6 Things You Need To Know When Planning Your Outdoor Kitchen

Make These Choices Before You Start PUrchasing materials

When planning your outdoor kitchen, there are a variety of factors that need to be kept in mind. A major one, before anything else, is deciding why you're doing this. 

Is your current home meant to be a permanent home for you and your family? 

Are you going to take pieces of your kitchen with you if you move, so everything has to be mobile? 

Are you the type of person who enjoys having the capability to rearrange furniture a few times a year? 

Or are you doing this to improve the market value of your home?

Each of these will have a deeply personal answer tied to how you look at your home.

Courtesy of maria-orlova

 For ones that aren’t as definitive, let's break down your choices from most to least complicated. 

Start by considering how many people do you want to make room for? What do you plan on doing in this space?  If this is an outdoor kitchen, are you doing it just so you can cook outside and have options during the year? Or is it so you can entertain outside? Do you tend to have a lot of people over, or do you prefer smaller, more intimate gatherings? Some options you might consider are a bistro table for two, a small island to hold 4 to 6 people: a large dining table, or an entire outdoor living room. 

 What about plumbing? Plumbing is definitely convenient, but it is costly. If you choose to add plumbing weather for washing up dishes, quickly getting water for recipes, or keeping yourself hydrated, each of these will present different options of what that might look like. However, all of them will require a licensed plumber or contractor. 

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You'll also have to winterize the pipes yearly to prevent them from bursting and destroying your yard and appliances. You'll almost certainly want somebody to check on them regularly to ensure everything is functioning properly. (Fortunately, Appliance Rescue Service does offer maintenance checks! It really is necessary, though, given how easy it is for something to get blown into places where it shouldn't be.)

You'll also need to ensure that any materials or appliances you choose are UV-resistant, scratch-resistant, and stain-resistant. 

UV-resistant materials mean that they're not going to degrade over time, thanks to continuous or heavy exposure to the Texas sun. 

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Scratch-resistant is important not only because of keeping what you purchase looking nice but also because scratches provide areas where food and bacteria can get stuck and thrive.

Stain-resistant is much the same. If you invest in building yourself an outdoor kitchen, you want it to continue looking nice. 

Some examples of materials that would work would be exterior quartz, porcelain, and weatherproof tiling.

No matter which decision you come to about your reasons for building an outdoor kitchen, modular cabinetry is a boon. You can choose exactly what you want in what configuration you want. With a few tips and tricks from a builder, it looks like it's built-in. And if you move or want to redo your backyard, you can easily pick it up and move it around. 

 Finally, you need to decide on what type of appliances do you want?

 Do you want to stop at a grill, or do you just think that you have to?

You can put in a grill.

You could add a smoker and not only use it for cooking but also to cure your own meats.

You can add in a pizza oven and offer homemade stone-fired pizzas.

Or you could put in beer taps and have your favorites always available.

You can easily add an outdoor refrigerator for easy food storage ahead of meals and to expand your storage space inside

Courtesy of Rachel Claire

. You can even put an induction stove outside, which is wonderfully safe when dealing with children. (The burners only heat up when in contact with the pot.)

All of these, of course, will be based on what you want to get out of an outdoor kitchen. Which means taking a look at how you cook.

We love cooking outside at Appliance Rescue Service. Working on a grill adds an entirely different flavor to your food. And although we love and have advocated for indoor grilling options, those don't add the charred smokey flavor. That's us, though. What about you? Tell us which you prefer over on our Facebook page. As always, we love to hear from you. 

 If you're concerned about the outdoor kitchen you already have, maybe the appliances aren't working quite right; we can help. You can set up an appointment with us that fits your schedule by contacting us via phone ((214) 599-0055) or our website. We'll send over our technicians at the time you've chosen to figure out what's going on and how to get everything running smoothly again. Appliance rescue service, our goal is always to work with you.

Places to Avoid: The Paw Version!

Or, Appliances That Your Pets Need to Stay Away From

Appliance Rescue Service has been taken over by the pets! This week we (Murder Mittens the cat and Odie the dog) are talking about our favorite places in the house, the appliances! They offer warm, and cold and food, we can't forget the food! 

Courtesy of Gomez Daniel

Washer

MM: I don't understand why the humans use this one it removes their scent, and then they have ti put it all over things again.  They put their clothes in, the clothes get wet, and then they move them over to another rumbly. 

O: And! They yell at you when you get them wet any other time, even though they also have the rain room that they go into.

MM: That is the bathroom. They put my litterbox in there as well. The wet machine is nice to lay on when it rumbles, but you're right on them griping about getting wet. 

O: I don't like the way everything smells,  but I love watching the clothes tumble round and round.

MM: Of course you do.

Dryer 

O: I hate this one more than the wet machine. It smells and it's hot. 

MM: As usual you have no taste. This one is perfect to curl up inside of when the humans have removed their clothes. You just have to make sure you don't stay in there when they put the clothes back. 

Courtesy of RaGeBe

O: Wait is it that where you go when I want to play?

Oven

O: It's the hot food box!  Humans like to put their food in and then they take it out later and it's a warm and I don't get why they put it in there to make it warm because it's just as good cold but sometimes if you're fast enough you can steal food from it! 

MM: Or if you wait for the right moment you can steal food from it and take a nap inside the warm. It's too hot sometimes, but that is why you are supposed to wait. 

O: And we're not going to talk about how you got your tail singed the one time.

MM: Not if you don't want me telling Ralph where you hid your bone.

Dishwasher 

O: This is my favorite! This one has all of the smells and food, almost every day! 

MM: Yes but the humans always yell at you for standing on it. Whereas I can stand on it and not get caught.

O: And that is just one more reason that I steal your kibble when you're not looking. Anyway, the humans put in the food dishes, and they still have food on them. They don't even lick their dishes clean! And then the machine makes lots of noise and spits steam everywhere - 

MM: Which is the best time to lay on the counter above it.

O: And then when they open it there's no more food! Why do they feed the food to the machine and not to me!

Stove

O: This one is tough Murder Mittens. On one hand, the humans make food up there, lots of food.

MM: On the other hand, even if you can get up to the food, you never know if it's safe.

O: Exactly! It looks like it's the rest of the kitchen but sometimes it's hot and sometimes it's not and sometimes there's fire according to Ralph down the street.

Courtesy of elina-volkova

MM: You trust the Chihuahua? He barks at his own shadow.

O: You have a point. Maybe his has fire but ours doesn't?

Refrigerator

O: The cold box! There is so much food in here and the humans just leave it in there and stare in front of the food as if they expect it to do something. I know the food is dead when they put it in there so why do they stare at it? 

MM: You expect me to be able to explain the humans?

O: No it just doesn't make sense. Anyway this one is also great during the hot months if you're sneaky you can get in there and eat the food and be cold all of the best things in one spot.

Courtesy of luca andrade

MM: As much as I hate it, I have to agree. There's food, there's tight spaces to curl up in, and it is cool when it is unbearably hot outside.

Freezer

O: This one is frustrating. On one hand it's nice and cold when it's hot outside. I love this box. On the other hand it smells like food but everything's frozen and hard definitely not food it's so cruel for the humans to do this. And then they yell at you when you want to stay in there and they put wet things on you. 

MM: The wet things. Perhaps the humans think you don't bathe yourself I certainly don't. As to the cold box, I believe the humans put things here so that they are food for longer like hiding one of your treats so that you can eat it later. 

O: But who would they hide it from? It's not like with my treats and you're going to eat them later. 

A final note from the People of Appliance Rescue Service: Although this has been phrased in a rather light-hearted way these are all places that you want to keep your pets out of for their safety and for the longevity of your appliances. In the event of your pets getting into one of your appliances and you being unable to get them out please make sure to call your vet first and a second. While we love our pets as much as the next person, we are much better at fixing appliances than we are animals. If you want to reach out to us about your appliances, you can reach out to us at ((214) 599-0055) or by heading to our contact page. 

4 Reasons You Should Not Get a Professional Range

(And 4 Reasons You Absolutely Should)

Have you ever watched the Food Network and thought, "I would love to own a range like that?" For many of the shows on air, 'that' is a professional range. These are larger-than-average oven and stove combinations meant to handle a lot of cooking. There are plenty of reasons that you should not get a professional range for your kitchen, and there are also plenty of reasons that you should. We're going to take a look at a few of each.

Your kitchen is too small. 

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Let's face it; professional ranges are large. They're meant to be. They're intended for people who love to cook. If you're working with a galley kitchen or a older home where space is at a premium? A professional range will make the from more crammed, leaving you with even less storage space. The smallest professional range you can get is a 30 in. Which at that point, there's little difference between a professional range and a standard.

You want a ‘straightforward’ range with no fuss. 

If you’re not interested in the various bells, whistles and toys that can come with a professional range, that’s a fantastic reason not to get one!  If all you need is 4 burners and an oven to make the meals you enjoy, why go for something larger? 

You're working on a tight budget.

Although there are a range of options on the market, the starting price for most professional ranges is $10,000. When you consider just how much that can go towards in other areas of a kitchen upgrade or repairing your current range model, spending that amount is only sometimes worth it. If you're working on a tight budget, that amount of money might be better spent on other options.

You don't cook much, or you prefer baking.

If cooking isn't for you, or you prefer baking to cooking on a stovetop, you don't need a full professional range. In the case of the former, a 'basic' range is fantastic, especially when paired with things like multi-cookers and countertop ovens. On the other hand, if you prefer baking to working on a range rather than a balanced blend, a set of double ovens would get you more bang for your buck.

Some people, though, do want a professional range. If that's you, even after the reasons we just listed, let's take a look at some of the reasons you would want one. 

 If you want the space for a grill and griddle without using pans.

If you love grilling all year round, a professional range is for you. If you love making breakfast every morning and want an easier way to do it, such as having a griddle, a professional range might be for you. And if you want to add more of both to your life, all the better!

You love to cook and bake, and you need more space to do it.

If you love an equal balance of cooking and baking, but your current range isn't enough, then a professional grade is a great upgrade. Most professional ranges come with four to eight burners and one to two oven compartments. That is a whole lot of room to do a whole lot of cooking.

You're interested in all the bells and whistles a top-of-the-line range can offer.

Whether you're looking at Wolf, La Cornue, or Miele, or any of the other brands, professional ranges tend to come with all of the bells and whistles. Everything from Wi-Fi connectivity and digital displays to built-in sous vide Chambers and convection ovens.

You want something truly custom.

Photo Courtesy of La Cornue

While this is possible with other types of ranges, professional ranges tend to be even more customizable. From the color and trim to the placement of burners to being able to choose to swap out burners for induction sections, grills, or even wok burners. If you want a truly unique range meant precisely for how you work in the kitchen,  as of right now, a professional is a great way to get it.

What do you think? Are you sold on the idea of getting your own professional range? Let us know over on our Facebook page, as always. We love to hear from you and your thoughts on the matter. 

If you wound up here, though, because your current range is giving you fits, we can help. Whether you have a standard range, a wall oven with a built-in stove, or you already own a professional range, we service it. You can reach out to us via our contact page or by giving us a call at ((214) 599-0055). We'll work with you to find a date and time that fits your schedule and send one of our expert technicians to solve the problem. At Appliance Rescue Service, our goal is to get your home running smoothly again.

6 New Appliances To Consider In 2023

Sometimes you need to go shopping for new appliances. Sometimes you just want to know who has the shiny new things that are going to make your life easier. And that is what this article is. We're looking at six of the best and brightest appliances that are on the market that look to make your life easier. Will show you not only what they can offer your home, but who we think would be best suited to these appliances.

Miele’s Built-in Coffee System

Millie has come up with a beautiful built-in coffee machine that we absolutely are mooning over. The top of the line model comes with built-in water line, an auto descale, and a cup sensor. More importantly though is what it can do for your coffee. Starting with the grinder, the coffee system has the ability to do three different coffee varieties. And can even make two coffees at once. Think of how much coffee you could make for yourself and others!

Price: $ 6,499.00

The obvious answer as to “who is this for” would be the coffee lover. However, the less obvious answer, and the more important one, is the host or hostess. The person who loves to gather friends over for dinner the night before and have everyone stay over. Then enjoying breakfast and coffee together before heading home. 

Beko Refrigeration

We went to start with, we review a lot of refrigerators on this block. Our technicians repair even more. But the Beko 36 in four-door French refrigerator? That's just beautiful. What matters though is not how beautiful it is, it's not the brushed steel finish. It's not the energy star stamp of how much energy it does not use. It's not even the fact that it is top of the line when it comes being both a freezer and a refrigerator with the shift of a button. Beco has created what they call active fresh blue light technology. Which extends the life of fruits and vegetables up to 30 days. Not only does it promote your fruits and vegetables to continue photosynthesizing inside of your refrigerator, it maintains the vitamins within them.

Price:  ‎$3,499.00

If you’re a gardener, this is the refrigerator for you. Think about the crush and bustle of harvest time in late summer and through fall. Think about the frantic push to eat all of the fruits of your labor, to preserve them or to give them away before they rot. Now, think about being able to take just a little bit more time with that. Being able to stretch out how long the bounty of your hard work is able to feed you and yours. 

Beko’s Compact, Recycled Washer 

Becco is bringing their highly applauded compact machines to the US. They have all sorts of features like reducing the number of creases in your clothing, quick washes, and an anti allergy program. What has us most interested though is how their washing machine tub is made of recycled plastic bottles. While it is currently only 10% of the tub, Beko has promised that they will continue increasing that number and working to reduce the carbon footprint of their products.

Price: $494.00

This washer is for the person who wants to reduce their carbon footprint in every way possible. If you’re looking to cut back on every level, what better way to consider it than a compact washer made from recycled materials? Not only does it reduce the electricity used, but it also is made from plastic bottles taken from the ocean. 

Sharp’s Built-in Steam Oven 

Sharp has developed a three-in-one combination steam and convection built-in oven. They claim that their 24-in oven can be installed in a wall under the counter or a kitchen island. It can both steam bake and cook via water bath which has us very curious for making cheesecakes. It also comes standard with superheated steam, gentle and regular steam, and both radiant heat and convection settings. The most important in that list on our opinion is the superheated steam. The sharp oven is capable of cooking foods to crisp without burning using steam up to 485° f. We believe that all of the different options at this oven offers is going to be the way the market turns in the coming years.

Price: $2,499.99

The fitness guru is  the one that would be best served by this oven. When you’re already on the cutting edge of your own physical health, you want to feed that with better food. Learning how to use a steam oven takes time and dedication, but for someone who is determined to care for themselves, that won’t b an issue. 

LG Studio’s New Dishwasher

The LG studio smart dishwasher has both quad wash and true steam. The truesteam technology skips the need for pre-washing or re-washing dishes. It uses a blast of seam at the start of a cycle to dissolve caked on food and is also used during the drying cycle to eliminate water spots.

Price: $1,049.00

LG’s New Dishwasher is great not just for the hostess, but also the college student, wrapped up in their Masters. When you don’t have time to think of anything other than your class load, how do you have time to do dishes? Easy, with this you don’t have to. 

Traeger’s Pellet Smoker with Induction Burners 

Imagine having the versatility of your entire kitchen right next to your pellet grill. That is what traeger is bringing with this smoker. You can make everything from fish to vegetables to delicious smoked meats in the smoker and at the same time make a delicate sauce or a rich pasta using the induction burner at the side.

Price: $3,499.99

We hate having to go with the expected, but for a pellet smoker, it’s going to be a grillmaster that’s going to love this smoker. It’s a very specific type of person though, that we’re thinking of. Someone who enjoys experimenting with food, of seeing how different flavors of pellets and will infused meat and vegetables, fruit and fish. To experiment and see how those then pair with different sauces and serving up strange and wonderful combinations. That’s the type of person this grill would be perfect for. 

If you had to pick one of these appliances to bring into your home, which one would it be? Let us know on our Facebook page or in the comments down below.

If you're still just daydreaming about new appliances and you'd rather fix the ones that you do have that's where our technicians come in. And Appliance Rescue Service, we want to work with you to get your home running smoothly again. We know how frustrating and upsetting it is when your routine is broken because your oven has stopped working or your washer is leaking. Wherever you live in the DFW area, Appliance Rescue Service is here for you. You can reach out to us via our contact page or by giving us a call at ((214) 599-0055l, and we will work with you to find a time and date that fits your schedule.

Outdated Kitchen Appliance Trends

How Do YOU Do With The Trends of 2023?

How well do you know the current appliance trends? Do you know how what’s in, what’s out and who’s got new appliances trends coming? We’re tackling some of the different trends that are falling by the wayside this year. Some of them will be easy to spot, and others you’re going to have to think more closely about.

Best of luck, and be sure to let us know how you do!

• True or False: Stainless Steel is Not a Big Deal

  Description text goes hereAlthough a variety of different metal finishes are in, as we've mentioned a few times already, stainless steel is very much out! We are so happy to say goodbye to this one, as trying to keep stainless steel shiny and fingerprint free is a pain.

  Black stainless steel also seems to be out, which is another blessing. Black stainless steel was very popular for a while, but it was only skin deep, as the finish itself was. Many times you would end up with scratches within the first few months of owning an appliance, and the stainless steel would show through. And while we are all for the artistic application of this technique, it's no good when it's not intentional.

• True or False: The Kitchen No Longer Needs A Triangle

  The Kitchen Triangle

  For ages and ages you typically had one person in the kitchen doing all of the cooking. So it made sense to have the kitchen triangle. This was a straight line between your sink your stove and your refrigerator. It made sense. With a single cook you'd ping pong between these three areas and there was nothing to get in your way. Now though we have hobbies, we have coffee bars, we have entire kitchens that are designed around people being in the kitchen as we cook. So the kitchen triangle is very much out.

• True or False: Eco-Friendly Designs Are In The Bin!

  False! There are, in fact, brands that are looking at making more efficient and eco-friendly devices available for your kitchen. Some of the examples are coffee makers with reusable filters and dishwashers that use even less water per load.

• True or False: Traditional Coil Stoves are a Thing of the Messy Past

  True! Electric coil stoves are very much on the way out. Although they were previously one of only two options, with the Advent of induction and other options, electric coil stoves are going the way of the dinosaurs. Celebrate with us at no longer having to scrape off burnt-on spills or worry about destroying the coils.

• True or False: Refrigerators Have Reached a Plateau

  False! Brands are looking to change the food zones that break down your fridge based on the different types of foods you want to keep on hand. Some of these are changeable as you need, others are specific to certain ingredients. The intention is so that you can keep your food fresher for longer.

• True or False: Technology in the Kitchen is Limited in What Can Be Done.

  False!

  Many different technologies are coming to your kitchen in 2023. We're not just looking at Wi-Fi and screens inside your refrigerator or Bluetooth that lets you connect to your refrigerator halfway across the house.

  Instead, many different sous vide tools are coming to your kitchen. Signature Kitchen suite is one of the first looking to bring a built-in sous vide range to the home cook. Although it still takes time, this slow cooking technique is capable of bringing restaurant quality food to your home.

• True or False: Everyone Is Sticking to Single Colors

  False!

  If the Pantone color of the year did not make it obvious enough, people are pushing to make their kitchens more and more personalized. Manufacturers and designers and aftermarket shops are all interested

  in helping make that happen. Whether it's a particular oven from La Cornue, or getting the MoodUP refrigerator when it becomes available, you can do it. Custom-colored appliances are available, and there's hardly any limit to what colors you can choose.

• True or False: Refrigerators with Tablets are Here To Stay

  If you've read our blog for any length of time you know that we very much despised the trend of refrigerators with tablets built in. Between having to worry about it being a security risk, or not being updated only a few months after you purchased, it they weren't worth the trouble. We are so happy to see that designers are realizing that this is not the way to make appliances smart.

Courtesy of Laurel Bern Interiors

With that, how did you do? Let us know over on our Facebook page! Are you a trendsetting whiz? Or do you have some catching up to do? (If it’s the latter, don’t worry, we did too!)

If you’re thinking ‘Well that’s great, Blogger, this was cool, but it doesn’t fix the fact that my oven is burning everything” don’t worry! That’s where giving our office a call can help. You can give us a call at ((214) 599-0055) Alternatively, you can reach out to us on our contact page if you’re not one for phones. Either way, we’ll work with you to set a date and time that works with your schedule. Whether you live in The Colony, Coppel or Carrollton, Appliance Rescue Services is here for you.