How To: Choose the right appliances for the cottage

Choosing the right appliances for your kitchen (and making sure they’re in working order) is essential! We often talk about furnishing your home, but what about your cottage? We turn to the experts at Reno & Decor Magazine to help us furnish our cottage spaces.

The kitchen is an important part of the cottage experience; however, the way it gets used is slightly different than the urban setting. Making sure you have the appropriate appliances at the cottage is paramount to a successful cottage kitchen experience.

Go open concept

The open-concept kitchen seems to work best in a cottage setting. This allows everyone to become involved with the preparation or to enjoy one other’s company while meals are being made. We always try to include an island in the design simply because it works well as a prep area and a place to create a buffet meal for bigger groups. The standard space around the island is 36 inches; however, we like to leave a little extra space for cottage kitchens and go to 40 inches. Inevitably, there is more than one person prepping the meals and the extra space helps with traffic flow.

Choose functional appliances

A pullout garbage organization system, including compost and recyclables, is great for the island. You might want it to be slightly larger than in the city because garbage disposal in cottage country usually means a trip to the dump. We like to incorporate a sink in the island as well. This makes it easy for everyone to access a water source. With an accessible water source you can also incorporate a dishwasher into the island so no one ends up spending hours cleaning dishes.

An island retrofitted with a sink, dishwasher and pullout garbage will help you get your work done faster so you can go back to enjoying your cottage getaway!

Know when to super-size

The fridge and freezer need to take priority in the cottage kitchen when you consider that it’s not uncommon to drive 40 minutes to the nearest town and a grocery store. You may want two separate appliances or one appliance with decent compartments for cooling and for freezing. Also consider that you will be transporting food from the city to the cottage; having a decent-sized freezer allows you to leave food from one week to the next without it spoiling. Not to be overlooked, the oven and cooktop simply fall further down the priority list.

You may want to splurge on large appliances in order to store more food and beverages for your weekend getaways with family and friends!

The barbecue is far more important at the cottage, which means that the oven becomes less important. A combination of stove-oven is likely a good idea versus a separate wall oven and cooktop. The space this saves will compensate for the bending to access the oven. Use the money saved from not buying a separate cooktop and wall ovens and add the funds to the additional appliances that will also come in handy.

A stove-cooktop combo means you won’t have to BBQ outside if you frequent the cottage during the winter months.

Thirst quenchers

The inclusion of an ice maker at the cottage simply makes good sense. Cold drinks are a huge part of the cottage experience and when the group gets larger, you need more ice than a freezer ice maker can accommodate. Even if the ice isn’t used for drinks, it will be used to chill bottles and cans that are brought down to the water’s edge. Along with the ice maker, it’s a great idea to include a wine fridge in the design. Wine, beer and cold drinks consume the most space in the main fridge at a cottage. Moving them to a wine fridge allows you to make better use of the fridge for food. Wine and beer is far more a part of cottage life so why not plan on them in the design process?

The cottage cachet

You naturally want to have a kitchen that looks great and is also easy to maintain. We were recently reviewing the new Kitchen Aid black stainless appliances that just launched in Canada and we were very impressed. The professional look and feel of the handles, red accents, and the easy care finish make them perfect for a functional and tasteful cottage. The design elements combined with great function make them very appealing. Consider these appliances for your cottage:

French door fridge;
Special food preservation systems;
A maintenance-free dishwasher that preserves energy and water;
Wireless meat probe oven to name a few!

We love a classic and refined-looking cottage. With the kitchen designed to suit your cottage lifestyle and the time you’ll spend by the water, the only thing left to worry about is the sunshine, water skiing, and making sure you have fish in the fridge in the event the fishermen in the house are more skilled with a Seadoo than a fishing pole!

Are you ready to retrofit your cottage kitchen with the right appliances? Look no further than our directory! We have a list of appliance repair specialists who can help you determine which products will have the longevity you desire when making a big investment.