The New Kitchen Island Painted in Farrow and Ball 'Dimity'
We moved into our house as a new build about fifteen years ago now. It’s a house in that much described position on ‘Escape to the Country’ of ‘edge of a village’. We are lucky that the rear of our house looks out onto open fields and that our garden surrounds our home. We are in a small development of five houses that were built on top of a farmyard and in the footprint of barns. This means that the design of the house carries some features of barn conversions such as the large glass front window that also makes up the front door and the double height hallway. In addition, the house is built from Northamptonshire ironstone which is a lovely warm ginger colour. The room sizes are generous, especially on the ground floor and that includes a large square kitchen.
West Side of our House and Garden. Showing the Northamptonshire
Ironstone
Our kitchen is at one end of the house, connected to the dining room via an archway which in turn is connected to the hallway also by an arch. This means the kitchen (and dining room) are largely open plan and very visible. Both a sociable benefit and at the same time a pressure to ensure it is reasonably tidy, if a little lived in. This part of the house is one room wide, so the kitchen benefits from dual aspect windows – a lovely sunny south facing window over the sink and French doors leading into the garden overlooking the fields, just about where the raised beds are for the cutting garden but with a little patio for chairs and a table for Spring tea breaks.
Tea Outside the Kitchen French Windows in Summer
The kitchen units and their layout were designed by the builder and to be fair we haven’t had too many problems. The units make up two sides of the kitchen, allowing a little space for the door to the garage and for the essentials like the cooker and fridge freezer. The units themselves have wooden doors which, unlike the rest of the wood in the house, have not turned too orange. The work surfaces are granite which I would describe as a little retro now – black with a brown pattern. I’m not sure I’d say I ever loved the granite, but it has been very practical, there’s certainly a lot of it and it goes well with the units. A necessary compromise.
Comfortable Chairs in the Kitchen
I’ve always wanted a country kitchen with a sofa in it. Growing up we had a small galley kitchen with no room for additional furniture not even a table. Since leaving home we have always had a kitchen table and certainly it was the epicentre of much home-based activity – meals, games, homework, socialising during meal preparations to name a few. The kitchen we have now is largely square and there was room to have both a kitchen table and a sofa, with a couple of comfortable chairs thrown in. As time has gone on, the kitchen table was used less. The dining table, just through the arch remember, provided more space for games, family meals formal and informal and socialising (‘prinks’ being the girl’s favourite). The kitchen table was starting to become less essential, especially with the sofa and chairs for pre-meal socialising. Of course, my Other Half (OH) still loves it and uses it.
Kitchen Sink with South Facing Window
After fifteen years, I will admit to having accumulated a little more stuff than we had when we moved in. Not huge quantities but bits and bobs. Things with uses that are essential but not used all that often – the blender, the electric whisk, baking trays, a stack of neatly folded napkins, my cookbook collection, a range of pasta shapes, a collection of different teas, various flours for different baking. All were taking a toll on the original kitchen cupboard space that even a declutter couldn’t solve. There was nothing for it but to find more storage. And there was something else. The work surface was feeling meagre. As a rule of thumb, there has only really been one person in the kitchen cooking at one time. Others may be hanging around in a social or supervisory capacity as they see fit but usually just the one cook. Family life was changing. Our daughters cook, our youngest, often with a friend. I am at home now and there can be simultaneous lunch or breakfast making. We interrupt each other’s routines and generally, in order to avoid unnecessary squabbles, need more space to create our culinary wonders (or in my case, something on toast).
Enter the kitchen island…I usually start my justification for going down this route with a lengthy tale of how the original kitchen designs we were shown, prior to agreeing the sale of the house with the builders, showed a kitchen island in situ. It never materialised and now the tale really sounds as tough I’m trying to justify myself to deflect a complement (a whole other blog there I’m sure). Not being averse to a bit of garden designing and being fully up to speed with the large statement in a small space rule of thumb. We went big. Big enough that we can seat four people around two sides if we wish without compromising the work surface space. Big enough that I can have huge flower installations in the middle and get away with it as no one’s space is compromised. Big enough to gain three full cupboards on each corner (the fourth being a vast built-in bin), three drawers (two large enough to house the baking ingredients and pasta collection respectively), shelving for my cookbooks (handy but not in the front line of the eye) and a draw for the chopping board and knives that I didn’t even know I needed until it landed. Suddenly, we have space.
Space to Cook
Being an addition to the kitchen and not a refit of the entire units, there were plenty of things to consider. We did not want to disturb the flooring – it runs throughout the kitchen, dining room and hall plus has underfloor heating which works just fine as it is. This meant the island would not have a sink or any electrical sockets. In many ways this made planning easier. I like our sink where it is under the window and I am happy that the appliances, kettle, toaster (and our daughter’s new coffee machine) can live around the edges where the sockets are. More room to breathe.
A Spot for Cook Books
We have not been tempted to remove the eye height cupboards in favour of open shelving. I love the idea of open shelving – all that space to design and faff with, but the reality is, somethings just need to be in a cupboard and not on view. I don’t need to be cleaning my plates before I use them or (horror) between uses unnecessarily because they’ve become dusty on the shelf. Cleaning is not my main purpose in life, and I want to keep the time I spend doing it to a minimum. So, retro eye height cupboards it is then. The toaster and new coffee machine are out on the side, no breakfast cupboard here. Would I like one? Possibly. It might help me cut back the amount of toast I eat but they’re not necessary and would have required a lot of further disruption for little benefit. Plus, I cannot guarantee that the OH wouldn’t insist on having the toaster out anyway – he likes things to stay the same. We could have had a pantry cupboard for the baking goods and the pasta collection and maybe eventually a stand-alone cupboard will appear down the line but for now the drawers are more than enough. I’ll be looking for some storage jars of just the right heights this spring.
The aesthetics of the new island were critical as it needed to fit seamlessly with the existing kitchen units, flooring and worktop. I had thought about a strong contrasting style to take a juxtaposition – metal, a bright colour unit, a modern light worktop. But I like the relaxed country feel and I wanted a timeless effect. After limited deliberation, the best decisions are often the easiest I find, we went for cream units in the island painted in Farrow and Ball Dimity and then used the same granite worksurface as the rest of the kitchen. It’s not especially fashionable but it is warm, homely and feels like a country kitchen. Exactly what I wanted.