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Summer is the perfect excuse to bring people together. Whether you’re hosting a barbecue, celebrating a birthday, enjoying a late evening in the garden or inviting friends round to watch England in the quarter-finals, the kitchen often becomes the heart of the occasion.
While a larger kitchen can certainly make entertaining easier, it’s by no means essential. Sometimes it’s the smaller additions that make the biggest difference, helping you spend less time running back and forth and more time enjoying your guests. Here are five kitchen ideas that can make your next gathering that little bit easier.
This year we’ve seen scorching temperatures, with supermarkets selling out of bags of ice almost as quickly as they arrive. If you’ve got a few people coming over, you’ll likely find that your ice trays run empty pretty quickly and your guests will be left nursing lukewarm drinks. An ice machine can produce fresh ice in as little as 10 minutes. From iced coffees and cocktails to a classic Pimms or a simple G&T, you’ll always have plenty of ice ready to go.
Once you’ve got plenty of ice, make life easier by setting up a self-serve drinks station. Fill an ice bucket with beers, soft drinks or a bottle of fizz and let guests help themselves. It saves constant trips to the fridge, keeps drinks perfectly chilled and means you can actually enjoy the party instead of playing bartender all evening.
If your occasion includes a buffet of food or tasty home cooked meal, it’s likely that your main fridge will be jam packed with prepped food and ingredients. Trying to squeeze another bottle into an already full fridge is never ideal, especially when guests are helping themselves throughout the evening. A separate wine fridge can be a god-send for parties, your guests can stash their drinks or help themselves to the selection you’ve put aside for them.
If you’re planning a new kitchen, integrated wine coolers from Neff are one of our favourite additions. Their slimline N 70 model, for example, stores up to 21 bottles while fitting neatly into your cabinetry, making it a practical luxury that gets plenty of use when entertaining.
These days, entertaining is often much more relaxed than it used to be. More and more of us are choosing relaxed, informal ways of entertaining, where guests can help themselves and conversations flow naturally. That’s where a good serving board comes into its own.
Whether you’re putting together a charcuterie board, a selection of British cheeses, fresh bread and oils, or even serving homemade pizzas straight from the oven, a large wooden or stone serving board makes food feel effortlessly inviting. Better still, everything can be placed in the centre of the kitchen island or dining table, encouraging guests to gather around and tuck in at their own pace.
Invest in one or two quality boards in different sizes. They’re incredibly versatile, look fantastic on display when not in use, and you’ll probably find yourself reaching for them far more often than you expect.
If you enjoy entertaining regularly, a home draught machine can be a surprisingly fun addition to your kitchen. Perfect for summer barbecues, watching the football or simply having friends over for the evening, they let you serve perfectly chilled pints from the comfort of your own home. It’s a small touch that often gets people talking and adds a bit of theatre to hosting.
Many of the latest machines are compact enough to sit neatly on a worktop and are available with a growing range of popular beers, making them a practical option even if you’re short on space. Of course, it’s certainly not a kitchen essential. But if you’re someone who loves inviting people round, it’s one of those additions that can make entertaining feel that little bit more special.
However you’re spending the summer, we hope it’s filled with good food, good company and plenty of reasons to gather around the kitchen.
Sometimes it’s the smallest additions that make hosting feel that bit easier, leaving you with more time to enjoy the people you’ve invited round. Whether you try one of these ideas or all five, here’s to a summer of relaxed entertaining and memorable evenings at home.
