Welcome to my kitchen!

I'm a firm believer in the idea that the first blog post should be an introduction to the person writing, what has led them to begin a blog, and what they hope to give and gain from doing so. However, since, a short while, ago I took rather a lot of photographs of my kitchen with the intention of submitting them to a blog which is running a feature on Ikea kitchens, I happen to have them to hand, so I thought a tour of my kitchen, my insane sanctuary, would be as good a place to begin. I never got round to submitting the photos, in case you wondered!

Insanity features often in my kitchen, particularly in the mornings at breakfast time, and before and after dinner when there are dirty little hands to be cleaned, and everyone wants to "help" clear things up. Husband and two little boys are sent away to tidy up the toy detritus from the rest of the house whilst I indulge in my peaceful moment of washing up and cleaning the kitchen. Despite the insanity however, the kitchen is the one place where my mind can be focused during the day, and seems to think clearly. I'm a stay at home mum, and when one's brain is constantly bombarded by small children, cooking is like a tranquiliser to me. It brings the promise of a moment of order, of carrying things out in an organised and sensible manner, even if it happens to be in haste. The knowledge that everything is where I put it, the place I chose for each thing, and only I put them there, means that they won't have just been chucked in any old how, but will have been placed considerately, enabling their easy removal for next time, and with concern for their keeping for the future. Unlike the plastic toys which are chucked into the toybox any old how!

So, starting at the far end, the most important end as this is where all everything is created, are my lovely glass cabinets, two food waste bins (one for compostible and the other for non-compostible food waste) and my oven with which I am tremendously pleased.

If only it gleamed like this all the time...

I'm really lucky to have an exeptionally long worksurface, so there is plenty of room to have several appliances out at once, plus a couple of chopping boards.

We opted for open shelves along the exterior wall. I love to be able to display things that, basically, look pretty, though (almost) everything on these shelves is functional.

And turning to face the other end...

My breakfast bar is never this clean!

We were very blessed to have been able to replace our kitchen about 18 months after moving into our house; something which we never anticipated being able to do, so I was able to decide on the positioning of everything, and the types of cupboards, drawers and storage I wanted.

Considering how much time a mother spends in her kitchen, it's so important to make it an enjoyable space to spend time in. I adore the colour we chose (Paint Library colour Rhubarb, in case you're interested!) as it is warm in the winter and in the evenings, and bright for a summer's day. All the little trinkets hanging up have memroies attached to them, and contribute to the enjoyableness of the space.

This is probably my favourite corner; te home of my Kitchenaid and ridiculusly ordered spice shelf. That deserves a post of its own, so I'll come back to that at a later date.

So there you have the place in which I cook, next time I'll do more of an introduction to the blog and why I decided to start it. I hope there's something here to interest you.

xxx Sam