Does the price of the counter affect meal quality?

[Leto85]

Granted, that doesn't directly answer your question.  No, counter price does not affect cooking quality, just cleanliness and room score.  However, if you were to purchase a food processor and use that, instead of a counter, to prepare your autumn salads, that WOULD add a boost to meal quality.

Wait, how can the food processor replace the counter while sims are making autumn salads on it? The food processor is not build to make something on it, only to store and beam up a dish. The quality would not be better, just exactly the same as the original.

[Schipperke]

Wait, how can the food processor replace the counter while sims are making autumn salads on it? The food processor is not build to make something on it, only to store and beam up a dish. The quality would not be better, just exactly the same as the original.

You need an extra counter for the food processor.  The food processor is supposed to add to the quality of the things that can be made in it.  Are you sure you're not thinking of the food replicator?

[Hosfac]

Well every time I play the Sims 3 I always make a cook, and my previous post was from personal experience. I have a cook who makes perfect meals every time with normal ingredients, and the only thing she utilizes are: refrigerator, a stove with the improved meal quality upgrade, and her knowledge as a level 10 cook.

Any time I start a new family, I almost always start with a gardener (if not a cook, too), so my post was from personal experience as well.  Even without the culinary career reward or an upgraded stove, lower level cooks can make some incredible quality meals with good ingredients.  While my Dynasty does have that refrigerator, they're still cooking on an unmodified Festus 44 stove and no food processor.  And if I remember correctly, the only ingredients that are perfect so far are lettuce, tomatoes and apples.  All other ingredients are great to outstanding.

Are you sure you're not thinking of the food replicator?

Actually, I'm pretty sure he is talking about the food replicator.  

[Pam]

@Leto,

As the others have said, what you describe is the Food Replicator that you get with happiness points.  The Food Processor can be purchased in Buy Mode under small kitchen appliances.  It's like a blender and sits on the counter.  Sims use it to chop up and mix food instead of chopping on the counter or stirring a bowl.

[geekgirl101]

For every 10 meals you make of that recipe its quality increases, same applies to mixology drinks.  You can make higher quality meals than normal if you have a cooker with improved meal quality, are a perfectionist, level 10 cooking skill to "kick it up a notch", in a good mood, and use higher quality ingredients.

Higher value counters only increase the environment which is good if you're after an elated mood.  If you are in a bad mood and try cooking a recipe that you boosted up to perfect you could end up making it at a lower quality instead.  If you're finding your sims abroad are making poorer quality meals it could be that they're grumpy and starving and end up making a shoddy dinner, aswell as missing out boosts on the cooker and any ingredients you may have stored back at home.

[Hosfac]

level 10 cooking skill to "kick it up a notch"

"Kick it up a notch" is an ability gained from the Natural Cook trait, and it starts at level 4 I believe.  It might also be possible to gain this ability at level 10 cooking without the trait, but I've never had a cook get that high without also being a Natural Cook.  So I've got no way to know for sure.  But everything I've read about it so far says that Natural Cook is the only way to get it.

It's also worth mentioning that doing this will not affect the highest meal quality listed in the skill journal.  If you cook an outstanding meal, and it's the best you've made so far, kicking it up a notch to perfect will not change the listed quality in your journal.

[geekgirl101]

"Kick it up a notch" is an ability gained from the Natural Cook trait, and it starts at level 4 I believe.  It might also be possible to gain this ability at level 10 cooking without the trait, but I've never had a cook get that high without also being a Natural Cook.  So I've got no way to know for sure.  But everything I've read about it so far says that Natural Cook is the only way to get it.

It's also worth mentioning that doing this will not affect the highest meal quality listed in the skill journal.  If you cook an outstanding meal, and it's the best you've made so far, kicking it up a notch to perfect will not change the listed quality in your journal.

True, none of the ones in my journal appear to change even when I've cooked them umpteen times either.  Might be a bug in my game that they're not doing that.

My error on the level 10 cooking skill, I forgot that sim was a natural cook and thought it was something they got once they dinged max cooking.

I also just noticed the award "Menu Maven" for learning 28 recipes results in higher quality food.

[Hosfac]

True, none of the ones in my journal appear to change even when I've cooked them umpteen times either.  Might be a bug in my game that they're not doing that.

My error on the level 10 cooking skill, I forgot that sim was a natural cook and thought it was something they got once they dinged max cooking.

I also just noticed the award "Menu Maven" for learning 28 recipes results in higher quality food.

That's what should be happening, so if it's not happening, it's quite possible that it is a bug.  And don't feel bad on the error thing:  the first time I noticed the "Kick it up a notch" interaction, my natural cook was very close to maxing the skill lol.

For me, completing the "Menu Maven" challenge is a must-do. 

[Pam]

We're off topic now.  The original question about whether the counter affects meal quality has been answered, I believe.