The kitchen is the heart of the home.

I’ve always really liked the idea that the kitchen is the heart of the home.
A place to gather.
Growing up, my Grandma’s kitchen was where we all congregated to catch up when we visited.
When I visit my parents, we spend a lot of time chatting in the kitchen.
Now I think about it, everywhere I have lived has had a kitchen that was a central hub, not just a place to cook…until now.

This is my kitchen and I’ll be honest, I don’t love it.

I feel I should clarify that all the bottles near the sink have built up over time, it’s not just last night’s remnants!

As you can see, my kitchen is not spacious, it’s cluttered, it’s not a place to meet and it certainly isn’t Instagrammable.

Two of us can just about cook in there at the same time, assuming Rory one of us is doing as we’re told.
If someone comes in to chat they just have to loiter awkwardly and invariably end up in the way.
The space is utilised poorly in my opinion, and it’s white.

Much to Rory’s dismay I keep banging on about how we need a new kitchen, especially if we ever want to move.
Luckily, these days you can get good quality cheap kitchens, or even just replace the doors to save costs.
Unluckily, I have big ideas.

The kitchen of my dreams involves removing walls and shifting electrics to create a big kitchen/diner – no biggy!

Imagine, a nice wooden shaker kitchen, with an island in the middle for drinking wine and chatting.
I want a wine rack, a range cooker and one of those cupboards that are actually pull out storage shelves.
With bi-folding doors that open onto a perfectly landscaped garden, hanging lights and a massive, American style fridge – I don’t think I ask too much…

It will be a place where the kids come home from school, sit and tell me about their day whilst I create wholesome and nutritious meals for them.  We probably wouldn’t have takeaway ever again – imagine the weight I’ll lose!

We would bake recipes found on Pinterest together and then have the perfect backdrop for the Instagram pictures of our food.
Obviously it’s a magic kitchen that not only provides space but also fills me with a Martha Stewart like motivation.

A new kitchen would actually IMPROVE our life!

Unfortunately, until I can convince Rory that this would be a life changing pruchase, I’ll be making do with my small kitchen with its turn of the millenium tiles and lino.
The children will fall over one another while we bake.
The meals I produce will be mediocre at best.
When people come for dinner they’ll converse in the living room while we cook in the kitchen – it’s so divisive!
It will still drive me mad when Rory leaves all the cupboard doors open because there just isn’t the space and I’ll be fat forever.

This post is in collaboration with Kitchen Warehouse.