With well-chosen appliances your kitchen can be pure magic — saving you time, easing stress and turning every meal into a joy. Everything is in sync, and the heart of your home truly shines.

Induction Cooktops

1. Ensure you have the correct amperage.
2. Most 4-zone induction cooktops require 32 amps of power. There are some available on the market that go down to 15-20 amps, but they are power shared. Check your cupboard is ventilated.
3. Induction cooktops require ventilation due to their cooling fans 3being on board.
4. Choose inductions with a flexi zone. This allows a griddle plate or fish steamer to be used over two zones, which is very popular.
5. Use only stainless-steel base pots and pans. The base of the pot needs to be magnetic to work on an induction cooktop. If you have a magnet at home, check if it sticks to the bottom of your pot. If so, it will work over induction.

Rangehoods

1. Slideouts are popular in apartments. These are mainly recirculated from the front through carbon filters where no ducting is possible.
2. Consider canopy hoods. These are mainly used to go over freestanding cookers because of their 600mm depth. Varying shapes and colours and ducting and recirculating options are available.
3. Explore island hoods and ceiling cassettes for your island bench. These work in single-storey homes as they need to be ducted outside.
4. Downdrafts work very well. Fitted into benchtops alongside an induction or electric cooktop – or, ideally, in between – they are then recirculated outside or ducted through the kick strip in the kitchen.

Electric Ovens

1. Look for a self cleaning feature on some ovens. Called ‘pyrolytic’, they have a braided steel seal, which is required as the oven temperature reaches 500 degrees. Most require all shelving and side racks to be removed.
2. Steam is very popular in ovens these days. Steam is the most asked for in ovens either added or full-steam dependent on use. This allows the food cooked to be moist and reduces cooking time. Full steam however is not available with the pyrolytic function.
3. If you have a smaller kitchen environment, there are ovens that have the oven function with a microwave and added steam function too. Again, pyrolytic is not available.
4. Check higher-end ovens with a recipe function featuring an inside camera. Used in combination with their app, this allows you to see the results during the cooking process.
5. If you are choosing to change from a gas oven to electric, a 10-amp version is available in some models, which means no need for a 15-amp connection back to the meter box.