insideSUSSEX Magazine Issue 15 - May 2016 | Page 84

INTERIORS

How to create your
(usable) dream kitchen
There was a time not too long ago when kitchens were considered the room in your house that
established, if not upped, your cool quotient among your peers. Many of those kitchens may well
have looked fabulous, but often served no real culinary, or even social purpose. Worse still, many
became household rooms packed with quirky, colourful kitchen equipment, but none of which was
ever used for actual cooking. Gone however are the days of looking, but not touching, and back in
its rightful place is the kitchen as the busy, loud, and often messy heart of the home. Here’s how to
create a kitchen with bags of style, but that’s also somewhere to live, and to enjoy to the fullest too.

First thing’s first, ask yourself how you really live. Most of us probably
lust over the immaculate kitchens we see in the brochures of swanky
estate agents – all stainless steel, marble, and everything but the kitchen
sink concealed. But, just as pictures drawn by our kids and ‘things to
remember’ creep onto our fridges, so do condiments and gadgets creep
onto our kitchen surfaces. Consider how you really live in your kitchen
and your ideal design will become less self-consciously cool and much
more about you and how you’ll use it.

Lighting

Storage and placement

Essential items

Though your heart may yearn for the dramatic, spotlighted look of the
chic and steel-heavy Masterchef kitchen, consider the atmosphere too;
you’d probably start to feel a little bit stressed if you had to prep, cook
and eat under a bright glare every day. Overhead lights are great for
helping you see clearly and for kitchens with less natural light, but opt for
those on a dimmer, so you can set the scene for a more relaxed mood at
mealtimes.

How much storage you’ll need and where to put things sounds obvious,
but is easy to underestimate, or overlook. The chances are your kitchen
isn’t working as hard as it could to make your life easier, so place things as
closely as possible to where you’ll need them, especially in a big kitchen –
no one really wants to walk ten feet between the kettle and the tea bags.
Extra cupboard space never goes unused; open shelving is a great idea
for ease of access; and drawers that pull out fully mean that centuries-old
potato peelers and blunt knives will no longer be left languishing at the back.

Nobody needs a dusty pot housing 18 wooden spoons, an old turkey
baster, and a ball of string. If you love cooking and you have the following
items, then you’re good to go:
• Great knives. Sharp; different sizes; in a block.
• A good grater. Microplane; four-sided, or two-way, but always non-slip.
• Digital scales with tare button. No more one-eyed measuring.
• A quality, double-edged peeler. Works for lefties and righties.
• An excellent food processor. Excellent doesn’t mean expensive; if you
make a lot of soups and purees, make sure it has a mini attachment,
so you can whizz up small or large quantities, as well as cheat when it
comes to chopping onions.
• A stand mixer with a powerful motor. Takes the back-breaking out of
baking.

Splurge or save?

Save on dressing your kitchen, that’s something that will evolve naturally
anyway, and spend your money on the things that receive the most wear
and tear – cupboard and drawer handles, countertops and, of course,
the kitchen sink. As mundane as opening cupboards and washing-up
may seem, we spend a lot of time doing them, so eschew the handles
you like and choose the ones you love, and take your biggest roasting
pan with you when you choose your sink; the feeling of satisfaction you’ll
get seeing it sat comfortably flat on the bottom while being left to soak is
a gift that will keep on giving.

There are exceptions to the ‘rules’ of course; we all know that as
wonderful as marble looks on countertops and floors, it needs
maintenance and can chip, stain and crack like billy-o, but if you don’t
mind things ageing naturally, go for it. Achieve your heart’s kitchen desire,
just always consider its use too.

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