As the world we live in becomes more complex growing numbers of people are gravitating more and more to the familiar and comforting things and places that remind them of what really matters in their lives. Where else do we experience the true togetherness of extended family and friendship as simply and with as much old fashioned wholesomeness as in our kitchens? Where is the one place in our homes where everyone can come together, cook, eat, laugh and talk but in our kitchens? Who doesn’t remember the kitchens of their mothers, grandmothers, university girlfriends and the kitchen where they first cooked a meal together with their first real grown-up love? Yet how many of us accord this room the respect and love it deserves in return? When last did we take a good long look at our kitchens and ask how well we are looking after them? After all, surely we should give something back?| Have you taken a good look at your kitchen lately? A really good look! Remember what kitchens mean to you before you do this…..they are rooms full of family, mothers, grandmothers baking apple pies and boyfriends trying to impress you with their own special brand of scrambled eggs. Kitchens are where you’ve washed baby bottles, mopped up spilt milk and laughed with your husband at the end of a long day. Kitchens are where you get together with your girlfriends over a bottle - or two - of chardonnay and delectably impractical slivers of smoked salmon and brie on a crisp ciabatta. And what about the time your son cut his foot outside and sat on the kitchen table while you kissed it better as he absorbed the smells of roast potatoes and all the trimmings? What have you done for kitchen lately?
There are different kitchens for different people of course, but we all get so caught up in simply getting from lunch to dinner, and braai to cocktail party, that sometimes we forget how very pivotal our kitchens are in our lives and how much more we could enjoy them with just a little attention. I know…. Money’s tight, “I can’t afford it!”. Who can afford a whole new designer kitchen these days anyway? The point is you don’t need a whole new kitchen - you just need to take a good look at what you have and what you can do with it.
I saw this for myself a few weeks ago when I went to visit an old friend that I only get to see every few months because she’s an incredibly busy woman, with an executive job, three children, two dogs, a cat and a husband. As usual I sat down at her old battered kitchen table to chat while she carried on making a variety of smiley faces with viennas for her kids. Then suddenly I realised that the old table wasn’t battered any more and as I looked around the kitchen I could that the whole room had the same look as a woman three days after her first botox injection. It was a lighter, fresher, happier kitchen.
Graham explained that he simply got fed up with avoiding cooking because he found his own kitchen unpleasant to be in and had suddenly discovered a creative side in himself just dying to break out of the closet. Because he did so much of the work himself it really hadn't cost him that much either as he had very few labour costs and had used innovative paint techniques on his walls that looked far more expensive than they actually were. The one area he had spent a little more was in replacing all his kitchen sink fittings. It is amazing how difference new taps and plugs make as they simply take years off the kitchen sink and the sparkle of brand new stainless makes everything around it look new as well. I was even more impressed when I opened the drawers. Graham had customized wooden drawer dividers to fit all his kitchen drawers, with the result that everything was now tidy and in place and it still looked good inside the drawers.
So it just takes a little inspiration, a bit of motivation, and a bit more work and anyone can add their own personal touches to their kitchen and turn it into the room the want to be in instead of the room they try to avoid. If you think you are not creative enough to do it yourself then just start small, perhaps try a little wall papering or even simply different colour bulbs in your light fittings. You may find that this will encourage you to take bigger and bolder steps towards a new kitchen.
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For the best kitchens visit http://www.gomesdesign.co.za .
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