5 Advantages of a Warming Drawer for Your Kitchen

Certain premium grade ranges have a built-in warmer drawer and other standalone appliances may have them as a separate installation option. A warmer drawer is a useful appliance that could change the way you prepare and serve meals in your home. When you take food from the kitchen to the table, there are a number of things that can go wrong. But, if you have a warmer drawer, cold food doesn’t need to be a problem anymore. In this article, we will look at five warmer drawer advantages in more detail.

1.  Preventing Food from Getting Cold

When you’re putting together a meal, it can be tricky to coordinate the sides with the entree. Keeping mashed potatoes and green beans warm when you need to finish off the sauce is far easier when you have a warmer drawer. There is even room to keep entire finished dishes warm as you finish other tasks. For example: if you made a pizza, you can store that pie in the warmer drawer as you sear the veggie toppings. The best temperature range for food warming is 140ºF up to 250ºF depending on the food.

2.  Warming Plates During Meal Prep

Warm food served on cold plates can ruin the entire meal and retaining heat is the only way to prevent these problems. To keep the food warm, it’s often a good idea to warm the stack of plates in a low temperature setting. In most cases, the lowest temperatures are ideal for keeping plated foods warm and the higher temperatures should be reserved for hot soups and sauces.

3.  Proofing Dough

Any keen bakers will understand that the key to successfully baking is proofing or rising. This is true for any baked goods that contain yeast, including: pizza dough, croissants, bread and many more. The yeast creates the air bubbles that make dough fluffy and light for superior baking results. The best warming drawers have a dedicated “Proof” setting with a temperature range of 75ºF up to around 90ºF. To use this feature, cover the kneaded dough with a clean and dry cloth and place the bowl in the drawer. The bowl of dough should be left for at least 40 minutes and it should double in size. If the dough is poked with a finger, the indent should remain on the surface and this is a sure sign that it’s ready for baking.

4.  Eating Family Meals Together

For many families, the only time they get to spend quality time together regularly is at meal times. This can cause stress because you want to prepare and serve the food at the same time to keep everyone happy. This situation is exacerbated when you have guests and you need to cook more food and wrangle everyone to the table. A warming drawer can make this process easier, every friend and family member can enjoy a hot home cooked meal together.

5.  Creating “Dry” and “Moist” Conditions

Certain warming drawers have dedicated “Dry” and “Moist” settings to prevent food from drying out or becoming too soggy. This is especially useful when you need to reheat leftovers which can be ruined by a microwave. A microwave oven is a great appliance, but it can dry out leftover roasts, pizzas and other foods. The flexibility of warming drawers with these two settings cannot be underestimated. Warming leftovers or bringing multi-course dinners to the table with  foods that should be crispy or juicy is helpful.

If you want to purchase a warming drawer, check out our online selection or speak to one of our home appliance advisors.