Kitchen transformation – dull to delicious
There was a time when this kitchen seemed to pop up everywhere. I never really understood what made it such a star – although it has plenty of features that should make it one of my favorites, like the big white Aga, open shelves, warm wood counters, and a stripped down industrial-meets-country vibe:
1st Option
The trouble is, it just has an overall cold and unwelcoming look, the lighting design, as far as I can see, is tragic, and that table is not so much vintage and charming as old, broken and inconvenient – it should probably have been left out in the potting shed. It does look quite sweet, if not entirely practical, dressed up for a meal – and do you see how the chilly whites have been made to look warmer and creamier in this picture?
The table laid
I’d really got so depressed by the kitchen, I had abandoned the idea of posting it at all, until just this week when I came across it again at the entertaining Swedish/British blog Trendey. Henen (one half of the sister duo behind Trendey) made me laugh when she described the subway tile as “public toilet style” – how’s that for saying it like it is? Henen is obviously far more industrious than I am, and actually found some pictures of the kitchen as it appeared in the BBC TV cooking show that helped make it famous, “The Delicious Miss Dahl”.
Sophie Dahl in the gussied-up kitchen
Isn’t it amazing what color on the walls, draperies, flowers, and bright accessories can do? A charming blonde ex-model posing as a domestic goddess doesn’t hurt, either. The sudden appearance of a gas cooktop is even more amazing – though I suppose it wouldn’t have been good TV if her deliciousness spent the entire time with her back to the camera cooking at the Aga. Both she and the kitchen do look, well, delicious, in the TV show, even if the critics weren’t universally kind (don’t miss this entertaining exposé). Here’s a charming little sample for you:
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It’s enough to make me want to run out and buy some rhubarb.
Hi Francois – that’s what I thought from the excerpt, lots of pretty accessories and beautifully lit. And easy, tasty food is the best kind if you have to prepare it, isn’t it.
I’ve been watching the series this week and it is most enjoyable. Easy tasty food and lovely to look at throughout. You’re right, the chopping is hilariously bad!She needs a hand double.
So true, Joseph. Eye candy seems to be all that really matters.
I was an Army cook for three years, then cooked in restaurants for a year after that, so I do know my way around a kitchen. And seeing her hesitancy with the French knife, it is clear to me that she is, as you said, simply posing as a domestic goddess. Although, quite frankly, she is certainly beautiful enough to get full marks for the goddess part!