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Your Next Kitchen!

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It’s the heart of the home; the place everyone naturally gravitates towards to connect with one another. It reflects your personality and your flavour for life, and does much more than offer a place to create nourishing food – it nourishes your soul.

It’s your kitchen, of course.

For generations, kitchens have replaced living rooms as the nucleus of the home. Whether amongst family or entertaining for a crowd, people assemble in the kitchen to create lasting memories. Like stirring brownie batter with your mom… or watching your dad make Sunday morning pancakes. I can honestly attribute some of my happiest moments to time spent in this very special place.
panasonic_kitchen-whiteAnd today, kitchens need to be both functional and fashionable. They should reflect your personal style, take advantage of your space and incorporate appliances that fit your lifestyle. However, planning a kitchen renovation (or building a new kitchen) can be overwhelming.

What defines your style? How should you plan your layout? And most importantly, what are the top in-store appliance decision considerations?

Introducing Your Next Kitchen, developed by Panasonic in collaboration with industry experts to provide Canadians with the resources they need to create their best kitchen. It’s a one-stop-shop for everything from design inspiration to expert advice and product facts, and is a wonderful resource to guide you through your renovation journey.

CC132A04-650x450Designer Janette Ewen and Chef Craig Harding lend their expertise to assist Canadians with all their kitchen reno questions. From tips on How to Design to Ultimate Entertaining Kitchen to Designer Insights from Chef Craig Harding’s Home Kitchen, this is a website you’ll return to again and again for fresh inspiration and advice. 

(There’s also a section for Chef-created recipes, like Banana Fritters and Chicken Provencal. Yum!)

Of course, the most important decision for any kitchen – whether it be a large, farmhouse-inspired room or a functional condo space – is choosing quality appliances that meet your needs. Lately, I’ve been following the experts at Panasonic Cooking for advice and support.

Panasonic Cooking, the culinary lifestyle brand of Panasonic Corporation, is dedicated to excellence and innovation in the kitchen. Through its lineup of built-in and small appliances, Panasonic Cooking brings together food experts and tastemakers in each region to elevate the status of professional home cooking, and establish Panasonic’s commitment to developing quality appliances that improve life through innovation.

So, if you’re thinking of a kitchen reno, what are the top must-haves for 2015?

1. Induction Cooking. Induction offers quicker and easier ways to cook, and a faster clean-up. Shaving even a few minutes off dinner prep and clean-up is a big deal!
kitchen_whitePro Pick: Panasonic’s Induction Cooktop, in particular, prevents overheating by utilizing a next-generation infrared-sensor that monitors the heat within the pan, adjusting temperatures as warmer or cooler ingredients are added. The infrared sensor detects the bottom of the pot’s temperature quickly and accurately, and then adjusts settings so that a consistent temperature is held throughout the cooking process.

This leads to an exceptional 90 per cent heating efficiency for the unit, providing energy savings comparable to 50 or 60 per cent in similarly-sized gas or radiant units. In addition, a focused delivery of energy allows items to be cooked faster. In fact, a pot of water can boil up to 30 per cent faster.

2. Built-in Appliances. Built-in or integrated appliances are great if you want to give your kitchen a sophisticated, stylish look.
panasonic_kitchen-blackPro Pick: Panasonic’s Built-In Convection Oven features a twin fan system that provides continuous circulation of hot air. Its state-of-the-art engineering and advanced design make this convection oven perfect for baking, browning and crisping. The built-in convection oven’s large interior capacity, telescopic shelf, and self cleaning capability are all added features to this sleek, stylish, and excellent cooking appliance.

3. Inverter Microwaves. Inverter technology provides true variable power to ensure even cooking results. This output delivers even cooking from the centre of your food, which prevents overcooking on the edges and surface.
Right-side-of-kitchen-650x450Pro Pick: Panasonic’s Over-the-Range Genius Prestige Plus Inverter Microwave  is a sensor-based cooking approach that eliminates the need to set a power level, cooking time, or food weight, to cook the perfect meal. With 19 cooking pre-sets, this innovative microwave allows you to cook like you would in a traditional oven, from bake to broil.

Expert Janette Ewen concurs: “These appliances are simply gorgeous – I regularly recommend induction cooktops and built-in ovens to my clients because of their clean look and the freedom they provide renovators when configuring a space; and these microwave ovens even have an electrostatic glass touch control panel! They’re available in various colours and are a fit for every kitchen style.”

If you’re thinking of a kitchen reno or redo this year, be sure to visit Your Next Kitchen for tips, techniques and trends straight from the pros.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. Nice kitchens! I would love to redo ours since it is definitely stuck in the 80’s but we don’t ever seem to have the money to do it :(

  3. I have an amazing kitchen, thats what sold me on our house when we bought it 2 yrs ago. I do want new appliances though, I really want a double oven and my dishwasher only washes the bottom basket.

  5. Great looking kitchens! I’d love to renovate my kitchen and replace the counter top with granite or quartz and of course, stainless steel appliances but may be in the near future. No budget for now.

  8. They are all beautiful I prefer the Induction cooking one. I like the convenience and the warm colours too

  12. Thanks for the great tips. Sometime in the next couple years I would love to renovate my kitchen. It really is the heart of my home. I love cooking for my family and baking with my kids. Lots of happy memories in my kitchen.

  13. I am so desperately in WANT of a kitchen makeover lol. I often joke with the boyfriend that we should turn our entire apartment into a kitchen – we spend so much time there. The Panasonic’s Built-In Convection Oven is a gorgeous piece of technology. I love that we have the option for built in appliances in our kitchens. I feel like they look so sharp and clean!

  16. I’ll be looking for these in the house we’ll be buying next year. Thank you for the ideas.

  17. It’s true. The kitchen is definitely the nucleus of any home. Love the pictures of renovated kitchens in this article. Although a kitchen reno is out for our home, it’s still fun to dream. Thanks for sharing.

  18. I would take any of those kitchens, compared to what I have. I would love to have a gourmet kitchen, it’s one of my dreams!!

  19. I am in love with the kitchen featured at the top the page. In my next life, I am buying a house with a big kitchen as the main focus.

  20. I’m planning on a new kitchen in the next 5 years. The kitchen is where I spend most of my time. My top things are a good oven and a built in cooling rack.

  21. I’ve been wanting a gourmet kitchem for well over 10 years now…will visit the website for some handy tips!

  22. I am hoping to renovate my kitchen this year, and these ideas from Panasonic sound great! I will definitely check out Your Next Kitchen. Thanks!

  23. Stop teasing! I love the dream kitchen in white with red accents. Our kids washroom is all white and at first I wanted to change it but have grown to love the simpleness of it and made it into a serene beach look with blue/grey walls. Oh you must have a kitchen contest, Lena..

  24. These kitchens look gorgeous.My kitchen could use some renovations and I really love the second one.It looks so colorful warm and inviting.Thanks for this great review that I enjoyed.

  26. Those are all beautiful kitchens! I love my kitchen and am very fortunate to have created my own gorgeous space when I worked directly with my builder. I upgraded everything and it was worth every penny!

  27. My dream kitchen appliances would be a full fridge & a separate Full Freezer. No more going downstairs to the freezer. Also, I don’t have a pantry anymore and really, really miss having one.Rather give up cupboard space for a pantry. Having all the food in one full viewing spot just seems more logical to me. One day! :)

  28. So many nice kitchens! I have a new house but none of these modern appliances. Who wouldn’t love these?!?

  30. I so like the look of that black kitchen. It’s so sleek and modern. That with a butcher block island would be my ideal.

  31. We’re redoing our very outdated kitchen soon – hoping to convince the hubby that new appliances are in the budget – so many awesome options available now! thanks for the tips!

  36. Wow…these are beautiful kitchens….I actually prefer rustic character instead of the modern look. But still quite nice!

  37. Love these kitchens. I especially love the kitchen in the second picture. Gorgeous backsplash.

  39. A kitchen should not just be functional, but it should be a place that makes you happy to just be. So much of our time is spent there, it must be efficient and beautiful. A new kitchen has been my dream for a long time. Someday….

  41. I love this kitchen,we just removed the wall between the kitchen and dinette and its so nice and roomy

  43. We are trying to decide on a new backsplash for out kitchen i really like the one in the first photo.

  44. Thank you for the information. I’ve been wanting to renovate my kitchen for 20 but we could never afford it. Now it’s about time and I’ll be looking for help !

  46. I have a small kitchen but it’s what I am saving for now, would like to redo the walls, new sink and paint the cabinets