Each week I visit my little local library in Old Greenwich, Connecticut. Named for a British loyalist and our town’s first private schoolmaster, the library was founded in 1904 by his descendants. There are two bookshelves for fiction and non-fiction with new selections of books hand-picked by the librarians.

While I was browsing the stacks, a book named A Home Afloat by Gary Cookson (Allard and Coles 2008) caught my eye. To my surprise, I realized that one of Johnny Grey’s kitchens graced the cover! I flipped to the chapter on barges and read about ‘Libertijn of Alphen’, a former sailing cargo vessel built in 1910 in the Netherlands. An engine and wheelhouse were added in 1920 and then sometime in the 1970’s, she was shortened and converted for living aboard.

Johnny’s clients had wanted to buy a retirement home in France but couldn’t decide where they wanted to live.  So they built a luxury floating home instead, and kept their options open to move around.  “We have gone from boring live-to-work computer industry types to vagabond gypsies, travelling the European waterways with reckless abandon”, they said.

The ship has a large split-level open plan. The clients wanted the space to be modern and functional with bright colors and natural woods, instead of traditional ship styling. The interior was carefully designed to reflect the art deco feeling of the 1920s.

Both the husband and wife love to cook, so the galley features a commercial six-burner gas cooktop, large gas oven, two refrigerators, freezer, icemaker, dishwasher, and warming drawer. With a full complement of appliances just like a landlocked kitchen, the boat needed designs for economy in storage and practical activity. The same principles of sociability apply, with the cook facing into the cabin. Tighter planning makes distances shorter and every available nook and cranny is utilized. Tapered cabinetry fit between windows and the curving hull. The Island features Johnny’s signature circular drum base cabinet. Cruising on the open seas demands panels that slide, door latches and drawer pin locks, while curved-fronted cabinets support the human body in motion.

The couple has made several trips up and down the Thames, participating in the Thames Traditional Boat Rally. They had crossed the Channel, entering France’s canal system at Calais, and have toured Belgium, the Champagne and Burgundy regions, and down to the Mediterranean through Holland and Germany. At the end of each day after exploring new places, they come home to their own kitchen.  Because they always return to their comfortable home, they never grow weary of travel or feel homesick. You can read more about ‘Libertijn of Alphen’ and see the plan layout in Johnny Grey’s book Kitchen Culture. Check your local library, or ask your bookseller for a copy.

- Chuck Wheelock

Editor’s note: Each day this week, we will be unveiling one of the new designs in our collection, Five Easy Pieces, launched at Decorex interior design trade fair.

When we first started designing the modern cottage collection, we wanted to have each piece of furniture incorporate its own lighting, becoming a light experience itself. The dresser was the most serious attempt to do this. We felt that a modern version of the traditional Welsh dresser could use light to magnify the pleasure and experience of seeing this object.

We were inspired by the film 2001: A Space Odyssey where the walls of the space station glowed, the lighting being concealed in the surface and the effect close to enhanced daylight.

We created a dresser that celebrates light by situating a light box behind the back and the underside of the countertop.  The light dresser glows within the kitchen with the colour and brightness selected by remote control.

Miles Hartwell and Johnny Grey designed this piece with assistance from Leila Ferraby. Nigel Brown, an independent and distinguished cabinet maker made the Light Dresser.

Johnny was interviewed by Jessie Hewitson for an article in the Daily Mail on the redundant dining room, “So is the dining room REALLY dead? As fewer families eat together, has the room been made redundant?”. Here’s an excerpt from the article about Johnny’s views on open-plan living:

‘In London, where there is a shortage of space and where the homes are more intensively used, most of our clients have abandoned dining rooms in favour of open-plan living,’ says the celebrated kitchen and dining-room designer Johnny Grey, author of Kitchen Culture.

‘But our clients with country properties tend to persevere with a dining room, even if they only use it on special occasions.’

For many, the kitchen has become a living room where you can cook.

‘The requirement is for a big, social area where there is a culinary space. People in cities generally lead hectic lives, and there’s less chance for families to spend time together. So in this context it’s crucial to have open-plan living, where everyone is in the same space,’ says Grey.

Read the whole article here.