5 ESSENTIALS OF A MODERN KITCHEN

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A modern kitchen
5 ESSENTIALS OF A MODERN KITCHEN
 Kitchen photo courtesy: livinator.

These are five essentials of any modern kitchen. What do we mean by a modern kitchen? It is that kitchen that is equipped with essential appliances that cut down cooking time and make cooking less stressful and comfortable. A modern kitchen is that kitchen that’s equipped with modern technological gadgets and appliances.Not necessarily the most expensive brands of kitchen gadgets or appliances but the latest discoveries geared towards making life easier and simplifying the jobs done in our  kitchens like cooking. A modern kitchen makes comfort a priority, not
where you are cooking food and your kitchen ‘assistant’ cannot even find a second stool to sit on. 

TIGHT SPACE IN ABUJA KITCHENS NOT HELPING OWNERS BUY ESSENTIALS

Many Nigerian kitchens are so well equipped to be called modern Kitchens but as far as I know, most modern Kitchens I see here  in Abuja all lack one thing that should be number one on the list of a modern kitchen needs. They lack SPACE. The kitchens are tight.

COMFORT

A modern kitchen must be built with comfort and space in mind because the kitchen is the most important room in any home, unless you don’t make or eat home meals. For anyone or family that makes food in the kitchen, that is the power house.

It comes  first before the bedrooms, living rooms, bathrooms and even dining room. If a kitchen is loaded with modern technological appliances and after cooking, the housewife, chef or cook cannot find where to sit and have a taste of their cooking, then it isn’t complete.

Abuja home builders and architects need to work on allocating more space to the kitchen area while cooking. We know that Land is outrageously expensive, the kitchen room shouldn’t be the only one to sacrifice space so other rooms can exist na. I

Adding a store room (Pantry) is the reason our kitchens look small, then we can do without a store room as long as there are enough kitchen cabinets and large kitchen drawers to store all food stuff and gadgets. Only very  few Abuja homes have well enough space in the kitchens.

The landlords sneak out kitchen space to add to other rooms while the kitchen is left looking like it’s not a part of the large mansion. I see Lagos kitchens on Social Media and they are very spacious compared to Abuja.

The 5 essentials of a modern kitchen for me should be:

NUMBER ONE… SPACE, space, space and space. A modern kitchen should be large and spacious enough to take a dining table. After cooking, one should be able to comfortably serve meals right there in the kitchen.
Not every time lifting pots and heavy dinner plates to the dining and clearing again back to the kitchen after eating. A modern kitchen takes away the stress that a native kitchen creates. The kitchen room should actually be the largest in any family home.
When we posted the 50 basic needs of a nigerian kitchen, the post covered every item that should be found in a Nigerian kitchen. Today’s post is about a modern kitchen setting, a kitchen that makes you want to cook even more. 
2. A dishwasher: We used to feel like a dishwater is not something that’s our culture but honestly times are changing, these kinds of washing used to be done by house helps and even kids but these people won’t be with us forever. Finding the maids is getting tougher and tougher by the day. When people do manual washing of dishes, especially kids, sometimes you have to soak the cutleries again in detergent to get the sparkly clean fork and knives you want to see in your kitchen.
A dishwasher is very essential in a modern kitchen. It saves time. Everything right now is about using less time to do more. The time spent washing dishes manually can be put into doing more useful work or earning some change. Every modern kitchen should have a dishwasher because it saves time and that’s what modern life is all about… saving time.
3. A washing machine.   If a kitchen is not big enough to take a washing machine, then something has to be done. Having your washing machine installed in the kitchen really really saves time and helps with ‘using one stone to kill two birds. My washing machine is at the balcony at the back of the house and that doesn’t help because doing laundry takes it own special time.
Thankfully, now I have given myself some sense and started to do the laundry while cooking because from the kitchen I can hear the machine washing or going off and by the time cooking is done, washing is done too.
There were times we forgot clothes in the machine till the following day because no one had any business going to the back, so, it washes, turns off, groans and goes down quiet and tired on it’s own with no one remembering.
Though one has to open the back door again and again, it doesn’t matter as long as washing is done while cooking but would have been great if the machine was right inside the kitchen. So, any kitchen that qualifies as modern should have a washing machine fitted in there like should be. It’s all about saving time while doing more. 
4. FOOD PROCESSORS, MIXERS AND BLENDERS: These are kitchen gadgets that we cannot do without. How do you bake quickly or pound and grind quickly. If there is power, If NEPA always smiles at your area, why use a mortar and pestle to grind egusi and ogbono seeds when the electric dry grinder can do that in seconds and your Nigerian soup is cooked.
A modern kitchen is that kitchen that has working, powerful brands of food processors and blenders, Not necessarily too expensive. I love the Panasonic Food blenders and processors. Haven’t tried many brands but this particular brand works well for my family.
Our panasonic food blender grinds even beans for making akara and moi moi. We hardly take grains to the mill unless the quantity is much. If you know other good and durable brands, please share by leaving a comment below.
There are so many brands of food processors in the market but some I hear cannot chop even okra well. A modern kitchen caters to not only cooking but baking too, so these appliances are a must have in your modern kitchen.
5. TELEVISION AND AIR CONDITIONER:
These used to be found only in the living rooms and bedrooms. These days, kitchens are built with provisions for air conditioners and Television. Why should a woman or whoever does the cooking, be missing out on their TV series or favorite programs just because she is cooking for her family.
She is a lover of Mexican soaps, a Telemundo lover but takes blame everyday for burnt food because she leaves the kitchen frequently to peep on her series showing in the sitting room. A modern kitchen should provide the comfort, make the person cooking as comfortable as ever.
Many Nigerian wives, we  burn food today because we leave the kitchen to see our favorite shows when it’s show time. If a TV is installed in the kitchen and she can sit down and watch while looking after the cooking, the food will taste better and stress is reduced as you don’t have to run between kitchen and living room while cooking dinner.
 The heat in some kitchens can cause heat rash, why the heat? Because the kitchens are small and sometimes all the burners are on cooking just because one must cook quickly and leave the hot kitchen. The heat is so much that cooking is no longer fun.
Cooking and sweating is not nice. Because of heat, sometimes we are forced to fry with the doors open leaving food smells to seep into the whole house. Installing Air Conditioners in a kitchen is very essential in the new world.
Of all the rooms in Naija homes, the kitchen has the least traffic because there is almost nothing interesting there aside food and water. A modern kitchen must have those things that pull traffic to the kitchen too, those things that make people want to spend time in there, save time, make life easy and add fun to kitchen chores. Aside the basic needs of every kitchen, these essentials are a must have in any modern kitchen. Thanks for reading. Those are our essentials of a modern kitchen
Can anyone think of any other essential that should be in a Modern Nigerian kitchen?
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