A friend and I were having a wild and crazy weekend night watching HGTV. The prospective home buyer in the show we were watching was in search of a Spice Kitchen. It was very important to her! She had a Spice Kitchen in her current home and simply would not consider buying a home without one. I bet many of you are thinking to yourselves right now, “What in the world is a spice kitchen??” Here is the answer: it is a second kitchen, usually adjacent to the main kitchen, used for cooking foods with strong odors (Think: curry, kimchi, oily dishes, steamed dishes… things that linger in the house for days), also referred to as a “wok kitchen.”
How does it work?
In order for the Spice Kitchen to serve its intended purpose, it needs a high-volume exhaust hood over the oven and a door. The foods that are going to be prepared in the Spice Kitchen should be stored there as well, so there should be cabinetry, counter space and a sink. To serve the purpose, avoid storing, preparing or washing the pungent foods in the main kitchen; limit their appearances to the spice kitchen only.
A second kitchen for other purposes
If you don’t cook a lot of spicy, fragrant or steamy dishes, a second kitchen could come in handy anyway – cooking for a party, a beer brewing kitchen (the generation “man cave”???), or a kitchen for mom to escape the chaos of the family.
I have to admit, it seems pretty extravagant to have a second kitchen for any purpose… a real “first world” necessity. But a house that doesn’t smell, a separate space to work, a door behind which to hide a pile of dirty dishes… I can see the appeal!
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