When it comes to preparing for Passover, one room becomes more important than any other: the kitchen. After all, it is vital to make sure that every speck of chametz is scrupulously removed. But is there some way that the kitchen itself can help?
That may sound odd, but Gary Rowland of Cameo Kitchens, says design can help make the koshering process as easy as possible.
“With an entire kitchen of Pesach crockery, cutlery, utensils and pans many struggle with where to keep it all,” he says.
“For some clients we have installed simple extra top boxes above kitchen cupboards, while others, with the luxury of space, may choose to go for extra cupboards in a utility room. If that is not an option, we’ve even designed kitchen cupboards for a customer’s garage so he could store his Passover cookware there. When he moved house he asked us to come back, take them out and reinstall them at the new home!”
When it comes to kashering your kitchen for Pesach, worktops can make a real difference. “All materials are not equal when it comes to the kosher kitchen,” Mr Roland says. “Marble — whilst good looking — is a definite no no as it is porous and cannot be deemed kosher as it absorbs elements of foods.
“We recommend a man-made product that looks like stone, called Silestone. It is reconstituted stone combined with resin that gives a strong, colourfast, non-porous surface. It comes in a variety of colours, which give a consistent finish and you can also clean it with boiling water for Passover.”
You will also want to clean your oven, so it’s a good idea to go for one with a pyrolitic cleaning function. This uses temperatures of 500°C or more to burn off the accumulated grease, spills and every last trace of chametz. All you need to do is wipe it out with a moist cloth to take out the ash. Just set it to the pyrolitic clean function and let it do its stuff.
Then, of course, you just have to start work on washing all the crockery, pots, pans and cutlery…