Televisions - Not everyone wants or needs a TV in the kitchen, but if you spend a lot of time there, a TV can be a welcome addition. Aside from listening to the news or TV talk shows, you might want to follow along with a cooking show or even play a DVD recording of cooking instructions. Many kitchen style TVs also come equipped with a radio tuner, to listen to music or even play a CD. If you have an eat-in kitchen space, you might want to install a TV to watch over the morning paper and coffee.
To conserve counter space, consider purchasing an under-cabinet mount TV that folds up out of view. Although, while we hesitate to condemn any product without thorough testing, there is ample evidence that the product quality for under-cabinet mount, kitchen TVs is not as good as it should be. Incidences of consumer complaints are high, warranties unusually short and our own unsatisfactory experience with a GPX brand TV suggest that a small, table top model from a reliable manufacturer may be a better choice.
Kitchen TVs will either need a cable or an antenna connection. If your cable or satellite provider uses a box to tune or unscramble the signal, you will have to allow extra space for the additional equipment. Check with your provider to determine whether any signal is available without use of a box or ask if they support cable cards. Cable cards replace a cable box, but require a TV that accepts a cable card.
