Are you embarrassed about putting commercial equipment in your kitchen?

[Cooking4to]

When we entertain, my wife hates how our countertop appliances are commercial-ish, she makes me put my sheeter in the closet, lol... She doesnt complain about the Bunn single serve commercial coffee machine I installed, hard piped so she never has to pour water in it...

I don't care how it looks, I use this stuff almost daily... I am not buying residential appliances anymore... I burnt up 2 kitchen aid mixers, and the second one I made sure to change the oil when it separated and tried to make that thing last, I just use them too often and a lot of times consecutively.

This equipment saves me a lot of time and work, for example like this weekend I am making gnocchi and ravioli, Ill do 10lbs of each, that would have been like 18 batches with the kitchen aid. It will be 4 with my General mixer {I could do one of each, but I do a some with no egg}. I will also use my robot coupe r2n shredder attachment to shred the potatoes, its will take much less time than how I used to do them with a cheese grater.

Then I will roll the pasta out with my dovoy 18" sheeter for the ravioli, it comes perfect, vs my rolling pinning it and beating myself up to get it consistent.

Anyway, does anyone else use commercial-ish equipment in their home..

Heres a few picture of a corner of my kitchen, I also have a closet full of stuff I don't use as much, like a conveyor oven {nice for making puff pastry assembly line}, tons of nemco commercial cutters, lettuce, scallions, onions, tomatoes, I even have the blooming onion cutter, plus I have a smoker in the garage and a fry machine...

But I do a lot of cooking...

 

[larry_stewart]

If I had that stuff in my kitchen, not only would I not be embarrassed, but heck, I'd display it for everyone to see. Id even call people over to check it out.

I redid my kitchen a few years back, and sure wanted it to look nice and all that. But, I should have doubled the size ( like i wanted too) so I could fill it with all the machines and gadgets I always wanted

 

[Claire]

I wouldn't be embarrassed about it ... but I honestly prefer my countertop space to be as clear as possible ... have as little as possible out.

 

[RPCookin]

I don't see any reason to be embarrassed, but like most people I can't really say that I'd have much use for any of that stuff. When I make pasta, it's for a single meal for two or 3, maybe with a leftover serving for lunch. I make at most 2 loaves of bread at one time, and most of my cooking is similar.

With just two of us in the house, it doesn't make sense to equip the kitchen for the once or twice a year when we make a larger meal for a church dinner or the like. Heck, I'm excited as all getout over my new GE Adora 5 burner gas range.

 

[Cooking Goddess]

^What Claire said.^ However, if Himself did all the cooking, and in such an outstanding manner as you do Cooking4to, he could put as much as he wanted on the counter just so long as he saved me a spot big enough to make a PB&J sandwich.

 

[Cooking4to]

I wouldn't be embarrassed about it ... but I honestly prefer my countertop space to be as clear as possible ... have as little as possible out.

I agree with this, but we have more than enough free work space, I had a 4 foot curly maple cutting board made that is clear with nothing on it for all kinds of prep plus another maybe 8 feet of countertop. The kitchen in on the medium large side so room isn't a big issue, my wife worries about the aesthetics... If it was easy to put away I wouldn't mind but my mixer is almost 20lbs, lol and the under counter space is more valuable than the on counter space...

 

[Cooking4to]

I don't see any reason to be embarrassed, but like most people I can't really say that I'd have much use for any of that stuff. When I make pasta, it's for a single meal for two or 3, maybe with a leftover serving for lunch. I make at most 2 loaves of bread at one time, and most of my cooking is similar.

With just two of us in the house, it doesn't make sense to equip the kitchen for the once or twice a year when we make a larger meal for a church dinner or the like. Heck, I'm excited as all getout over my new GE Adora 5 burner gas range.

I do a lot of cooking, this weekend I am making gnocchi and pierogi, Ill do about 10lbs of each, last week I did 20 lbs of ravioli. For thanksgiving we had 42 people over for dinner, and 6 stayed with us through the weekend, xmas eve dinner was 17, new years this year was only 6 but last year was 28... My kitchen gets used a lot, we are on our second stove and I built this house in 09, lol...

I make everything in bulk and then potion package and freeze. It saves a lot of time and money, but the real reason I do it is because I like knowing what the kids are eating. I haven't bought store bread in a long long time, I make about 3 loaves a week, 1 and a half gets used for the kids school lunches, 1 for sunday dinner, and the other 1 and a half just gets eaten throughout the week.
My oldest son {15} eats like a horse year round, both of them are big boys hes 15 and already 5'11" 170lbs, and he just uses so much energy he has to eat constantly to put it back, during football season he never stops and then in the off season he is training 40 minutes in the morning and over an hour every night... My youngest {13} is following his lead, so feeding these two monsters is a full time job, lol...

I try to make everything I can myself, I buy turkey breasts from a local farm, and slow roast them then slice them for sandwich meat same goes for roast beef...

If I didn't have the wall ovens and the commercial appliances, I think it would make all the work miserable, but since it makes it fast and easy, I don't mind coming home from a 9 hour work day and spending a few hours in the kitchen, plus having 2 teenage boys to help me clean up the mess is convenient...

 

[Cooking4to]

^What Claire said.^ However, if Himself did all the cooking, and in such an outstanding manner as you do Cooking4to, he could put as much as he wanted on the counter just so long as he saved me a spot big enough to make a PB&J sandwich.

LOL, we have a medium large home {around 4500 sq feet} with a good sized kitchen, there is plenty of room for her to make pb and j.. Its funny you said that because my wife loves pb and j... I don't make my own peanut butter any longer since we use pb2 {I like the taste and it omits the fat, much healthier}, but I make my own jams and bread, I take pb and j pretty serious, lol, there is always room to throw one together...

Toast one side of each piece of bread put the pb on the non toasted side of one slice and the jam on the other, then shave some chocolate mint over the peanut butter and put the 2 halfs together...

Or if you want it a little savory, toast the bread the same and add some super crispy bacon chips to the middle and use jalapeno jelly... The jelly is super easy, green and jalapeno peppers boiled in apple cider vinegar, then strain that through chz cloth, return to boil and stir in some sugar and salt, let it go for a short bit, then stir in some liquid pectin, after a bit stir in some fine cut jalapenos, jar it and done...

 

[jennyema]

Why in the world would one be embarrassed. ?

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Ah! some of us have no kids and don't entertain, we just cook for an SO. While I have worked in enough kitchens and restaurants to appreciate the commercial equipment, I can't justify having them in my tiny kitchen.

 

[roadfix]

If you use them regularly all the power to ya! It's your kitchen. I wouldn't be embarrassed by them at all sitting on the counter. I personally think commercial equipment is cool in a residential kitchen.

 

[Cooking4to]

Why in the world would one be embarrassed. ?

My wife wants everything perfect, in our old house she had some sort of decoration in front of every counter plug, with all the appliances under the counter, so when we wanted to make toast, we would have to take the toaster out from under the counter, move a vase with flowers in it over to expose the plug and then plug the toaster in, make the toast, and put the toaster away, then move the flowers back to cover the plug...

We OFTEN have people over and they look around and say "do you live here?", it seriously looks like no one lives on our first floor. Its a sickness and obsession of hers, I will be watching tv with a blanket and get up to do something like check the oven or use the restroom, and I will come back sit down and then notice the blanket I was just using is folded and put in the basket on the other side of the room.
Or I will pour myself a drink and leave the Jameson on the counter {on the off chance I may want another } and it will be killing her inside to see the bottle sitting there and not put back in the bar, she used to put it away, now she will just walk over and put a coaster under it, I guess thats progress, lol...

It doesn't bother me either way, I don't want my house a mess, and if a wall gets a nic I don't have to spackle, sand and paint it within 24 hours, but since I know it will bother her, I do because I know it will drive her crazy {or crazier rather }...

If I leave my sheeter out on the counter when we are entertaining she will apologize to our guests for it when they come in the kitchen, its actually pretty funny, because her mother is even worse... My poor father in law...

 

[roadfix]

I have someone in my family like that, with a total OCD......

 

[Cooking4to]

I have someone in my family like that, with a total OCD......

She doesn't have to lock the door 9 times and stomp her feet twice before leaving the room, and I have seen her step on cracks in sidewalks, so not completely ocd, but yes there may be a touch of it there, lol... One of my sons is also a clean freak, my other son is more like me, clean but not obsessively...

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Shrek is almost as bad, I'll still be wearing my hat and coat and he's saying (about my lunch dishes I put on the counter), if you put a little soap and hot water in these they are easier to wash. Dang, let me get my coat off first.

 

[CharlieD]

Ow, wow. I would love to have equipment like that. You are lucky man.

 

[CharlieD]

My wife wants everything perfect, in our old house she had some sort of decoration in front of every counter plug, with all the appliances under the counter, so when we wanted to make toast, we would have to take the toaster out from under the counter, move a vase with flowers in it over to expose the plug and then plug the toaster in, make the toast, and put the toaster away, then move the flowers back to cover the plug...

We OFTEN have people over and they look around and say "do you live here?", it seriously looks like no one lives on our first floor. Its a sickness and obsession of hers, ...

you know if we take our two wives put them together make it into one and then divide in the half, we would have two perfect wives. We have stuff all over the place. I am a mess myself, but what she does drives me crazy.

But I have a question. Is it a pasta/dough maker you have there? All together can you tell us in more details what those machines are, i.e. brands, capabilities, sizes, please.

 

[Roll_Bones]

If I had the room and the money, I would have a commercial kitchen in my house.
I would be proud to have those things to use.

 

[Cooking4to]

you know if we take our two wives put them together make it into one and then divide in the half, we would have two perfect wives. We have stuff all over the place. I am a mess myself, but what she does drives me crazy.

But I have a question. Is it a pasta/dough maker you have there? All together can you tell us in more details what those machines are, i.e. brands, capabilities, sizes, please.

OK, well the sheeter is a doyon dl18sp, made in italy they also have a 12" model but when I bought this one it was not in stock in the US, it now is readily available and if I were buying it now I would get that one, its about 5" more narrow and cost $500 less. I think I paid like $2100 for the 18"... It normally has a plastic safety shield on the front that makes cleaning rather difficult, I removed it after a week and it works much much better, I could see how in a commercial setting OSHA would want a shield of some sort on there...
It has rolled every dough I ever introduced to it, I can get a stiff italian dough with hardly any resting and run it through 4 times adjusting the thickness every time and with in 2 minutes have transparent dough... Pasta is great because I can fold it feed it fold it feed it, its so much faster than any other way I have rolled pasta with a better result...

For pasta I would love an extruder and some day may buy one Alfa PEXT-12 La Monferrina IDEA Pasta Extruder Attachment, fits #12 hub, 38lbs/hour production but at $3000 its tough to justify since I can make pasta pretty well now, and I have demo'd the extruder and it works fantastic put is no easier or faster than how I currently make pasta....

I use a pasta bike to cut the pasta, it comes out great and is really fast, so I just sheet it, and then roll it with the bike, takes 2 minutes to roll 18"X48", then I just roll them into nests for drying... For ravioli I use a roavi rolling pin, I have a couple pins but found this one to be the best Repast Supply Co ...


Next would be the Robot coupe food processor Robot Coupe R2CLRDICE Combination Food Processor w/ 3-qt Clear Bowl, S-Blade & 1-Speed
I went through my share of processors, I can promis you this is the absolute best in the world. A friend of mine that owns a few restaurants has 3 of these on a bench in his restaurants kitchen, he let me play with one for a while and I had to have it, ABSOLUTELY AMAZING machine... I can fill the hopper with potatoes only cut to fit in the hopper, and hit pulse, it sucks them through and pushes out perfect chips, the bowl part is also amazing, I can liquify any food based material in no time at all... just a great machine...

The blender I never use, that I bought for my wife, we had a vitamix that lasted 2 years, so never again will I buy one of them, this one is a blendtec it works great and is quite the machine, all digital touch face, she makes smoothies in it, you never have to push the material towards the blade, it will surge its own motor up and down to make sure everything is blended, where the vitamix actually came with a pusher to help push stuff towards the blade and if you didn't you didnt get blended all the way through. I can put all the ingredients for tomato soup in the blender and it blends so fast it will come out HOT, and not just a little hot, like 175 degrees!!!! I like that unit, but hardly ever use it, I like to heat my soups on the stove, granted I tried it and it works, but thats it...

My mixer is IMO the best value you can buy, I recently just got sick of buying kitchen aid mixers, I looked into the Hobart n50, BUT then for $2200 I just couldn't pull the trigger on it, if it was 10 or 12 qts, sure but for 5 qts, no thanks...
I tried the Ankarsrum {magic mill} and its not for me, I don't just make dough, I mix creams, and pastry doughs, yo can't mix cold butter in that mixer or it breaks and voids the warranty no thanks..
I would love a spiral mixer but they only do dough so I went with a planetary that does everything pretty well..
My mixer is a general gem110, these are named many things, Presto, Eurodib, ect but its a good solid design, .6 hp, decent bowl, OK fit and finish and it just works... What a lot of people don't understand about kitchen aids is when you turn the speed down you turn the power down and lag the motor, it causes stress on the gears and the motor, with a planetary you move it from 1-3 speeds and you are getting the full .6hp in every speed, you are just changing the gear ratio, so when you are slow kneading dough, you arent beating up the machine on its lowest setting... Anyway if you can fit a 10qt mixer and are in the market for a mixer at a great cost pm me, I will get you the contact info on where to get a great deal, I paid about twice what you would think shipping would cost!!! It weighs like 175lbs...

I also have a ton of nemco cutters, they just make life easy and I have had them a long time http://www.amazon.com/Nemco-Food-Eq...9&sr=1-9-catcorr&keywords=nemco+cutter+tomato I hate cutting tomatos that cutter is work its weight in gold... You can get the same one made by new star for like $80...

I think thats all I have setup, I have a fry machine and 1/4 oven, conveyor oven, and a couple other things I setup and then put away like my 12" general meat slicer, I will pull it out and use it then put it away...

My next house that I build which wont be for about 8 years when the kids are on their own will have a full commercial kitchen, 36" stove with 1.5" gas line {not like a wolf, I mean a real commercial stove} Doyon oven with steamer, proof box, roll racks, all ss and magnet racks, full hood, tiled floors and walls, with double swinging doors that are wood and nice on the outside and ss on the kitchen side... I already have the plans and own the lake front land, just waiting till the kids are on their way and we don't have to worry about schools and such...
New Comstock Castle 36" Range 4 Burner 1 Griddle 1 Oven 24 000 BTU F330 12 | eBay
Doyon Single Gas Convection Oven w Steam on Stand Model Ja 6 | eBay

 

[Katie H]

In my world, it's wonderful to have good-quality, reliable tools and that would include commercial ones. There's no way I would be embarrassed to have others see them in my kitchen.

By many standards our kitchen is not small but moderate, with a nice amount of counter space. I would like to have an island but there's no room for one so I work with what we have.

As you mentioned, there are appliances that weight as much as a boat anchor and are a, literal, pain to move from a storage space to the counter. Therefore, mine are out on the counter, especially since my apparent close friend Arthur(itis) has come to stay permanently in most of my joints, not the least of which are my hands. Lifting and moving heavy appliances are not tasks I particularly enjoy.

I'm a retired interior decorator and I can, somewhat, understand your wife's desire to have a "pretty" visual kitchen. That's well and good from an aesthetic point of view, but not for cooking practicality. Our kitchen is a cooperative effort toward both work-friendly and decorator pleasant.

I have a very definite dislike of doing repetitive things unnecessarily. That is, retrieving a toaster, etc. from a cabinet, moving a decor object from in front of an outlet to plug the toaster in and reversing the actions when done making toast. I may be retired, but I still don't like the time that is wasted in this instance, but that's my view.

It's clear you understand your wife's preferences and try to make efforts to accommodate her without sacrificing your preferences entirely. If you've been together long enough to have a 15-year-old son, then you must have a handle on your relationship.

Enjoy your toys!