My favorite (kitchen) products!

As much as I love my craft room and being productive there, I equally love my  kitchen. So I'm going to go a different direction today and show you my other favorite room. The house fire that my family experienced last year was another lesson in finding the silver lining, the blessing in everything before us.  Well, one of those blessings was the kitchen I've only dreamed about.  And not only is it my dream, but it's also functional for us if either of us is in a wheelchair again.

My kitchen is not fully stocked yet, but its not to bad.  I have many favorite kitchen products obviously, but I will keep this list to my top 5.  This will be harder than you think for this girl! Let's get started before I start second guessing my list!

First on the list is actually first and second.  And it's a necessity.  (see how efficient I am?!) Number one is the Range and Number two is the microwave/range hood.



A TON of thought went into this purchase.  More than your average bear I think.  First of all,  I already knew I wanted the smooth top vs. the coils.  Due to the little ones, I knew the knobs MUST be on the back against the wall, not on the front above the oven like most units.  My third requirement was it needed to be a double oven.  I use the oven almost every day, and there are so many times when I need two ovens.  I often bake two things that need different temps, or I only need part of the oven instead of the whole thing.  And why waste energy? Lastly, I thought I needed black. I like stainless steel appliances but I don't like the upkeep they require (for this stage of my life)and the cost on the unit I wanted was way out of our price range.  Because God is awesome, I found the unit above! I suppose I should mention its a whirlpool although I could not tell you what model :( Sorry! When it comes to my appliances, that's not so important to me!

The second thing is the microwave range hood.  I knew I wanted an above range microwave.  This is an inside wall in our house.  So we originally thought we would need one that just recirculates the air instead of venting it outside.  When the house was gutted we could have had this changed and had a vent added.  However, if we did that we would need to make some changes (aka sacrifices) that we were not willing to give up.  So back to the original one.  Again, I wanted a black one so they matched (My things MUST match...its an illness) And the whirlpool Gold was the perfect solution.  It has my favorite buttons, like popcorn and reheating plates along with the must - baked potatoes.  But this microwave takes it a step further.  It comes with a removable rack so you can cook twice as much stuff at once.  No more waiting to use the microwave.  And it also has a really cool melt/soften butter button which I love! Check it out further here  (I would also accept it's "lower" version for less money)

My third favorite thing is pretty common these days, but in my opinion, still a must - the Kitchen Aid Mixer.  I use it for EVERYTHING.  My favorite attachment is honestly the flour shield.  Its so simple but so practical and while it doesn't do a perfect job, it does a good job.  What color is mine? Well it was either this or white since that's all Kohls stocks (I saved 180.00 on mine using coupons, Kohls card and kohls cash! :)

But since my kitchen themes is red, white & blue, it worked out just fine!

Fourth on the list in a huge luxury item, but I never want to leave my kitchen now!! :) I got an under cabinet TV that is also a dvd player, radio, and bunch of other stuff I don't use.  I did a lot of research and I decided that the best bang for my buck was this one from Amazon.  I am happy with the product,  but if I sit at my  breakfast bar I do have to squint a little to see it clearly, so if I had it to do again, I would pay the extra for the larger screen. Either way, still a great purchase!

Now, the last item on my list was a tie.  It was either my tupperware containers with blue seal, or the pampered chef Ultimate Mandolin.  Since I don't have my pampered chef stuff replaced yet - a party is on the to do list - and I keep my tupperware containers on my counter, I have to give the win to them.  I don't necessarily use them every day, but when I do use them I never have to worry about whats inside.  No bugs (ick!) no air  "leaks" which means whats inside is always fresh and ready to go.  I suppose I should mention I use mine for my flour, sugar, brown sugar and powdered sugar, respectively. 

So there you have it - my favorite top 5 kitchen items (currently in my kitchen! ha!) And honestly, the only thing I would add would be my pampered chef stuff. I hope you enjoyed  this break from the crafty life. 

PS -  if you want to see my whole kitchen, I will be posting those pics on my personal blog sometime soon.  http://inmytoday.blogspot.com/