I've been thinking a lot about the idea that I mentioned last week- that food is home. For me, it always has been. Certain, many, tastes and smells can bring me the same comfort that being home does. They can make me feel that same warmth, love and acceptance as being surrounded by family can do. If that is the case, if food is truly the key to home, than in the physical home it comes as no surprise that the kitchen is the epicenter of the household.
Some of my favorite memories as a child are watching my mom cook. We had this great kitchen in my childhood home- where the stove sat on a peninsula separating the room. We had put these two wooden stools, ones enhanced by stray paint brush marks from art projects and spray paint from Halloween costumes of past years, on the backside of the peninsula so when my mom was cooking I could talk to her. I would sit there for as long as she cooked- trading stories about the day, observing her methods, breathing in the scents. In a time when "open concept" wasn't a thing- we're talking the 80s here kids- we were ahead of the times.
Today so many homes are designed to create this exact feel. Every renovation I see, and all of the new builds, have this central idea in mind- to open the kitchen to the living space. We take down the dividing walls and create a flow- a flow of space to foster a flow of conversation, of camaraderie, of family. All of this stems from having that kitchen open. Islands and peninsulas are far more common now than missing in kitchen designs so that in our busy lives we still have time, even if we're multitasking making dinner, to trade stories and make plans.
What do you think of the open concept idea? Anyone miss the formal dining room (I do sometimes!)? When you think of your dream home- is it open or more traditional?
Some of my favorite memories as a child are watching my mom cook. We had this great kitchen in my childhood home- where the stove sat on a peninsula separating the room. We had put these two wooden stools, ones enhanced by stray paint brush marks from art projects and spray paint from Halloween costumes of past years, on the backside of the peninsula so when my mom was cooking I could talk to her. I would sit there for as long as she cooked- trading stories about the day, observing her methods, breathing in the scents. In a time when "open concept" wasn't a thing- we're talking the 80s here kids- we were ahead of the times.
Today so many homes are designed to create this exact feel. Every renovation I see, and all of the new builds, have this central idea in mind- to open the kitchen to the living space. We take down the dividing walls and create a flow- a flow of space to foster a flow of conversation, of camaraderie, of family. All of this stems from having that kitchen open. Islands and peninsulas are far more common now than missing in kitchen designs so that in our busy lives we still have time, even if we're multitasking making dinner, to trade stories and make plans.
What do you think of the open concept idea? Anyone miss the formal dining room (I do sometimes!)? When you think of your dream home- is it open or more traditional?
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