Kitchens
Ever since the 1790s, when Count Rumford, otherwise known as Benjamin Thompson, came up with the idea of taking cooking out of the fireplace and into a self-contained ‘oven’ with holes in the top for pots, kitchen designers have been thinking of ways to reinvent the wheel. Or at least the worktop.
Getting a kitchen theme that ‘fits’ the style of your house is a dilemma I have covered a couple of times, so my apologies to regular readers. But if you have stood and stared at the messy space that should house the heart of your home and wondered ‘Where is it?’ then you will appreciate my ongoing crisis.
Initially, I came over all ‘Georgian’. In keeping with the age of the house, I would keep the kitchen as it was. Ergo, the ‘no kitchen’ kitchen. No fridge (what was I thinking?); the original stone trough sink (ergonomically bonkers, but so beautiful it’s staying); a cooker (allowed – see Rumford, above); and definitely no dishwasher (obviously I capitulated on this as rapidly as anyone else might have done when faced with the prospect of washing up a year’s worth of dishes or, umm, taking the dog out).
As a result, there is no theme – just a mishmash of bits in a brick-lined scullery that one friend has described as ‘the garage where you keep the food’. But then, a couple of weekends ago, I was walking along the high street and there it was: my new kitchen theme. Or at least the start of my new kitchen theme. A 1930s scullery cupboard, topped with an enamel worktop, sitting outside Nelson House Antiques (so called because the great man once stayed here).
Its dirty cream patina, faded and worn on one side from damp, was an exact match for the existing joinery. Not Georgian admittedly, but the 1930s was certainly the last time the place was painted. And then, a further sign: a matching enamel-topped table around the corner on Courthouse Street. Same hue, same age. Was the universe trying to tell me something? Or had I just stumbled on someone else’s old ‘theme’?
Next week: Japanese knotweed
Getting a kitchen theme that ‘fits’ the style of your house is a dilemma I have covered a couple of times, so my apologies to regular readers. But if you have stood and stared at the messy space that should house the heart of your home and wondered ‘Where is it?’ then you will appreciate my ongoing crisis.
Initially, I came over all ‘Georgian’. In keeping with the age of the house, I would keep the kitchen as it was. Ergo, the ‘no kitchen’ kitchen. No fridge (what was I thinking?); the original stone trough sink (ergonomically bonkers, but so beautiful it’s staying); a cooker (allowed – see Rumford, above); and definitely no dishwasher (obviously I capitulated on this as rapidly as anyone else might have done when faced with the prospect of washing up a year’s worth of dishes or, umm, taking the dog out).
As a result, there is no theme – just a mishmash of bits in a brick-lined scullery that one friend has described as ‘the garage where you keep the food’. But then, a couple of weekends ago, I was walking along the high street and there it was: my new kitchen theme. Or at least the start of my new kitchen theme. A 1930s scullery cupboard, topped with an enamel worktop, sitting outside Nelson House Antiques (so called because the great man once stayed here).
Its dirty cream patina, faded and worn on one side from damp, was an exact match for the existing joinery. Not Georgian admittedly, but the 1930s was certainly the last time the place was painted. And then, a further sign: a matching enamel-topped table around the corner on Courthouse Street. Same hue, same age. Was the universe trying to tell me something? Or had I just stumbled on someone else’s old ‘theme’?
Next week: Japanese knotweed