The kitchen is the centerpiece of the home, restaurant, and hotel. Whether it be serving your customers or family their breakfast, dinner and lunch, or entertaining weddings, family get-togethers, birthday celebrations, and late night snacks, we all spend a lot of time in the kitchen. For these reasons kitchen fixtures have to be efficient, safe, hygienic, long lasting and easy to use. With the right kitchen fixtures you can make your function as the head chef or cook less of a job and more pleasurable.
Maybe that is why so many of us remodel the kitchen even when it really is still fully operational. You can always replace the old with the new in the name of greater efficiency and aesthetic satisfaction. Some kitchens built in the 1950s don’t even have dishwashers. Now would be a great time to add a new one, with a new sink and food waste and faucet system to support it. Aside from overhauling the entire structure of the kitchen from the floors, the ceiling, cabinents and lighting, you have to think about the electrical, drainage, heating, piping and ventilation requirements. That involves knowing what kitchen fixtures you want in the final design which basically determines what sort of infrastructure is needed to support them.
At Irving’s Plumbing , we offer an unlimited selection of kitchen fixtures from faucets and sinks to hot water dispensers, grease interceptors, pre-rinse sprayers and food waste disposal systems. We also have all the parts, valves, drains, fittings, systems and piping that make up the infrastructure to support those fixtures. Selecting the kitchen fixtures for your house or a major building complex will make up the most expensive part of the plumbing system. Whether you are designing for the home or commerical kitchen, we offer sound objective advice on a broad range of kitchen fixtures and appliances.
| The Kitchen Sink Kitchen sinks are probably the most frequently used fixture in the home and restaurant. They serve a multitude of functions from washing your hands to holding water for straining vegetables or washing pans. They come in many different materials including granite, cast iron, quartz composite or concrete, copper and stainless steel sinks that look good, are durable and extremely easy to clean. The lastest fad are glass sinks which offer all sorts of aesthetic features to your kitchen. They come in all different shapes and sizes from corner kitchen sinks to utility sinks with 9 to 10 inch deep bowls that allow you to clean large pots and oversized basins. Sinks are also divided into self-rimming sinks, which sit on the countertop and undermount sinks, which attach to the underside of the counter. Sinks for the kitchen are usually 22″ x 30″ and often come with four holes used for mounting faucets and sprayers, liquid soap dispensers for liquid soap, hot water, and purified water.  |
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| The Kitchen Faucet Faucets for the kitchen come in three basic styles: 1) the classic two-handle or dual control style where the spout and both valves sit on a single base unit, 2) the popular single-handle or single control faucet where the hot and cold water is controlled by one lever or knob that’s often part of the spout, and 3) the widespread faucet where the hot and cold water valve and spout are mounted separately. When it comes to the kitchen, the single control faucet is probably your best bet. Safe and efficient, this style is user friendly to both kids and adults. |
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| The Hot Water Dispenser The hot water dispenser is basically a small electric water heater that supplies hot water to a single faucet. Installed under the sink, this small tank heats and holds hot water ready to be transported through a spout on top of the sink that is separate from the main faucet. For the chef in your home, or at the hotel, the hot water dispenser is the epitome of convenience. It speeds up all kinds of kitchen activities from the preparation of hot drinks, soups, sauces, the thawing of frozen foods, to warming the baby bottle, these relatively inexpensive fixtures can make you look like a cooking genius. |
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| The Food Waste Disposal System Garbage disposals are the chef’s best friend. Designed to grind and wash away garbage and waste generated during the cooking of a meal, these units can solve your waste disposal problems with the touch of a switch. Garbage disposals range from ½ to 2 horsepower depending on how much and what kind of waste you have to handle. Smaller kitchens can probably get away with a minimum of ½ horsepower, while the commerical kitchens in restaurants and hotels will require something more powerful. Most units will fit into a standard drain outlet. The most common garbage disposals are the switch activated ones, but there are other models that start when you insert and turn a special drain plug. Garbage disposals are never that quiet, but under stainless steel sinks, they can be quite noisy if not properly insulated. Avoid trying to plug it with foods such as celery, potato skins, melon rinds and other fruit and vegetables peels, and coffee grounds, a garbage disposal can last for years. |
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| The Grease Interceptor A grease interceptor traps the grease and fat that accumulates in the kitchen and prevents it from entering and clogging up the waste lines. Consisting of a vault with a minimum capacity of between 500 and 750 gallons, the interceptor is divided into a minumum of two compartments, and the flow between each compartment is through a 90° fitting designed for grease retention. The capacity of the interceptor gives the wastewater time to cool, allowing any remaining grease not collected by the traps time to congeal and rise to the surface where it accumulates until the interceptor is cleaned. |
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