An Independent Workstation
We were just talking about joint families or large families. With more amount of food, it’s a good thing that Indian kitchens usually see more than one person helping out with all the kitchen work. And this work doesn’t only entail cooking. There is pre-cooking preparation, washing and drying utensils, Keeping them in their right places, cleaning the countertop, and more. While having a large kitchen or even a kitchen island would solve most of these problems, not everyone can afford the ideal solution. So, at least to wash, peel, cut, and/or mash vegetables, mix ingredients, and such, a prep space could do the trick. An independent workstation can serve as the perfect solution in the less-than-ideal scenarios we have normally have in homes.
Let There Be No Smoke!
Didn’t we mention spices just a little while ago? And the word we used was ‘million’, right? While that is in fact an exaggeration, the amount of spices that are tempered to make a delicious Indian dish can make you sneeze, quite a bit! That makes ventilation go right at the top of the list of ‘things to get for your Indian kitchen. Chimneys weren’t as common a few years ago; but boy, are we happy that many modular kitchens in Thrissur, Kochi, Ahmedabad, etc. are becoming more and more aware of the benefits of proper ventilation. Also, don’t forget that having a well-placed window amounts to natural ventilation, which is an awesome way to encourage having a smokeless kitchen.
Final Thoughts…
In addition to these, some of the other things that kitchens in India do well with are – deep cabinets for huge pots and pans, double bowl sinks to bring some ease to washing utensils, and so on. When you move to a new house, or plan to redo your existing kitchen, do keep these points in mind to have an easily manageable kitchen in hand!