Garden to Fridge
Story by: Stephen Treffinger, Photography by: Dave Bryce, Location: Eddy Homes
Those raised vegetable beds in your backyard have turned your kitchen into a veritable farm stand. You had better stow your horn of plenty in cool storage to keep it fresh until you cook it, can it, or give it away. This Jenn-Air French Door Refrigerator (model number: JDTSS247HS) has you covered. It’s super-cool looking, with an obsidian interior that makes your carrots, and everything else, look surprisingly appealing. Ditto the clear glass shelves that keep you beautifully organized. Separate evaporators for the refrigerator and freezer sections provide twice the humidity of refrigerators with shared cooling systems. Extra humidity crisper drawers are ideal for ethylene sensitive produce like cucumbers and leafy greens. Most fruits, by the way, fare better in the pantry, except for cherries and ripe apples which last longer in the cold. Ditto tomatoes, unless you want them to ripen quickly— then pop them in with those cucumbers. A special air filter means your strawberries never taste like broccoli, or vice versa. This baby even has a special dedicated herb container to keep all that extra rosemary and thyme fresh.
Get Ready for the Runway
Story by: Stephen Treffinger
Does it seem like every day is laundry day? And that every item requires special care? It’s enough to drive a person, well, out of the laundry room, if not all the way to drink. After all, you love clothes and certainly have a lot of them—but you don’t want to spend your life taking care of them. Also, a whole room for just the washer and dryer seems like too much real estate. Enter the LG Laundry Center (model number: WKEX200HBA), a sleek, stacked pair that takes up half the space, leaving plenty for a built-in, floor-to-ceiling shoe rack or more hanging space. It’s a swell-looking black steel monolith, with the control panel right in the middle, at the ideal height. (Many stacking pairs have two different controls, neither of them convenient.) What’s more, this one is both pretty and smart: It has an app that can remember your preferred settings, the washer can tell the dryer a compatible setting, and built-in sensors will detect fabric texture & load size, then customize everything for extreme laundry TLC. It’ll even tell you when you need maintenance. That’s a lot of time saved . . . time you can use to shop for more clothes!
Do It Like a Pro
Story by: Stephen Treffinger
Whether your specialty is baking croissants that are the envy of all who taste them, roasting chickens that bring tears of joy to your guests, or manning four burners at once to simmer, sauté, steam and stew multiple entrées (someone forgot to mention his husband was a low-carb vegan)— you need a stove that can keep up with you. This LG Pro Style Dual Fuel Range (model number: model SKSDR480SIS) is just that. It goes high, it goes low: two super high burners (23,000 BTUs for better searing and stir-frying) and two super low ones for that fussy béarnaise sauce or candy making. (It even does sous vide right on the cooktop, an industry first.) The two cooking zones can be combined when you want to use a griddle or show off your teppanyaki acumen. Inside, the 18-inch oven does both steam and convection for incredible sourdough boules or the juiciest roast beast ever. The other side, a full 30 inches, is convection with a rear-wall element and fan for even baking of everything from racks of great cookies to a big bird in far less time. There’s even a speed clean feature that de-grimes your lightly soiled oven in 10 minutes using only water. C’est magnifique!
The After-Party
Story by: Stephen Treffinger, Photography by: Dave Bryce, Location: Eddy Homes
A great dishwasher will get your stuff clean, but your status as the ultimate hostess demands something more. After all, you didn’t gain your moniker by welcoming guests into a disastrous kitchen or asking them to pitch in when the meal is finished. Whether you’re having a couple over for Thai or hosting your extended family for Thanksgiving, you need to be ready. This Jenn-Air Trifecta Dishwasher (model number: JFFCC72EFS) is the quietest luxury model on the market, so guests won’t hear all that slogging and splashing emanating from the kitchen. (It also means you can cleanse away all the detritus of meal prep while you serve the meal, so you’re ready to tackle the dishes as soon as the guests leave.) The model provides lots of options, including a removable third rack that holds spatulas, whisks, or overflow flatware. Hinged tines fold down to reconfigure on the fly for large pots or that tumescent turkey platter you got as a wedding present. Or fold everything up to fit service for 14. Integrated stemware holders on the upper rack cradle costly glasses so you can stop drying them on a towel on the counter. (We’ve all been there.) It even reminds you how chic you are with its striking obsidian racks. Who’s the mostest? You are.