If you’ve ever struggled to get a meal on the table and wondered how restaurants manage to produce dozens of meals at a time, part of the answer is that they have better equipment than the average home kitchen. Professional kitchen appliances like cooktops, ovens, refrigerators and microwaves have heavy-duty construction, excellent insulation, very precise temperature control, and versatile, effective design that makes many tasks faster or even automates them completely.
Pro-level appliances are becoming increasingly popular. They are a big attraction to homebuyers (as real estate listings will readily reveal: if they’re present in a house, they’re always mentioned prominently in the listing.) They love the performance advantages, making it easier to cook and obtain better results. They may not always admit it, but they also love the prestige appearance.
The Frigidaire Professional Collection brings professional-grade appliances within easier reach. The range of pro-level appliances is extensive, allowing you to coordinate a complete kitchen design, rather than having to mix and match various brands. The range includes refrigerators and refrigerator-freezer combination units (with optional trim kits for built-in style), cooktops, wall ovens (both single and double), freestanding ranges, over-range microwave/convection oven combination, ventilation hoods, dishwashers… literally everything but the kitchen sink. The entire Frigidaire line also has a Smudge-Proof™ Stainless Steel finish that resists fingerprints, and is easier to maintain looking clean and attractive.
From a builders or remodeler’s point of view, they’re also preferable to other professional equipment because of their size. Pro appliances aren’t usually designed to residential standards. The Frigidaire pro series are all sized to fit standard residential cut-outs. You won’t have to install an extra wide doorway to get the units into the kitchen. You can use them in a remodel without having to change any cabinetry that you don’t want to. The cooktops, for example, come in standard counter depth at 30” and 36” widths, in both gas and electric models, with an induction-cooking model on the way soon.
The advantages that your clients are looking for in a professional-grade kitchen are all about speed, quality and ease of cooking. A cook no longer has to fight with the appliances and work around the limitations of conventionally-equipped residential kitchens. Recipes work more like the way they did in the professional kitchens where they were invented and tested.
Professional cooktops and ovens are more precise, easier to control, more predictable, and more versatile. For example, Frigidaire professional-grade cooktops are made to facilitate work. Control knobs are on the front. The top has heavy cast-iron grates that form a continuous grid, so virtually the entire top surface can be used for cooking. Heavy, hot, fully-loaded pots and pans can be slid from one burner to another without lifting and spilling. Large pans that cover more than one burner can be positioned and supported easily, too. There’s a high output burner strategically located in the center for extra-large pots, one of four different burner-sizes for everything from low-heat simmering to dinner-for-twenty stockpots. A double-sided cast iron griddle is included, too.
The 30” double wall-oven has two separate ovens with separate, precise temperature controls and convection in both ovens. There’s a No-Preheat feature that allows baking to start quickly without a long wait for pre-heating, and a built-in temperature probe to monitor the internal heat of food while it’s cooking.
A professional grade kitchen I perceived to add real monetary value to a home. However, lifestyle value is real, too, a return-on-investment that’s harder to put a number on, but nonetheless very important. Getting to live in and cook in an attractive, effective kitchen can contribute to a better quality of life, something worth installing in every house you build.
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