The Chef Factor: How Professional Chefs Influence the Modern Kitchen

The modern cooking TV show is an indelible part of the Australian media landscape.

It’s undeniable that the wave of cooking shows has heightened interest in professional cooking across the nation.

With the rise of cooking shows like Master Chef and My Kitchen Rules, comes the celebrity chef. Australian home cooks look toward their culinary heroes to inform their home cooked meals.

The influence of the celebrity chef can even have an impact on what prospective property buyers are looking for in their next kitchen.

We sat down with Swedish appliance experts Electrolux to chat with leading chefs Australia wide and asked them: “what is the number one thing that you would like in your dream kitchen?”

Here are four key takeaways from culinary experts that you can implement into your next residential project.

Cooking with steam

Kitchen appliances with steam cooking functionality has grown in leaps and bounds, offering your clients an efficient and healthy way to cook.

Scott Bridger from Fremantle’s Bib & Tucker says that his “ideal kitchen would have to include my Electrolux multifunction steam oven which I use to regularly cook family meals or entertain”.

“Steam cooking means we can eat clean, healthy meals and the pyrolytic self-cleaning function means that when it’s time to clean up, we let the oven do the work.”

Open plan kitchens

Especially with space constrained modern apartments, the kitchen flow must allow your clients to easily access all parts of the kitchen.

James Viles from Bowral’s Biota Dining says that an “open plan design with lots of space is key to any kitchen, whether it’s in a restaurant or home”.

“The kitchen must flow with more than one entry point, especially if it’s occupied by a family, to eliminate congestion around the cooktop, sink or fridge.”

Quality accessories

When thinking about a value add to entice prospective buyers to your property, kitchen appliance upgrades or packages could set your development apart.

Richard Ousby, from Brisbane and Melbourne-based Stokehouse Restaurant Group, says a “good dishwasher”.

“So I don’t have to do the washing up!”

And a good set of high-quality knives – you don’t realise how much of a difference they make until you invest in them.

Designing for entertainment

The modern kitchen is increasingly turning into both a place for cooking and entertainment.

Home owners like to keep their guests engaged while they cook, so their kitchen needs to be flexible enough to provide this focus.

“The perfect kitchen needs to be smart, efficient and minimal,” Massimo Mele from Catering by Massimo said.

“I love to be the centre of attention, so when we renovated our kitchen we put in a big island bench with an Electrolux induction cooktop in the middle of our kitchen.”

This means I can cook while facing and interacting with my guests (or my young son) – it also creates a bit of theatre.”

Electrolux induction is powerful and has precise temperature control, so you can achieve more consistent and quality results.

Combining these trends from Australia’s leading chefs ensures that your project’s kitchen stands apart and most importantly, meets the demand of your clients.

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