If you invited your whole family and all your friends to your house for the holidays this year, and now you’re wondering how you’re going to pull this off, don’t worry—the appliance experts at Garner Appliance & Mattress are here with our best holiday hosting tips. We’ll help you find the best appliances for holiday cooking, and your holiday meals will be such a smashing success you’ll be eager to host at your house again next year!
1. Plan Your Menu
Write down everything you plan to serve and how you plan to cook it (in the oven, on the cooktop, or outside on the grill). You’re not committing to specific recipes at this point—you’re just estimating how much oven space you’ll need in that precious half hour before everyone sits down for holiday dinner.
2. Upgrade to a Double Oven
One of the biggest challenges when cooking for a large group is ensuring that every dish that’s supposed to be hot is still sizzling and steaming when it’s time to eat. This might sound like an idealistic dream, but you can achieve it easily if you upgrade to a double oven.
Double ovens come in various sizes and configurations, so if you currently have a range in your kitchen, you have enough space to accommodate a double oven range. KitchenAid, GE, Whirlpool, Maytag, and Café offer slide-in and freestanding double oven ranges that take up the same amount of space as a standard range with the added flexibility of two separate ovens, multiple cooking options, and total cooking capacity. On these standard-sized double oven ranges, the smaller top oven is usually about half the size of the lower, full-size oven, which means you can cook apple and pecan pies in the top oven at 350° while your casseroles and dinner rolls bake in the lower oven at 400°.
If you have a more spacious kitchen, consider upgrading to a double-wall oven with two full-size ovens. You’ll never again have to balance the tray of rolls on top of a casserole dish, and you could even cook two turkeys at once with room to spare.
3. Add a Beverage Center
Since refrigerator space is often just as limited as oven space during the holidays, consider adding a beverage center to free up valuable room in your main refrigerator. As an added bonus, a beverage center gives guests easy access to refreshments. Beverage centers aren’t just for storing wine or other specialty drinks: You can use the different temperature zones to chill sparkling water, soda, sweet tea, and appetizers to perfection. Your guests will marvel at the sleek appearance, understated elegance, and unrivaled convenience of your built-in or freestanding beverage center, and you’ll love that everyone isn’t constantly moving things around in your main refrigerator.
4. Consider Cooking Outdoors
Even an industrial-sized kitchen can feel overcrowded on holidays, so why not switch things up this year and cook the turkey outside on the grill or smoker? Sure, it might be a family tradition to cook the turkey in the oven, but as soon as your family experiences the juicy flavor of grilled turkey, everyone will be eager to establish a new family tradition.
When shopping for the best outdoor appliance for holiday cooking, look for a grill that generates consistent, even heat. Some high-end grills even include a rotisserie burner and an add-on roasting kit, but make sure you check size and weight limits before using—some turkeys might be too large for such features.
Hosting the holidays at your home can be relaxing and fun if you plan ahead and upgrade to the best appliances for holiday cooking. Stop by Garner Appliance & Mattress today, and one of our appliance experts will help you find the perfect double oven to expand your indoor cooking options, a sleek beverage center to keep things chill, or an outdoor grill to start new family traditions this holiday season.