Where do gardens grow? Next to the sink, of course. What about coffee? How about built into the cabinets, above the cutlery? Vernon appliance store Genier’s Appliances' top five kitchen appliance trends show homeowners can have it all—warm, nutritious meals made easy in stylish surroundings.
1. The Urban Cultivator, A Garden in Your Kitchen:
Many people love the crisp, nutritious, pesticide-free veggies they buy at the Kelowna Farmers’ Market in the summer. Now they can enjoy them year-round by growing their own greens and herbs in the Urban Cultivator, one of the most popular new kitchen appliances. It looks like a refrigerator but it feeds families.
“People are looking for ways to buy fresh, buy local, buy organic,” says Kirkham. “The Urban Cultivator is the easiest way to guarantee people’s produce is all of those things.”
2. Steam Ovens
Now that cooks have all those fresh vegetables, they can infuse them with flavour and retain all those vitamins by cooking them gently in a steam oven. Vernon and Kelowna homeowners love steam ovens, which cook food at all angles with hot steam, because they’re healthy and easy. Steam ovens can poach fish or eggs, ready rice and cook vegetables.
“For me, my favourite thing about steam ovens is reheating foods in a snap. You can’t even tell they’re leftovers,” says Kirkham. “Unlike boiling or using a microwave, you can enhance the taste and nutrition of your food. It’s so much healthier.”
3. Speed Ovens
With many families juggling such busy schedules, one of the most convenient new appliances Okanagan homeowners are after right now is the speed oven, a hybrid between a convection oven and a microwave to help families cook everything from popcorn to turkeys. Speed ovens can cook anyone’s favourite meal in a fraction of the time so families can still enjoy healthy home-cooked meals at the end of a long day. Choose either the convection or microwave cooking method or combine them for fast and thorough results.
“You can roast, bake, defrost or reheat all in one appliance. We’re actually hearing pretty good reviews about speed ovens,” says Kirkham. “They’re really a beneficial appliance to consider for your kitchen.”
3. Panel-Ready Appliances
One of the buzz words on kitchen renovation shows is ‘panel-ready,’ also known as ‘built-in.’ That means appliances arrive at the door ready for a cabinetmaker to cover a homeowner’s dishwasher or fridge, for example, with the same beautiful cabinetry that faces all of their cupboards.
“Panel-ready appliances really give your kitchen a seamless, custom look,” says Kirkham.
4. Appliance Drawers
Why get down on hands and knees to dig for forks or condiments? More and more Vernon, Kelowna, and Kamloops homeowners are installing appliance drawers because they’re stylish and easy to use. Dish drawers allow people to run half loads, fridge drawers below the cutting board give cooks easy access to vegetables, warming drawers keep food hot while dad puts on the finishing touches, and wine drawers keep bottles at the perfect temperature.
“People want to live out of drawers now,” says Kirkham. “The designs for refrigerator drawers and microwave drawers, for example, are very contemporary, and it means everything inside the drawer is looking right at you, so drawers are much easier to use.”
5. Built-in Coffee Makers
Say goodbye to a clunky coffee maker taking up counter space and have it built seamlessly into kitchen cabinets instead. Genier’s Vernon appliance store is selling more and more built-in coffee makers that brew everything from espressos and lattes to ordinary cups of hot joe. Just drop in fresh beans and make a cafe-style selection! Each individual cup gets fresh grinds at the touch of a button, and the coffee is second to none with the oils of the bean or “crema” sitting on top of every cup.
“If you love coffee, this is a great way to start your day. Built-in coffee makers are the height of convenience, and they look stunning,” says Kirkham.
With new innovative designs and technology combined with the ever-increasing interest on healthy eating, these kitchen appliances make cooking fun, easy, and most of all, nutritious.
To learn more, see Genier's
Jeffrey Dale Starr is a wine enthusiast, oil painter, and owner of mobile software company Purple Falcon.
