sing a song of active workspace
So ok, it’s St. Valentine’s Day and I’m going to play a little cute on words. You get it right? Kiss-and-tell?
When I go on house tours in this country or that I am open to all I can see. I take in the frontage and let my eye swoop around to scan the environs, the lines, the vistas and the carefully crafted details, usually from long ago – the newer tends to interest me less. I may appear to be randomly enjoying all that the visit has to offer. But, truly, I want to see two things: the kitchen and the garden. I want to see the pots and pans, the work tables and look at the floor. I want to see the sinks and the counters. And, most notably, the light that’s let in by the windows. When I watch Downton Abbey I think of myself as Mrs. Patmore and I worry that I can’t remember if there was actually one window in their kitchen. Probably not as they were downstairs. Finally, I want to see flowers. Always the flowers. But, more on that in another post.
On any given day, what does the state of the art of your kitchen space say about you when you walk in and out? So much telltale information is there. Is it a utilitarian workspace with sleek and gleaming stainless steel all around or is it a museum piece of clean, antiseptic magazine-ready sales promo for an English bespoke cabinetmaker? Or, Is it a percolating petrie dish, alive with expressions of you, complete with little bits of telltale personal comfort zone “this and thats” and a little bit of flour left on the counter? Is the oven on? Are the partial contents of your trip to the Farmer’s Market splayed across the counter top? Is there a bowl of eggs and butter coming to room temperature?
I got to thinking about this over the last few days when I saw two things. One was the (sorry)rather disappointing kitchen at the Casa del Herrero in Santa Barbara. Don’t get me wrong, it was nice. But, I was left underwhelmed. It immediately made me wonder about the kitchen in every home George Washington Smith had designed. And, that fused with some recent posts by my fav Nigel Slater who spoke of his cupboard of casseroles and turning to his kitchen with a “steel grey sky and rain lashing at the windows”. Then, one thing led to another……..
What does a kitchen say about its occupants and how much does it reveal, evoke in others who actually or by photo will visit it? And, what instincts does it call to the forefront and encourage one to do? I’m guessing most people don’t often stop to take it all in and yet, it does evoke feelings and it can invite you to engage. What props have you consciously or unconsciously assembled there? I tend to bring the same little tell-tale things to my work and living spaces no matter where I happen to be residing. My kitchen is no exception.
Here’s my opinion. No matter how small or simple, one’s kitchen should be a place of comfort, encouragement, delivering a psychic invitation to abundant creative expression. Why? Because, if you’re like me, it is a place you return to daily to engage in a creative activity or two, and its where you have the opportunity to get a solid sense of satisfaction. Like your garden space, or if you are an artist, it is like your studio, a place of contemplatable industry and yes, work.
Looking back, our kitchen growing up couldn’t have been more humble or technically un-beautiful and yet, my Mom made it into a place where to this very day, I can see her working, making the yummiest of treats and heart and tummy-warming meals. And so, I ask, what makes a kitchen the place of comfort in your home? Her delight and creative expression along with her joy in making and feeding others rang out over the space daily, and her love of cooking and of others made the space into the place that I to this day can see her working in. A cookbook or magazine that she’d been perusing would be there. Her vintage pyrex colored bowls. Her old Mixmaster. This goes for the kitchen of my paternal grandmother as well, the second of two wellsprings of my comfort food memories.
So, let’s go there. What makes a kitchen a delight? Many a designer makes a good living at working to design the “perfect” kitchen for a client. Diagrams of workspace triangles and other measures of efficiency may be calculated. Only, the perfect kitchen should actually be as unique as you are. For me it is less scientific than psychic. One can fengshui their way to the perfect space. You can study, draw, re-draw the space on a blank canvas, attempting to inject the desired feeling of comfort there. But, in the final analysis, what is it that makes it work, that makes it a place that you want to go to in the morning, to create, to make tea, to glance at the newspaper, to add water to the flowers, to glance out the window, say hi to the birds, welcome the day, return to for a cool drink after a morning’s toil in the garden, to fix a chicken sandwich, to gather the tomatoes and basil, to arrange the peaches, to set out the ingredients for dinner? In the final analysis, it really has evolved on its own, born of the connection between your desires and your expressions.
I admit to giving over to wonder about those who don’t get these feelings. I feel wonder about those who don’t look at their kitchen and sigh with a tinge of happiness in the morning as the sun streams in a window, inviting one to a day full of creative endeavor, to fill a glass with fresh-picked herbs. Is there some singular key to making one’s kitchen the heart of the home, a hearth of plenty – of memories?
I can think of a list of a few keys to success for me as I’ve consciously or unconsciously crafted this vignette for myself. As I pad down the stairs, often in the time of daybreak, one window or more to look out greet the day as you fill the carafe to make your morning coffee is a great start. At my house, the morning breaks into my kitchen as it faces to the east. I might utter a good morning to the birds. I have certainly missed my bird feeders this Winter as I am sure the birds are missing me filling it. Never mind the pesky bear. Having a bird feeder outside that window is a lovely invitation.
In my kitchen, a bowl is a necessary to have on the counter. A big bowl of any sort. It offers its hand to yours, saying, ok, how about it? I always have fruit on my counter in various states of ripeness. In Winter it’ll usually be pears, apples and citrus. They lie in wait for my favorite season of the year which is stone fruits.
A jar of work tools will tell a lot about what you tend to grab first and use most. One wooden spoon in an old jar is fine.
Baskets of produce will be waiting, reflecting what’s ripe and ready in the market.
Flowers in my work space are a must! Always flowers. I feel naked and unsettled without them. Last May when I was in Sardinia, I found myself called to walk along the road where I picked a little bunch of Queen Anne’s Lace and asked for a cup from the bartender and put them in our room as I was suffering from a lack of flowers in the venue. Try this experiment: Take away your flowers and leave the room and then walk back in. Then put them back and do the same. Voila! I keep a selection of flowering plants in my kitchen throughout all seasons. There are always sprigs of this or that on the windowsill. On my island there will be a vase or urn with a bouquet, no matter how humble.
The putting together of your space needs to come straight from the heart. If you listen you will hear the messages of what to do. What do you love? Is it a vintage rolling pin? Is is a painting? A framed menu from your favorite restaurant? A copper colander? What creates the best mood for you?
I confess to having vignettes playing in my head of warm and inviting kitchens for decades. I can remember the first time I saw Martha Stewart’s Turkey Hill kitchen in her first edition of Entertaining in 1982. I fell in love with that image and maybe somehow I worked to create my own version of that space. The butcher block, the baskets – it all gave such a satisfying depiction of endeavor including a portrayal of how absolutely beautiful food, no matter how simple, can be.
In the final analysis, every single kitchen is different. Some people want a cool, sleek and clean environment where clutter is off-putting. Others want a space where the ingredients of your creation are at hand, where a bowl of peaches is there to invite you to pick one up and inhale their fragrance. Whatever it is and whomever you cook for, be it you, on a quiet evening that you have to yourself to make a favorite dish that perhaps the rest of your family doesn’t particularly enjoy, or be it a special birthday dinner or holiday, have your kitchen be comforting and enveloping for you.
And so, on this day where on the east coast it’s presently 28F, take a moment to remember this – be it ever so humble, there is no place like (your) home (kitchen). I hope you will make something sweet today – even if it is just dipping one strawberry in chocolate, roasting a chicken or making some homemade rolls. Take advantage of what’s available to you, no matter how humble. Add a handful of herbs and a clove of gently roasted garlic to your mashed potatoes. Making one tiny element of your food day special will relay back to you. And, wherever you are, enjoy your kitchen, even if it’s a work-in-progress, even if it’s presently a jumble of two places, even if it’s purely in your imagination.
