Ina Garten Has Something in Her Kitchen Most People Don’t: ‘It’s a Really Important Thing to Me’
Ina Garten is such a fan of entertaining that she has something indispensable in her kitchen she said makes a huge impact. Most people don’t have two of the same appliance in their kitchen space, but the Barefoot Contessa star said it’s definitely worth the relatively small investment.
Ina Garten’s has two dishwashers in her kitchen
Garten generates a lot of dirty dishes from testing recipes and cooking for guests. During a 2009 interview with House Beautiful, Garten revealed that she has two dishwashers in her kitchen to handle the load of all those dishes, pots, and pans that need to be washed.
While it might seem extravagant to have two dishwashers, Garten pointed out that it’s really worth the small cost to her.
“I have two dishwashers because — all the time I don’t use it — but when I’m having a party, I could use four dishwashers!” she explained. “It’s a really important thing to me and for a few hundred dollars, you can buy a dishwasher and it’s frankly cheaper than the cabinets.”
“So it’s a really useful thing to have,” she added.
Ina Garten designed her perfect kitchen workspace
Garten also shared the importance of optimizing the kitchen work triangle, which involves the location of the sink, refrigerator, and stove for the best productivity. According to the Barefoot Contessa star, many people don’t follow the triangle rule.
Garten explained, “The triangle is that the stove, the sink, and the refrigerator have to be in some proximity to each other and you don’t have to walk around something to get to one of them.”
As an example, she explained the process of getting carrots from the refrigerator, washing them in the sink, cutting them, and putting them in the oven to roast. “So you don’t want to travel too far to do that,” Garten noted.
“You want some work space in between those three pieces of equipment but you want them fairly close so you can almost twirl and get it done,” she added. “You want those three things between the island and the counter space fairly tight.”
Garten has an easy trick for putting away dishes
Garten’s kitchen setup also includes open shelves on the back wall rather than kitchen cabinets. The location is very deliberate so she can unload the dishwasher and easily store items on the shelves.
“Another thing I have in the kitchen is where the plates and the glasses are stored are not on the same side as the dishwashers,” she explained. “They’re opposite the dishwashers.”
“So all I have to do is unload the dishwasher, turn around, and put it away,” Garten noted. “The things I use every day are right behind me and where the dishwashers are so all I have to do is turn around.”
