Chef’s Kiss: five kitchens for cooking up a storm – and the recipes to match
It’s often said that the kitchen is the heart of the home. From the contemporary and functionalist to those full of character and colour, we’ve handpicked some of our favourite spaces that make it easy to see why. A kitchen without food, however, is like a piano without keys. So, we’ve taken inspiration from the designs within this edit and paired each kitchen with a recipe from our culinary series, ‘The Modern Menu’, to create five feasts for all the senses.
Gellatly Road II, London SE14
A brightly hued kitchen calls for a similarly vibrant recipe, such as Max Rocha’s roasted squash with black-olive dressing. Just like Max’s dish, which he prepared for us at Café Cecilia in Hackney, this kitchen, set within a home in Nunhead, south-east London, is a play of colourful accents. The eye-catching orange kitchen island stands out in all the right ways against subtle soft-pink walls and blue-grey cabinetry. As a whole, the design is fun and thoughtful, a brilliant space in which to come together with family and friends – which, as it happens, is exactly the easy-going convivial ethos that Max’s restaurant embodies.
Askham Bryan Lane, North Yorkshire
Few kitchens have a better view than this one. This striking open-plan cooking, dining and living area in a single-storey house on the outskirts of York has floor-to-ceiling glazing that looks on to a garden and pond on one side, while a slender eye-level window frames a panoramic view of the North Yorkshire landscape on the other. Designed by Italian brand Giorgetti, the kitchen consists of bespoke titanium cabinetry and burnished stainless-steel worktops – a slick finish that calls to mind chef Nicholas Balfe’s modern take on beef tartare prepared with anchovy mayonnaise and seaweed vinegar, which he serves at his restaurant Holm in rural Somerset. Where better to capitalise on quality countryside produce than here?
Holland Street, London W8
A vast slab of Carrara marble serves as the focal point of this Kensington home’s kitchen – the perfect place to sit and read the paper with your morning coffee, congregate with guests before dinner or, if you’re taking cues from cook Anna Barnet, to prepare homemade tagliatelle. As Anna explained when we spoke to her, much of her recipe, which includes a sauce of braised fennel with peas, is made from her store-cupboard essentials. Here, the generous custom-designed oak and glass-fronted cabinetry give more than enough space to put together a versatile larder, ready for whenever inspiration takes you.
London End, Warwickshire
Some spaces seem almost incomplete when they’re not filled with people cooking communally and eating together – and that’s certainly true for this light-filled open-plan kitchen and dining room. Situated in a picturesque village in the Warwickshire countryside, the house’s dramatic pitched roofline and row of clerestory windows, which emphasise the connection with the lush garden beyond, create an atmosphere of openness and generosity. It’s an ethos shared by Tom Oxford and Oliver Coysh of The Exploding Bakery in Exeter, who showed us how to make steamed chicken wrapped in wild garlic with local leaves – perfectly simple sharing fare.
Ladbroke Road, London W11
There is a particularly reassuring atmosphere in the kitchen of this recently reconfigured Notting Hill townhouse. Set against walls and a ceiling painted a gentle homely green, the kitchen units – custom built in bush-hammered British granite – have been placed either side of a classic Everhot range cooker. Solid, simple and green, the kitchen reminds us of Florence Knight’s spin on hake and watercress – a dish best savoured in a calm, elevated space. Yes, The Sessions Arts Club, the chef’s restaurant in Clerkenwell would work, but what about a carefully designed kitchen and dining room that looks out through Crittall windows to a verdant garden in west London?
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