If you love cooking and are always whipping up recipes designed by your favorite chefs, or concoctions of your own design, then chances are you have high standards when it comes to your kitchen at home. Whether it is having the very best in knives and other cooking tools, the freshest ingredients or the latest and best gadgets, cooking enthusiasts relish the chance to fit out their kitchens with the best in professional quality gear. But, when it comes to the layout of the kitchen itself, you may find yourself working with something that is a little more cluttered and homely than your Michelin starred heroes might have to use. If you are a serious cook in your own home and are thinking about remodeling your kitchen, why not take some kitchen design ideas from the professionals and get that pristine, efficient top chef look?

Maximum Room to Work

In a professional kitchen, one of the most vital concerns is keeping everything extremely clean and avoiding cross contamination. While in your own kitchen you will usually not be preparing as diverse a menu on a given day as a restaurant, cross contamination between different types of food and raw and cooked food is still an issue, so one thing to make sure of is that you have plenty of work space. Don’t waste counter space on things that are purely decorative or which can go somewhere else, like wine racks or bread bins, and give yourself as much room to work with when it comes to cutting, mixing and preparing as your kitchen can afford you.

Counter Tops

When it comes to counter tops and other work surfaces, in a professional kitchen stainless steel is normally used because it is very easy to keep clean and is resilient and long lasting. If you want this look in your own home then go for it, however most people prefer the more domestic look or granite or marble. These can take a bit more work to clean, however they do look good and also offer a strong surface to work on – just make sure you are always using clean cutting boards rather than putting food directly on the counter.

A stainless steel sink is always the best sort to have in a kitchen, however, and even if you use a dishwasher for the main washing up work, it is good to have a large one where you can quickly rinse off knives and other tools between uses for the same meal. A large sink is also a good place to defrost things and do various other food prep tasks, and will also give your kitchen more of the professional look you want.

Storing Equipment

Storing all your pots and pans in cupboards is the obvious way to keep the kitchen looking tidy, but you can create a cool ‘chef’ look by having some of your most used things out in the open, hanging on hooks over your oven for pots and pans or standing, ready to be used in a nice knife block for some of your other utensils. This not only makes the kitchen look like it belongs to a serious cook, but also makes it easier for you to grab the things you need as you prepare food.

Featured images:

•  License: Creative Commons image source
•  License: Creative Commons image source
•  License: Creative Commons image source
•  License: Creative Commons image source

Richard Maxwell works for AB Restaurant Equipment, a restaurant supply store. He enjoys interacting with people and helping them out with his useful tips and suggestions.