Here we are. It is already mid-October. The weather is getting cooler, the leaves are changing, and we are already thinking about the holidays. Yikes! Thanksgiving will be here before we know it. But, if you are not ready… it might be time to upgrade your kitchen.
I was talking to my husband the other day and we were chatting about Thanksgiving. Our oldest daughter will be home from Los Angeles, and I'm thinking about inviting even more of my family over. We do love entertaining. We try to have a couple of parties a year. It gives me a good reason to give the house a deep cleaning, finish projects that we have put off, and even do a little remodeling.
How are you thinking about Thanksgiving this year? Are you hosting? Do you feel like you have everything that you need to get all of the cooking done? Does your family usually do it potluck style? Even if you don't have to do all of the cooking, your kitchen and dining area still need to be equipped to handle guests, cooking, and serving.
I take Thanksgiving seriously!! All of my kitchen gadgets are out of the pantry. I have 2 ovens, 2 slow cookers and several pots going at one time! But, before I get to that point I do some planning and make sure that my kitchen is ready.
Here are 5 tips to upgrade your kitchen to get the job done.
Expand Your Dining Space
Depending on how many guests you are having, your usual dining space may not be enough to comfortably seat everyone. If your table allows it, add the leaf to add more eating spaces. Borrow a couple of chairs from elsewhere in the house. Want to make it all look uniform? Get some slip covers that coordinate. Also, if you have one, go old school and set up a card table for additional seating.
You can also use more than one room. With our kitchen, island, and dining room, we have enough seating for 16. And, I can bring my old kitchen table back into the mix to add 4 more spaces.
Upgrade Your Fridge
One thing that I love about Thanksgiving is leftovers! Turkey, dressing, roast, ham… all of it can be turned into other goodies. However, it can be a struggle finding where to put it all.
If you have an older, small fridge, it might be time for an upgrade! A fun, functional fridge like the LG InstaView™ Door-in-Door® Refrigerator may be what you need.
You can impress your guests with fancy ice! LG brings one of the hottest beverage trends home with the Craft Ice™ maker that automatically makes batches of slow-melting round ice—without the work. You don't have to do it yourself, the fridge will do it all, and your drinks will be worthy of winning an award.
And it will probably save you some energy costs! Why? It has a nifty glass panel door that allows your family (aka kids) to see what's on the door and access it without opening the whole fridge. And you will have great space for organizing all of those leftovers.
Upgrade Your Kitchen Lighting
I don't know what it is… but sometimes houses are built with very little lighting. Builders want to charge extra for ceiling fixtures in some rooms. Kitchens do usually get at least that. But, is it enough for your cooking area? If not, consider adding some under the cabinet lighting. We did this and it made a HUGE difference when cooking.
Get Out the GOOD Serving Dishes
I know that we all have our old trusty dishes that we love that we probably use everyday when feeding the family. But, if you take a good look at them, they are probably not Thanksgiving ready! Would you want your kids snapping pics and posting them on Snapchat? If the answer is no, it might be ready to pull out those dishes that have been in the closet since you got married, or go shopping!
Clean Out the Cabinets
When it comes time to pull out the cranberry sauce, chicken broth, sage, and chicken bouillon, you don't want to find out in the middle of cooking that they are all expired. At least a week before the holiday cooking starts, clean out the cabinets of all old, expired stuff and stuff that you don't need. Make a list and get a fresh stockpile of the holiday cooking essentials.
These are just a few ideas for the kitchen. As we know, a whole lot more goes into getting ready for the holidays season! Stay tuned for more posts full of other ideas and useful info.
Disclosure: The reviewer has been compensated in the form of a Best Buy Gift Card and/or received the product/service at a reduced price or for free
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