Restaurant Equipment Can Make Your Kitchen Shine

An acquaintance of mine just finished renovating a brownstone on the Upper West Side and I can say without the slightest hint of exaggeration that it’s the most beautiful townhouse I have ever seen. He has it listed for nearly ten million dollars, but I think he’s going to end up with a bidding war, even in this market.

The whole thing is a work of art and done to the nines. The flooring is all original oak, refinished and fully restored. Same thing with the trim and doors. The fireplaces had been relegated to knickknack displays, but he had each of them repaired and two of the three now have natural gas inserts as well. He put an indoor exercise pool in the basement, as well as a home gym and installed a series of skylights in the top floor. The whole HVAC system was gutted and replaced with ambient heating and central air conditioning. Windows were replaced with energy efficient versions, although all the original casements and some stained glass inserts were preserved. The media room includes a row of real theater seats and a twelve foot, high definition projection screen accompanied by THX certified stereo system. There’s also a reserved parking spot in a side lane, something that many of the units on his street, even some of the more expensive ones, lack. Of course, the whole thing is wired (or should I say unwired?) so that virtually anything you can think of is controlled by remotes: the alarm system, TVs, stereos, lighting, temperature, you name it.

When I came over for a guided tour of the home, all of these factors helped to make an impression. But what really stood out for me was the kitchen. Like the rest of the house, no expense had been spared. The countertops were granite, back splashes were glass tile and the faucets likely cost more than my car. It was the appliances and kitchen wares that caught my eye.  The stove and refrigerator looked like something you’d see in a restaurant: solid, practical and professional looking. It turns out that I was right. My friend had decided that he wanted the kitchen to be superior to anything else on the block, so he’d opted to buy everything from a restaurant supplier he found online. They also had a consumer line of products, but everything was higher quality than the models you’d typically find at appliance and kitchen supply stores.  The range, refrigerator, ventilation hood, dishwasher, pots and pans, food processor and coffee maker had all come from this retailer and they made the kitchen shine.