I think we all know she was a cook – or it’s very easy to find this out.  I would like to remember some other things about my aunt.

She could not bear being told what to do.  I’m not sure what led to this, but while still in her teens she ran away from home.  She was fed up with family life, such as it was at Wootton Manor in Sussex, and she had plans to become an actress.  The Oxford Playhouse proved a temporary stop, as she and one of its company, Charles Gibson Gowen, escaped to sea in a barge.  They kept one step ahead of the Germans as war broke out until arrested in Venice and subsequently freed by the American ambassador.  She embraced the chaos of the war, working for much of it at the British Army intelligence library in Cairo.  Afterwards, she wrote cookery books, apparently to prove her worth to another (married) lover.

I first knew my aunt properly when she was recovering from a stroke and had lost her sense of taste. What to do?  My father was her doctor and he suggested, along with others, that she open a shop.  She liked this challenge.  It turned out she had been collecting addresses of potteries, cast-iron foundries, chinaware companies, artisan knife makers and tin ware manufacturers during her repeated trips to France. Her favourite shops were ironmongers, ideally French, where the British bought their cookery ware as no cookshops existed then.  From one trip she bought back a collection of cast brass cup hooks and asked me if I could get them made here as there was no English equivalent.  That was my job, fixing things.  As her nephew my duties included changing light bulbs, building bookshelves and sink cabinets and gassing cupboards for woodworm in her Chelsea terrace.

A bus journey to 44 Bourne St Pimlico found me facing an industrial sized plate glass window in an ugly, modern, narrow shop front. A table placed across the entire width to display basic French tin ware, piled high, looked like nothing I had seen before.  Inside were pots set on garage shelves with straw strewn about and bread crocks on the floor and a staircase leading to a concrete basement.  Visiting the shop was my top priority when escaping boarding school for the holidays.  Liza (as we called her) most often hid in the stockroom (people constantly wanted her advice and she found it exhausting) on a bar stool, knees to one side at an old pine dresser.  This doubled up as desk, samples spot, notice board and waiting-to-be-filed zone.  She dressed in black and white, with black, thick-rimmed glasses. I was always welcome and was offered Nescafe in small white porcelain coffee cups.  The place smelled of disque bleu cigarettes, fresh ones and stale.

Customers and friends from all over the world brought trade samples and seasonal food.  I remember figs, persimmons, walnuts and cheeses.  In the basement the objects took on glamour.  She styled things in her shop in a casual but eye-catching and unusual way, the lighting borrowed from a photographer’s studio.  Stock moved so fast when it first opened that everything was sold within a month. Other retailers quickly caught on, even Terence Conran admitted her influence on Habitat in later years. Independent cookshops sprung up in high streets in USA, Australia and here.

Her own kitchen was full of exotic clutter, freestanding furniture, piles of books and strange cooking equipment.  No units and long countertops for her - just a decent table, a stove and some good few dressers and a capacious old cupboard.  I loved visiting just to hang about in that kitchen.

My aunt’s spirit is captured in Artemis Coopers’ excellent biography, Writing at the Kitchen Table.  She excelled in writing, conversation and enjoyment of being in a kitchen.  One last rebellion – her mother had banned Elizabeth and her sisters from ever going into her kitchen at Wootton to prevent them getting in the cook’s way, but she ended up by practically living in one: I installed a stylish cane day bed in her final ‘winter kitchen’.

I developed the Kitchen Creative Index as a checklist for the kitchen industry to offer more creativity to customers, as I believe they deserve more exciting and better designed kitchens.  As people selling and making kitchens are not given enough training or opportunity I have helped set up the first ever Kitchen Design degree course, starting in September 2013, at Bucks New University.

Places can be applied for now on UCAS. http://search.ucas.com/cgi-bin/hsrun/search/search/StateId/E1oTG791YFnRIJkuaiWosEGQDpRRC-VzFV/HAHTpage/search.HsDetails.run?n=1169559

(A separate blog is to follow on aims, contents, description of modules)

I will be presenting a talk, sponsored by Miele UK, on this topic at the KBB conference on 12th September in order to help persuade the kitchen industry to back the course.

Spagetti bench design by Pablo Reinoso

Always use a good crisis, so the political saying goes.  I would like to think the kitchen industry could benefit from the financial downturn through using creativity in their offering in readiness for full economic recovery. The industry can re-enchant householders by pointing out it that the kitchen is now the main social room in most people’s homes and so worth investing in. It’s a living room in which you cook.

Here are six suggestions for designing better kitchens, taken from the initial content of the Creative Index:

1.    Communication and collaboration.  See a kitchen project as about making a whole environment - more than installing cabinets. Imagine thinking like an artist, interior architect, psychologist and kitchen designer all rolled into one. Every customer is entitled to a brainstorm session, in their own home, exploring how they might use a kitchen for more than cooking. Look at how adjacent rooms are used, as well as access to the garden and integrate the kitchen into the matrix. Establish an ongoing design conversation and suggest favourite items of furniture and décor be included.
2.    Design and Layout. Make sure that sight lines work for the cook. Eye contact is vital for sociability. Is the scale of the furniture appropriate for the room? Is the table a decent size and placed within the arc of sunlight coming through the windows? Is the architecture respected and can any features be retained?  Will the space be sociable and encourage lingering? Are there any perching places?
3.    Ergonomics and appliances. Can people move around with ease, especially when the cook is not the only one in the room? Is the culinary zone efficiently planned so that the cook feels organized and enough space is left for sociable furnishing? Are there varied countertop heights and materials to allow for multiple uses?  Are the appliances ergonomically positioned, in particular the dishwasher, hob and oven heights?
4.    Creative review. A moment to reflect on the big picture as well as the details. Has the architecture been used to maximum effect or is there a new window waiting to be put in to reveal a view or bring in more light? Will the owners feel they really belong in their new kitchen, does it reflect their character in any way? Will the design make the clients smile or raise their spirits? Could it date easily? If so, look at reducing any close similarity to items in high fashion, say handles, colours or materials? The kids, will they be welcome? Is the table big enough for people to work on before or after meals? Will it end up feeling like a room that will be used a lot? Will there be a spot where fresh produce can be displayed so showing its credentials as a place where food is cooked?
5.    Manufacturing, materials and budget. Cleanly produced, eco materials and energy efficient appliances are in everyone’s interest. These include induction hobs, steam ovens, low water use dishwashers and LED lighting. Ethically minded customers are more likely to spend money and feel good if what they are buying is not harming the environment.  Anything artisan made, particularly accessories, are an easy way of upgrading lower cost cabinetry. Willow baskets, hand made tiles, handles, brackets and artwork panels add interest and charcater.  Does the design leave opportunity to personalize over time? Vacant wall space allows for pictures to be added later.
6.    Niceties. Every kitchen needs personal touches. These could be a rocking chair, window seat, music system, a fireplace or family heirloom like a dresser to display the children’s pottery. Is there a spot for the family dog or space for a family noticeboard or desk? Can some of the furniture to be moved around like the way people do in their sitting rooms and can it be taken with them if they leave their home or move house? Is the lighting flexible enough to make a kitchen evening a cosy experience?

All this is dependent on having skilled kitchen designers available to carryout the work. Once we have students graduating from the kitchen design course the industry will truly be able to raise the quality of their offering and customers will benefit from more original and efficient kitchens.

For enquiries about the kitchen design course:
Julie Catlow, Business and new courses co-ordinator,
Faculty of Design, Media and Management
Bucks New University

Tel: 01494 603153

Link to interview:  http://www.kbbreview.com/Home/interview-johnny-grey.htm

Kitchen islands are a relatively recent invention.  They first appeared in 1950s USA as a way of filling up newly expanded kitchen spaces.  The introduction of breakfast bars, probably inspired by neighbourhood diners, turned what was a cross between a range and a working table into a multi-function piece of furniture that is the star of the kitchen.  Cooking counters in diners proved the value of eating near a cooking zone as pre-served plates could be handed across the worktop for instant consumption. This allowed the island socialize the domestic kitchen by bringing eating into the heart of the culinary area. The arrival of efficient air ventilation systems on the market conveniently coincided making it possible to take the cooking hobs away from the chimney breast.

Ergonomics was the next development.  Following Henry Ford’s application of productivity theory, kitchen design eventually benefited from time and motion studies.  Surprisingly few serious attempts had been made to apply ergonomics to the kitchen by the time I started designing central Islands, and few acknowledged the social role of the kitchen.

Cindy’s diner, restored to it’s 1954 original, Kansas City.

Image courtesy of Kansas Historical Foundation

PERSONAL DISCOVERIES

My understanding of the role the island plays in lifting kitchen design to an art includes two other constituents. The Alexander Technique, a movement therapy taught in drama and music schools is based on a system of moving with a sense of economy to support the back and the body’s posture.  This led me to a concept I call ‘dedicated work surfaces’ where a culinary activity is optimized through calculating the space required to accommodate it without being overly generous, with the appropriate counter height and surface material then selected.  A balance needs to found, giving the hands space to work without involving unnecessary foot movement.  Too much space given to one kitchen activity reduces the room available for another.
My second discovery was the importance of peripheral vision. Our eyes cause our bodies to react to sharp edges and corners by becoming defensive, an alert signal going off in the brain sending low level flight and fight response signals.  I developed ‘soft geometry’, curved shapes which form natural routes between furniture and architectural features to make islands easy to negotiate, essential as islands are by their nature in the middle of a room.

NO MAN CAN LIVE ON AN ISLAND

Islands don’t exist on their own.  In a kitchen interior, arrangements need to be made between the central island and the doors, windows, walls, fridges, cupboards and tables.  The first thing to do is establish the ‘sweet spot’ or ‘driving position’, the safest and most strategic position for the cook.  Once that is located, with space left behind to protect the cook’s back (a well-established psychological need), one can assess the amount of space in front for an island, ideally with room behind for a sink cabinet.  Storage, best located in the zone between eyes and knees, is the third phase of the design.

Kitchen Island designed for clients in Memphis 2000

ALLOCATION OF WORK SPACE

The placement of prepping takes priority and is generally best sited on a corner to allow for a two-directional approach.  The cooktop should be kept in the centre, with a back-up work surface either to the right or in front. This can be a lower level surface at table height for use by children or as a pastry roll out area.  The longest work surface is the breakfast bar, we rename more accurately the food bar.  It’s for eating, serving and all purpose food display set highest of all so that it can’t be used as a prep surface.  Its users can then see what’s going on whether they sit on bar stools or perch and no one gets their hair singed as they are above the level of hot pans on the stove!

DESIGN MANNERS

Varying the mass of the island into a sequence of connected shapes creates sculptural harmony.  Some parts might even be see-through so that light can travel across the floor, from windows to the corridor to between the island and wall counters.  Installing a lighting gantry that echoes the outline shape of the island helps prevent it looking isolated or like an overgrown table. Include bars or hooks for small tools as this allows the cook sight and reach of his/her tools.  Lights enhance the rack’s function and visual appeal.  Finally, make sure the scale is right.  Small furniture in big rooms looks lost, big islands in small rooms mean you create an obstacle like something from Maurice Sendak’s Scary Monsters… After that it’s all up to the cook.

* More text on central islands can be found in a section at the back of my book Kitchen Culture