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At-Home Kitchen Tips: Lessons in Utility

Though a chef’s at-home kitchen might conjure up visions of a high-tech food lab with commercial-grade appliances and stainless steel surfaces, the reality looks slightly different. The most consistently desired feature in many chefs’ kitchens — an open floor plan — has less to do with replicating a commercial kitchen, and is more about making cooking a communal, accessible experience. Top Chefs share their tips for making a home kitchen work efficiently:

— Airtight glass jars on the kitchen counter allow for immediate access to the most-used spices.

— An open floor plan is critical when you spend a lot of time in the kitchen, so guests can interact with the chef.

— Bring the outdoors inside with large windows or doors to outside.

Chefs spend a lot of time in windowless commercial kitchens. For their home kitchens, they often choose a room with large windows, access to a yard and other ways to bring the outdoors in when they are logging long hours at the stove.

— Check restaurant supply shops for features such as stainless steel tables, storage shelves and carts.

— If you can create seating in a kitchen island, do so, to allow guests to enjoy a cocktail while you cook, or even eat in the kitchen.

— A restaurant-grade oven is not a great choice. The amount of BTUs that it consumes, it’s just not energy-efficient. Instead, choose an industrial-looking stove geared toward the home cook.

— A rolling cart on wheels for moving hot pans of food or for storage is a handy addition to a home kitchen.

— Functionality doesn’t have to rule out beauty.

You will be spending a great deal of time in your kitchen. Design it to be comfortable and pleasing on a daily basis. Don’t let hyper-functionality dictate all design features.

— Multiple refrigerators are a great feature for the ambitious home cook.

Anything that you can do to do as much prep in advance, the better off you’re going to be when it comes time for putting things together.

— Open shelving allows for easy access to tools.

— Multiple or commercial dishwashers make entertaining manageable.

— For the serious cook, a six-burner range is a nice option.

— If you are building or renovating and using a great number of commercial-grade appliances, consider wiring for greater power usage. Also make sure there are plenty of outlets throughout the kitchen for plugging in appliances.

November 2013 Sales Statistics – Okaloosa County

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First-time Homebuyers: Mistakes Not to Make

Whether you’re a veteran homebuyer or a first-timer, home buying can be a challenging experience. If you’ve never bought a home before, make sure you understand and avoid some of these common mistakes, courtesy of 20-year industry expert, Rick Allen, COO of MortgageMarvel.com:

1. Not knowing how much you can afford. Before you start shopping, talk with a lender and get pre-approved for a mortgage. That way, you’ll know the price range you should be shopping within, and you won’t fall in love with a home that’s out of your reach.

2. Not fully understanding all the ins and outs of the different kinds of mortgages. If you sign on for an adjustable rate mortgage because the payments are lower now, you need to know exactly when—and by how much—the payments will increase in the future. Then, you need to be realistic about whether you’ll be able to meet the increased payments. Or if you sign on for a 15-year mortgage to pay off the debt faster, be comfortable that you can still handle the higher payments if you experience a shift in income.

3. Failing to work with an agent who represents you. If you’ve never bought a home before – or even if you have – you need a professional in your corner to give you guidance and advice on the home-buying process.

4. Underestimating the cost of owning a home. You’re going to have repairs, and your utility bills may increase. Be prepared to set aside a small percentage of the purchase price of the home (at least 1 percent) each year for repairs and maintenance.

5. Failing to budget for property taxes. It’s a fair bet that, over time, your property taxes will increase. To get some idea of possible long-term impact, talk to your local assessor’s office or people in the neighborhood.

6. Being inflexible. Everyone has a dream house in mind, but you’ll probably not be able to get everything you want. Figure out up front what you absolutely have to have and what you would like to have but could forego.

7. Not doing a home inspection. You might save a few hundred dollars by skipping the inspection, but you could get stuck with a money pit after the deal closes. Don’t commit to a purchase until you have a good idea of the house’s true physical condition.

8. Assuming a foreclosure is a great deal. All you know for sure about a foreclosure is that the previous owner couldn’t make the payments. Until the home is inspected, you don’t know what condition it’s in, especially if it has sat vacant for a long time.

9. Losing your poker face. No matter how excited you might be about a particular house, don’t let your feelings show. If you do, you can lose valuable leverage in a negotiation.

10. Failing to include a contingency clause in your contract. A mortgage financing contingency clause protects you from having to go forward with the deal if certain things happen, such as losing your job and having your loan offer withdrawn or having the appraisal come in lower than the purchase price.

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer Cookies – Quick, Easy and YUMMY!

Slice pieces from Pillsbury’s Simply Peanut Butter cookie dough in half. Shape into 1-1/2″ triangles and place 3″ apart on cookie sheets. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until lightly browned. While they’re still warm, push a mini chocolate pretzel (use Flipz) on each side to resemble antlers. Let cool completely. Ask your kids to make the face: Attach brown M&M’s Minis for eyes and a red M&M nose with frosting. Makes 24.

Christmas Gift Idea ~~Cookie Cutter Bird Feeders ~ ~

Looking for low cost Gifts you can Craft! Try this mine came out Amazing. I’m giving 5-8 per family.

Recipe:
4 cups of wild bird seed (not too many big seeds)
1/2 cup of warm water
1 envelope of Knox gelatin
3/4 a cup of flour ~OR~ (I used pancake mix)
3 tb corn syrup ~OR~ (Pancake syrup if you don’t have corn syrup)
Cookie cutters
Twine
How to make…
Oil your cookie cutters & place on wax paper.
Mix 1 gelatin pack with 1/4 cup of very hot water. Stir very well until it’s totally dissolved. Put bird seeds & flour in a bowl and mix. Add in your water with gelatin and syrup. Stir everything together.
Fill cookie cutters half way with the birdseed mix. Press down well.
Make a loop with your twine & knot. I knotted the loose ends too. Place on top of the first half of birdseed mix in cookie cutters loop hanging out, knot in center. Cover with seed mix and pack to the top nice and tight. I kept putting oil on my hands it gets very sticky and that helped. I pushed them out of the cookie cutter after about a half an hour really slowly & let dry over night.

6 questions to ask before hiring a contractor

When you’re ready to remodel, make sure you’re hiring the best contractor. Here are six key questions to ask.

1. Can you itemize your bid? Some contractors like to give one total price for the project. Always ask for an itemized bid with costs for all elements of the job-demolition, framing, plumbing, electrical, materials, and such. This helps with comparing bids and lets you see options for cutting costs. If you decide not to do part of the job, it shows how much you should be credited for eliminating that work.

2. Is your bid a fixed price or an estimate? With an estimate, the final bill can wind up higher, so always ask for a fixed price bid. If the contractor hesitates because there are too many unknowns, try to get the answers. Open a wall to check the structure, or ask for more detailed design plans. If unknowns persist, ask the contractor for project specs, describing what will be done. If more work is needed later, get a mini-bid for the new items.

3. How long have you been in business here? You should hire someone who’s been working in your town 5 to 10 years. They’ll have a local reputation to uphold, plus a good network of subcontractors and suppliers. Avoid hiring contractors from out of the area.

4. Can you include some of your earliest clients as references? This verifies that the contractor has been in business for a while and tells you how the work stands up.

5. Who are your suppliers? Get their names and call them. Ask what customers think of the contractor, how promptly they pay their bills, and if you should hire them.

6. Can I meet the job foreman? Some contractors aren’t there running the job every day. Find out who that will be and ask to meet them, ideally at a job site. This is the most important person on your team.