Kitchen Ideas – Great Kitchen Accessories For The Summer

With a view to the onset of summer, here are a handful of kitchen accessories that have caught our eye.  Helping to make the warmer months even more enjoyable, these accessories offer fantastic solutions for making cooking and entertaining more convenient and hassle-free.

John Lewis 6 Burner Cabinet Barbecue

Okay, not technically a ‘kitchen’ accessory, however, this beauty is so well stocked it might as well be a kitchen. If you like your barbecues to be on a large scale and very well attended, this cabinet barbecue from John Lewis is just the thing. New for 2013, it represents the latest, the biggest and the best in barbecue design, and comes with no less than six stainless steel burners, including a back burner and a wok burner. It has castors and handles for easy manoeuvrability and the roasting lid has a cool-touch handle, temperature gauge and glass viewing window. Mostly constructed with stainless steel and aluminium, the frame and grill are made from porcelain enamel – making this barbecue an object of beauty, as well as culinary finesse.

Gaggia Ice Cream Maker

Enjoy delicious homemade gelato all summer long, with this fantastic ice cream maker from Italian ice cream maker specialists Gaggia. With a 600g capacity, there’s room enough for ice cream for all the family, and the beauty of this particular machine is that the preparation time is only thirty minutes. Having your very own ice cream maker means that any combination of flavours is possible, but if you need some ideas, a recipe book comes in the box. Emphasising creaminess and the perfect texture of gelato, this ice cream maker will guarantee you superior ice cream, exactly how you like it.

Indoor Allotment Kitchen Accessories

If you don’t have a herb garden but want fresh homegrown herbs within easy reach, the solution could well be this attractive little indoor allotment. The benefit of growing your own herbs is that you don’t have to traipse to the supermarket to buy an oversized amount of something you only need a handful of every time you tackle a new recipe. If like many of us, you don’t have the outdoor space or the green-fingered inclination to cultivate your own patch of herbs, this neat indoor solution is perfect. Including three mini plant pots with drainage, soil pellets and herb scissors (known as snips), it even features a miniature tool shed. As it also comes with a selection of seeds, this would make a great summertime gift for anyone with an appreciation of all things cute and homely.

Aero-Press Coffee Maker

Nestle’s high-end capsule coffee maker brand Nespresso has been getting a lot of attention recently, but if you are looking for an alternative, try the Aero-Press coffee maker: it’s affordable, it makes fantastic coffee and it’s very easy to use. Acclaimed by coffee experts as the best alternative to cafeterias and capsule coffee machines, the Aero-Press device produces smooth and delicious coffee every time. By using a paper filter and a vacuum-sealed press, this innovative coffee maker works very quickly and makes for easy cleaning up afterwards. The coffee itself is smoother and more consistent than that from a cafetiere, and unlike a capsule coffee machine, you aren’t restricted in your choice of beans and blends