The kitchen has been humming along lately – we’re getting the breakfast routine down. It feels like quite the achievement to have fed 6 people breakfast on a Saturday morning before the time we’d normally be waking up.
As much as I’d love to have a sleek modern kitchen with clear surfaces, the reality is, is that we live in a old-style villa, and that I use a kitchen like a cook (mis en place and many things going at once,) and that we cook a lot.
I need utensils and pots to-hand, and dislike having to put things away only to have to take them out again right away. I am a huge fan of exposed shelves, with ingredients and tools out to inspire and remind me of possibilities. I loved reading about Julia Child’s focus on function and comfort that she used when designing her kitchen.
On top of guest breakfasts we cook at home about 6 nights a week. My London days were about the reverse – with take out sushi, nights at the pub, and beautiful meals out as the norm. Now, my cook books are getting much use (I am in love with Jerusalem by Yotam Ottolenghi and I’ve become quite precious and protective of my one night out a week.
We were storing our pots and pans in the cupboards of a center island bench. So each morning for breakfast we were bending over and rearranging them to get to just the right egg pan, or grill pan for sausage. We saw a great pot rack in a local Freedom store and it gave us the idea for this. Rodney whipped it up in barely a day and used a lovely old piece of wood.
It’s a lovely little addition to the kitchen, and the man shed has earned another week.