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Beyond the Bars
Composite Pipe 101
Generational Shifts
Meet Me in the Middle
The Ultimate Home Kitchen
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The Ultimate Home Kitchen
A semipro's kitchen holds lessons for the future
Most people know Rudy Lorber as a Chicago pediatric neuropsychologist. But when he's off duty he plays a far different role - that of a chef. After five years of cooking lessons at the French Culinary Experience, a cooking school started by the original sous-chef at Illinois' famed Le Français French restaurant, Lorber now helps prepare and serve sumptuous catered meals around Chicago's prestigious North Shore.
Lorber, who considers himself a culinary "hobbyist," is on the cutting edge of the gourmet cooking rage, and his kitchen shows it. In fact, when he and his wife, Louise Miller, had Airoom Inc. renovate their kitchen two years ago, they filled it with 18 professional-grade appliances. Later this year, they plan to expand the kitchen space and add even more commercial-grade items.
Gourmet kitchens are one of the hottest design trends, and ultimate home kitchens like Lorber's provide a hint of what well-heeled clients might want a few years from now.
Doctor gadget
The first renovation in Lorber's kitchen, designed by Airoom's certified kitchen designer Linda Goad Larisch included a wood-burning pizza oven; a commercial six-burner, two-oven range; a commercial refrigerator and refrigerator/freezer; a sink with a spring-type hose for washing large pans; a second prep sink; a professional ice-maker; and much more.
Some of these items have already become more common in homes since the first Lorber kitchen. Mary Cook, president of Chicago design firm Mary Cook & Associates, has seen an increasing number of clients asking for prep sinks and spring-hose faucets in the last two years.
The Lorber kitchen also includes a plug-in induction cooktop and specialized pans that help promote the even cooking of sugar and keep other items at a consistent temperature. It also includes a blast chiller to quickly freeze items for safer storage and making ice cream without crystals. These are rare even in gourmet kitchens, but as Cook points out, today's luxury is often tomorrow's necessity.
Be careful what you specify
Lorber's kitchen also holds some lessons to consider when specifying professional-grade appliances. For instance, it's important to remember that not all professional ovens for the home are the same. Lorber selected a Décor, two-fuel source range with six gas burners, a griddle on top and two electric ovens with a gas broiler. He made the choice in part because Décor ovens fit professional-size sheet pans for baking.
Another lesson is that pro appliances may demand a different approach to floor planning. The professional refrigerator and matching refrigerator/freezer were placed at an angle to each other in adjacent corners. This created a void behind each. On the plan, the voids look like wasted space, but they're not: The appliances need air circulation around them to help keep their condensing units operating properly. The angle placement "may not be the correct layout for the general public, but it is what was required here," Goad Larisch says.
What's next?
Added to the list of luxuries in the Lorber kitchen expansion will be a commercial sanitizer, which can wash dishes in 2.5 minutes; a "proofer," which controls heat and humidity to help dough rise in the ideal manner (it can also be used as a plate warmer, according to Lorber); and the smallest available steam injection oven for searing meat and maintaining it at a low temperature for hours. The steam injection oven is also excellent for pastry shells that have to be first cooked in a moist environment and then treated with a dry heat. Lorber's unit has a catalytic converter that allows the steam to be drawn out of the oven and dispensed in the kitchen without the need for an outdoor vent.
You may not find these appliances in many of today's residential kitchens. But as more clients try their hand at fine cooking, don't be surprised if you see more of them.
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