The difference a bigger kitchen can make

[sleepyowl]

I was always the cook in the house but since we have moved things have started to change & my other half actually spends time in the kitchen cooking, in fact he might be better than me in some things. He went from hating cooking to enjoying it, where he will come in & help out or cook along side me. All it took was a move to a house with a big kitchen & it has also become the hearth & heart of the house when people come around. I'm starting to like it more this cooking lark even making my own bread & pasta

[John Headstrong]

Having fairly recently expanded the house (knocked 2 cottages into 1) We now have a large family sized kitchen with large table and it is absolutely awesome! It makes so much difference, someone is always cooking, we can see where stuff is, it was a huge change.

Big table means we eat together more often and discuss the next meals/cooking/recipes while we eat.

[prison break fan]

I am so jealous!! Love where I live, but would move anywhere to have a big kitchen! pbf.

[Green Aura]

I'm going to show this thread to my OH. We've been having ongoing "negotiations" for several months now, re knocking a wall out between the living room and kitchen. I think it would do exactly what you both describe. OH is just looking at the labour involved!

[Carltonian Man]

Preparing food and cooking has always been a high point and social part of the day in our house. Even now when the kids visit they're straight in the kitchen with us to get the meal ready.

[berry]

I cant wait for my kitchen to be extended (kitchen and dining room knocked through) I miss the huge kitchens of my old homes. being able to knead dough on the table with space rather than the cramped galley kitchen i have at the moment.

I also remember bigger kitchens being easier to clean.

[diggernotdreamer]

Having moved out of the caravan and into our house before Christmas, I am delighted with my kitchen, which after the tiny galley in the van, is enormous, but not really. My kitchen has been sort of designed round an ancient table and it has become part of the worktop area, all my kilner jars of pulses and flour are on small shelves above the worktops, so I can grab everything easily as I need it, best of all, my partner built the whole thing himself, ledge and brace little cupboard doors under the worktops, and everything is wood panel in the traditional cottage manner, think the whole thing cost us under a 1000 quid. Not huge, but I did squeeze twelve gardening club people in here a few weeks ago (they could have sat in the sitting room), why does everyone love a kitchen so much. Good luck in all your kitchens great and small, they are and should be the hub of a good home

[Maykal]

I'd love a big kitchen. I actually have three kitchen, but all quite small. One is more for eating but has a wood stove in it to keep it warm in winter and cook stews and soups on. I can pull the table out and squeeze six people around it, but that would fill the room up. It's cosy in the winter.

The second I'm working on at the moment. It's an older room, lime plaster, whitewashed, brick floor. It'll be more of a practical kitchen with a gas oven, sink, fridge and so forth - after all, you don't want to bother firing up the wood oven in the summer just to fry an omelette.

Both these two have really low ceilings (about 6'5", I'm 6'2") as well as being quite small so you feel a bit cramped in them even on your own. The also both open directly into the courtyard, so you have to come in from outside if you come downstairs in the morning. That's just how these old smallholdings were built here it seems.

The third kitchen is in the garden, a separate building. It houses the large bread oven and has a table and room for perhaps eight dinners. No facilities in there as such but great when the weather is good (which it often is here) or if you have a BBQ.

Sometimes I toy with the idea of converting one of the cellars into a kitchen to be able to have that large open space but they only have tiny little windows so it might seem a bit dark and gloomy.

[snapdragon]

how lovely it must be to have a large kitchen

mine's a galley, originally the scullery and a throughway to the shower/utility and the back door. Although at 10' x 7' I can't say it's really small, especially as the washing has moved to the utility (removed bath, inserted shower and box for washer) and thus has taken some noise away and left some space behind

[Flo]

I'm on the move hopefully - paperwork to be done Tuesday morning with housing association local officer - to move from a flat with two rooms (and bathroom) where a tiny strip of the living room is "kitchen" to a bungalow with a whole room dedicated to being a kitchen. The difference a kitchen will make!

[Pumkinpie]

I can't wait until my kitchen is done. It's not a bad size but just badly laid out with no storage. At the moment I am using the kitchen table , on and under for storage.
Size is not everything.

[boboff]

Indeed, I love my kitchen, we have a dresser, a large granite Island, table and chairs, walk in larder etc The only thing I would love is an Aga.

[berry]

I too would love an aga boboff... perhaps when I finally get that farmhouse on the edge of town It'll come with one? its only a dream mind, Cant afford to move at the moment.

[Thomzo]

I'm lucky enough to have a big kitchen, which I love, but I'd never knock a kitchen through into a living room or dining room. The previous owners of my house did, which is why it's so big, but if I didn't have space in the living room for a dining table I'd split the kitchen back up.

When my ex was here we used the kitchen as a kitchen/diner and I hated it. You ended up eating and entertaining looking at the dirty pots and pans. I couldn't use the extractor fan or dishwasher while we were eating without drowning out the conversation and being able to still smell the fish course while you were eating desert was quite revolting.

I also got fed up with people wandering around in the kitchen area while I was trying to cook, not to mention it was unhygienic that I couldn't keep the cats out of the kitchen.

Now I'm on my own it isn't such a problem, I use the table in the living room when I have guests but I still can't keep the cats out of the kitchen, which means that everything I cook is full of cats' hair

But I really do agree, a nice big, well thought out kitchen is such a joy. I really do think it's the most important room in the house.

Cheers
Zoe