Victoria usually has a relatively mild climate, but in summer, you want to ensure your home appliances are working well when it heats up. You don’t want to be stuck in the summer heat with broken appliances.
We’re in full swing of summer now, but it’s not too late to upgrade your outdoor kitchen or get your indoor appliances in order so you can enjoy summer. Here’s what you need to know about the must-have home appliances for summer in Victoria, BC.
Best Outdoor appliances
Whether you’re feeding your household or entertaining family and friends this summer, having a space to cook outdoors saves you from using your indoor appliances and unnecessarily heating up your home. Here are our recommendations for creating the perfect outdoor cooking space this summer:
Outdoor Grills and BBQs, and side burners
An outdoor grill or BBQ is essential, as you’ll likely be doing most of your cooking on it when cooking on your patio. When choosing a BBQ, you have many options:
- Propane or gas flame: great for portability and fast cooking
- Wood pellets (a smoker): great for slow cooking but can also cook to sear.
- Charcoal: great for slow cooking and the taste it imparts to the food.
Before choosing a large outdoor grill, know how many people you usually cook for. If you cook for a small family, you only need 1-2 burners. If you want the ability to cook for larger groups or larger quantities of food, get one with more burners.
Also, consider whether you want a smaller portable BBQ for bringing camping or to the beach. These can be extra cooking space at home for larger BBQ parties, but you don’t have enough cooking space on your larger BBQ.
Another consideration is adding a side burner to the BBQ to cook a pot or pan of food outside. It’s great for BBQing your main dish while simmering a sauce on the side.
Finally, don’t forget about essential BBQing essentials like cooking utensils, a BBQ cover to protect it from rain and the elements and a good selection of spices and marinades.
Outdoor refrigerators
Many forget that you can have a fridge in your outdoor kitchen too. A fridge can be great for storing drinks for you and your guests or essential ingredients for your cooking, so you don’t need to go back and forth to bring ingredients out.
You can get a small “bar-fridge” style that’s 3-5 cubic feet, great for storing a 6-12 pack of beverages, or something larger to store full plates of cold-appies food, ready to serve as soon as your BBQ is done.
Ensure you get one rated for outdoor use (like this Mont Alpi Outdoor fridge that holds up to 90 cans), or store it away from the rain and natural elements in a cabinet or fully covered patio.
Outdoor vent hoods
When cooking outdoors in fully or partially walled spaces, you may want a vent hood over an outdoor stove or BBQ to vent away any fumes or heat from your space. They typically come in 36 - 48 inch units, but larger 60-72 inch hoods are also available.
Outdoor vent hoods are designed to withstand outdoor moisture and heat; some come with underlighting to light your cooking surface.
Outdoor freezers
We bet you never thought about putting a freezer outdoors, eh? Well, it’s possible with outdoor-rated freezers. Outdoor freezers are handy for keeping ice-cold alcohol or frosted mugs and glassware handy. They can also keep your ice cold so it doesn’t melt in an ice bucket on your patio.
A freezer is the outdoor kitchen appliance you didn’t know you needed, but once you try it, you’ll never live without one!
Keeping cool
Staying cool during the warm summer months is likely high on your priority list this year:
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For outdoor spaces, if you have a partially covered outdoor space, install a large ceiling fan to help with airflow and cooling. It won’t help when the air is already hot, but it can help keep things cooler during the shoulder seasons.
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Air conditioning is becoming a necessity for our northwest coast summers. With regular heat domes and heat wave warnings, it’s becoming a necessary safety appliance to keep your home cool. Whether you choose a portable air conditioner, a full-house air conditioning system, or a heat pump for both heating and cooling ability, your body will thank you for the extra cool this summer.
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A working indoor freezer can also be helpful. Your freezer can store ice cream, cold beverages, and ice packs to keep your body cool! You can also ensure it’s fully stocked with easy meals for those hot summer days you don’t feel like cooking and would rather reheat some leftover lasagne or hamburger patties on the BBQ.
Functioning Kitchen Appliances
Summer is also an excellent time to ensure all household appliances work correctly. Perform regular maintenance now to ensure they won’t fail you during the summer months.
You may need a new appliance now. Maybe your above-oven microwave has been broken, but you’ve put off calling a maintenance person.
Did you know that West Coast Appliance sells new appliances AND has repair services for your existing ones? It’s true. Why not call them now and get everything in good working order so you can spend less time worrying about your broken oven or dishwasher that doesn’t clean your dishes anymore and more time hosting BBQ and patio parties in your backyard?
Check out our selection of available or in-stock home appliances for all your summer (and year-round needs).
Newsletter and Social
Is your backyard summer BBQ ready yet? There is still time to get it ready! Check out our list of must have appliances for your summer backyard or patio space:
Let’s be honest. In the dead heat of summer in Victoria, it sucks to cook indoors! Instead of heating up your home, here’s our tips for the best outdoor appliances you need to create the perfect outdoor kitchen for the chef(s) in your family: