The kitchen is widely regarded as the most important room in the house. It’s here where meals are made, and the family comes together.
Unfortunately, decking it out with all the kit you need to run a modern home is surprisingly expensive. Often, you have to make sacrifices and compromises – and that can be tough.
The good news, though, is that decking out your kitchen doesn’t have to be all that expensive, so long as you know what you’re doing. There are all sorts of ways of making it more utilitarian without emptying your bank account. You don’t need to renovate the entire thing.
So what can you do if you’re a family on a budget? What options are available to you?
Repair That Noisy Refrigerator
Brand new refrigerators work beautifully, but over time they can start developing all kinds of annoying noises. Clunking sounds, buzzing, and whirring are all signs that you have a problem with your unit.
At this juncture, you have two possible options. You can either replace the fridge outright or get replacement parts to fix it.
Most homeowners are surprised to find out that modern refrigerators are surprisingly simple units. They work in the same way as the originals from the first half of the 20th century. And most use modular components.
What’s more, Westinghouse fridge parts are readily available, which means that you can just replace it with another if one component fails. There’s nothing complicated about it. You simply swap out the old part for the new one, and the unit works just as well it did the day you got it.
Remember, most fridge chasses hardly wear out at all, even over the space of decades. The problem is the wear and tear to components like the compressor at the rear of the unit. When these fail, it hampers performance and leads to leaking. Replacing them, though, is usually a straightforward job and something that any homeowner can do with the right knowledge.
Get An All-In-One-Pan
Be honest with yourself: do you need half a dozen pans hanging up in your kitchen? Probably not.
That’s why many savvy people are moving towards the idea of using an all-in-one pan- something that’s just as good at frying bacon as it is simmering a curry.
Such pans exist, and they usually look like slightly squared-off woks with lids. They’re large and deep so that you can use them for cooking pretty much anything you like. And many are also oven safe, so they double up as baking trays too.
What’s more, if you go with particular brands like Tefal, they come with a non-stick coating, which means that you don’t wind up with those awful burnt-on stains whenever you bake with Pyrex dishes. It makes for a much more pleasant kitchen experience. And it saves you money to boot.
Get A Filament Knife Block
The traditional knife block is a block of wood with blade-shaped holes cut in it to prevent anyone from cutting themselves on the knives inside. But these blocks have some annoying limitations.
For one, they’re notoriously expensive. But they’re also only compatible with a particular set of knives. What if you purchase a new set? What then? It’s not entirely clear.
A filament knife block, however, is different. It doesn’t discriminate between knives because it uses silicone strands placed on their ends like a packet of spaghetti. You don’t actually place knives in specific holes. Instead, you just push them into the strands, and they hold the knife safely in place until you need to use it. They are incredible contraptions. Plus, you can use them for whatever objects you like, including scissors.
Get An Instant Water Boiler
Waiting around for the kettle to heat up so you can pour yourself a cup of coffee is a hassle that most of us must contend with every morning. For the most part, we don’t think about it. But think about how much time you’d save if you could just push a button and get boiling water instantly. Wouldn’t that be better?
It turns out that such devices exist. They do the job of a kettle, but they look more like a water dispenser.
First, you fill up a tank at the rear with cold water from the faucet, just like a regular kettle. Then you push a button, telling the machine the temperature of the water you want. It will then pump the water through a series of electrically-heated pipes, instantly boiling the water before it begins pouring out of the top.
The system is instant and replaces annoying waiting around in the morning. It’s incredibly useful.
Get A Filter Attachment For Your Faucet
Who wants to drink mains water directly from the faucet? Probably nobody in your household. It never quite tastes right, does it? There’s always some revolting aftertaste in your mouth that wrecks the experience.
We all know about the existence of home water filters, but they’re too expensive, right? They could be if you go for one of the top-end brands. But it turns out that some smart entrepreneurs have come up with money-saving solutions.
One of those are filters you simply screw on to the end of your faucet, replacing the traditional mesh nut. These systems allow you to access water in two ways. You either get water normally through the central faucet opening (mainly for washing up). Or you twist a dial to make the water pass through the filter and come out of another hole in a jet-like fashion.
These systems tend to last for several thousand liters before requiring replacement. And once they’re used up, you simply replace them with another filter attachment and carry on. They’re much more convenient than traditional jug-based water filters.
So from this list, you’ve hopefully learned that you don’t need to spend a massive amount of money on decking out your kitchen. Sometimes the smallest changes can make the most significant difference to your quality of life. Try some of these ideas yourself today.
