No matter how much space you have, people always want to be in the kitchen.
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Keith Johnson
Anthropologie buyer-at-large
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When entertaining at the manor, I am always amazed how everyone
migrates to the kitchen. They never make themselves comfortable
with a drink in the numerous sofas and easy chairs, but instead
flock around the kitchen sink, standing like cattle at a watering hole
in the Old West.
.
I would love to think my cooking is so entertaining, they are
captivated by my vermouth pan sauce or the whipping of
hollandaise. Or they drift in, levitated on the heavenly scent from lids
sputtering on the stove and leg of lamb basting in the oven.
.
But it's something magical and nostalgic. Something warm and
compelling draws us to this savory spot. For me, it's the cozy warmth
from the open oven door, as my grandma checked her pies and that
mouth watering sizzle of fried chicken in iron skillets on the stove.
It's memories of my uncles mixing Kool-Aid in the big pitcher at the
sink, the metallic scent of the well water, the frosty condensation on
the glass and the green mustache I wore the rest of the day.
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It may sound a bit trite, but the kitchen really is the heart of the
home. It's a place of comfort, where life is sustained. After all,
doesn't life revolve around the people we love and food?
Exactly the same way at our house! People do go to the livingroom and visit, but typically come back to the dining room/kitchen area, grab a kitchen bar stool and talk there.
ReplyDeleteHi Willow
ReplyDeleteas I was reading I was thinking,...that is because the kitchen is the heart of the house...it is the place of physical and metaphorical nourishment...it is the hub of life...
In our homes in this warmer climate my kitchen is the centre focus of an open plan living arrangement...
We spend such a lot of time and energy in the kitchen I have to feel that it is connected to the remainder of the home...
Not only do we prepare food here but we dispense love, advice, help, and as Rachel Remen so beautifully wrote in 'Kitchen Table Wisdom', we share life...
Happy days
It is the same at all of the many homes I have lived in . . past and present and, one would presume, on into the future. I used to think it was because that's where the bar was. But I'm now inclined to think as Delwyn (above). It's just the place to be.
ReplyDeleteThe kitchen is the room we remember from childhood as a place of comfort. Living rooms, not so much. There was activity in a kitchen. Sharing. Comings and goings. Good smells. Smiles. So even if a guest doesn't understand your choice for a coffee table they'll always understand a sink. Barriers are taken down between people in a kitchen because we're meant to share or help. A living room we're meant to sit and talk. I'd rather do the sharing and helping.
ReplyDeletehey willow!! i am the cook in this home. my wife "doesn't cook" so everything edible comes from me. i love cooking food for people. because i didn't get enough food as a child. my parents were to damn poor at times. so i believe in demand feeding - of infants, children, young adults, and adults. you want it, i got it, you get it. that's the way it is. so when people come here. the kitchen (and our home is open plan - flows from room to room to room) is where you want to be. amazingly, miraculously, joyously, lovingly it's where people are at our parties. it's where my kids choose to hang out with their friends. it's where i am - even at this moment with my macbook!!!! i loved your memory infused description willow - so gorgeous!!! steven
ReplyDeletethe kitchen is an intimate space. some people get stopped at the front porch, many more make it to the living room. but the kitchen, thats where you break bread with the best of friends.
ReplyDeleteI think congregating in the kitchen is a sure that your company doesn't feel just like company, but rather intimate friends.
ReplyDeletePS - I LOVE Anthropologie.
I must agree, the kitchen is the heart of the house.
ReplyDeleteI love your stag with the candles on his antlers!
ReplyDeleteSo true--our contractor convinced to have a fairly large kitchen when our new house was built in 04-05, & now that we have it, we really like it because folks do congregate there!
ReplyDeleteIt is a carry over from the olden days -- around the time I was born and growing up the kitchen stove was the first stove lit in the morning and the last one to go out at night. Everything was done in the kitchen from Saturday night bath to bacon and eggs for breakfast. Chocolate cakes for birthdays. A place to heat the "irons" to iron the wash. A tank on the end to store tepid water. A place to stand by with the flap on the longjohns open to warm up and most of all the kitchen sink and pitcher pump handle. The coffee pot always on with scalding coffee. Chairs, worn table cloth in red and white checked oil cloth. It was the place to be. The kitchen.
ReplyDeleteThat's another thing I like about our new house - our apartment had a typical apartment-sized kitchen. Hubby & I had a specially choreographed dance so we could be in there at the same time - adding another person would have been impossible. Now we have a REAL kitchen! We'll need to entertain to see where we all end up (probably in the kitchen watching my hubby cook)...
ReplyDeleteDana
So very true -- and a part of it is the politeness of the guests who don't like to leave the hostess to slave alone.
ReplyDeleteWe finally moved the refrigerator into the pantry in order to free up space for a sitting nook -- just for those guests and cooking observers.
What a lovely thought! It's not just the physical space, but the wonderful savory aromas that waft throughout the house! I especially remember my grandmother's roast leg of lamb every Easter and the roast turkey and oyster cornbread dressing--it's the most comforting memory! V.
ReplyDeleteYou are so right! I never really thought about it, but at a party, everyone hangs out in there!
ReplyDeleteSo true, the kitchen is the heart of the home.
ReplyDeleteSo true. When I go to my sister's house we usually congregate in the kitchen but then she has a large one and there is a table and places to sit.
ReplyDeleteWe didn't hang out in the kitchen when I was growing up because my mother didn't cook so I think it is a genetic attraction. I've always wanted a big kitchen with room enough for a kitchen table and chairs but have never had one.
I just bought the same tea kettle that I see on your cook top. So British! My dear, albeit distracted, husband let the new Le Creuset kettle boil dry and all the enamel exploded off the metal and shot out all over the kitchen. No more enamel for me.
ReplyDeleteCharming kitchen!
Mahala, I used to have a cool Michael Graves tea kettle with the whistling bird on the spout. Someone (not dear WT) emptied it and returned it to the burner set on high. All that was left was the bird.
ReplyDeleteRight now, at this late hour on my coast, my eldest daughter is baking sugar cookies for a bakesale tomorrow. In the kitchen we designed to facilitate just that. It warms my toes.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely kitchen you have, Willow! I can understand why people congregate there. My life definitely revolves around food and the people I love!
ReplyDeleteKitchens are wonderful and hold all the sweet memories. I remember the Kool Aid pitchers and ice trays too!
ReplyDeleteYour kitchen looks warm and inviting...enjoy the crowd!
It happens here too - we have a dining room with a big table and in the kitchen is a table just able to hold four - everyone ends up squashed around the weeny table watching me try and create something - not to mention two bichons underfoot hoping some food falls into their mouths. It gets a bit frantic sometimes.
ReplyDeleteThe thing is that I did the same to my mum and so did our little family dachsund.
We always had taht "problem" too but trouble was that our kitchen was right outside the master bedroom. Very noisy nd disturbing indeed. Why the builder built it that way I don't know.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more. It has always been the same in our home. Cooking for the people you care about is one of life's pleasures. I lowerd a counter in our remodel last year so people could just sit at counter-level and talk to me while I cook. Now, I just have to remember to watch the pot and not drink too much wine and talk...
ReplyDeleteAbsolutly right! Warmth, food and comfort. Oh, and the central person in all of this... the cook. Something magical and wonderful about a cook. Lovely post. x
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more! Great post :)
ReplyDeleteMany of the huoses I helped build had big kitchens with "islands" in the middle. Hey, it's where the entertainment truly starts, yes?
ReplyDeleteJust a thought - maybe the gravitate to the kitchen because it is where you are.
ReplyDeleteKitchen is comfy. The people you invite in your kitchen are much closer to your heart that the ones that you keep at bay in the living room...
ReplyDeleteAlan, that was too sweet.
ReplyDeleteThe people you invite in your kitchen are much closer to your heart that the ones that you keep at bay in the living room...
ReplyDeleteSpaced Law, this is beautiful and so true! Love this.
It does indeed Willow.
ReplyDeleteAnd even if I'm not eating lamb any more, I can still bask in its aroma.
Can't I?
Barry, you can bask in anything your heart desires. ~x
ReplyDeleteI agree, the kitchen has always been my favorite part of the house.
ReplyDeleteI think I could LIVE in a kitchen? HAHA
Also, I dont know if you have every worked in a restaurant but just a little tid bit.
ReplyDeleteThe dining area is usually called the FOH - Front of the House.
The kitchen is called the HOH - Heart of the House.
I guess there is a reason for it. :)
HOH...I love that.
ReplyDeleteEven when I'm home alone I spend most of my time in the kitchen! I guess it helps that my computer is there, too. Maybe we all gather there because it's the room that satisfies all 5 senses...and besides, who wouldn't want to be where the food is?!
ReplyDeleteLovely post about a room serving universally as a gathering of our hearts and souls.
ReplyDeleteWhen it happens at my house, it is certainly not my cooking!!!
we are hardwired to gather in the kitchen....a holdover from the days when humans gathered around the fire for safety and companionship - perhaps our kitchens are in a what modern metaphors for those ancient fires
ReplyDeletemy mom has a cross stitch sampler in her kitchen that reads "no matter where I serve my guests they always like my kitchen best"
I think we have instincts we'll never be able to give up, as humans, and the kitchen gives us a familiar and secure place to express them.
ReplyDeleteSo glad to have come upon your blog!
Hello Willow,
ReplyDeleteIt's true that folks seem to gravitate towards the kitchen and, as the cook, it's something that used to aggravate me! I much preferred for people to be elsewhere, so I wouldn't be distracted. Culinary creations require concentration!! I have become a little more relaxed with age!
Well said Willow-and so true. Wishing you more Kitchen Kool-Aid moments.
ReplyDeleteSo true in our home. The kitchen is the center of so much activity, so much coming and going, so much knowing and loving each other.
ReplyDeleteMy kitchen is too small for anybody but the cook (me!) to be in it. If that's a photo of your kitchen, Willow, then I'm right jealous!
ReplyDeleteTrue ... every home I have ever visited has had a kitchen that draws people in ...
ReplyDeleteOH yes! Oh yes! When we labored over the plans for Killeny Glen...we spent the MOST time on the kitchen...we wanted it to be LARGE and SPACIOUS so that not only our family would have a warm gathering place but our frequent company...we KNOW they will be in the kitchen!!!
ReplyDeleteOh, and I am inviting myself for dinner (hope you don' mind) short ribs and cheesy polenta sounds SOOOO good!
My apartment has a kitchen that would be right at home on a 737! I miss the large kitchen from my childhood, in the Queen Anne style home in which I lived, with a large formal dining room... especially on Thanksgivings and Christmases!
ReplyDeleteThe kitchen IS the hearth. Here in the house on Tennessee Ave, we spend most of our time right there.
ReplyDeleteThe Kitchen is Where The Practical Alchemy Happens.
ReplyDeleteTony, I love practical alchemy. That would be a great title to this post. I just might have to add it.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree with you more Willow. The kitchen is where plans are made and discussed, problems are aired and faced, wrongs are righted and so much more.
ReplyDeleteI always have believed it goes back to 'our' time as cave dwellers, gathered round the fire for comfort, companionship and most importantly food!
Make room for one more Willow...smiling.
Dear Willow when my husband cooks the migration to the kitchen is like cattle. When I cook, all of a sudden different rooms in the house become priceless.
ReplyDeleteOh, who doesn't love the kitchen. It represents sustenance, both physical and emotional. Lovely.
ReplyDeleteSame thing happens here. Everybody hangs in the kitchen. And my cooking is far from a riveting drama.
ReplyDeleteYou're right: most of us have such warm associations with kitchens and foods. It's all about nurturing--not just our bodies but our souls.
I have to say willow that we almost live in our kitchen - the Aga never goes out and we vie for a place by it - dogs, cats, people - it is everyone's favourite place. Trying to put something in the oven to cook is a work of art as people lean up the rail and i have to move them out of the way.
ReplyDeleteCertainly the hub at our house. When we lived in Georgia, we had a large 3-story house with huge windows and panoramic views on all all levels. It was one of those "open" houses where you could look down from the top level and see everything. Since the house was built on a side of a mountain the kitchen, dining room, a bed and separate bath, along with a small sitting area, were on the entry level floor which was actually the second floor. The large living area shared the same floor, the upper floor, with another bed and bath. On the lower level there was a large rec room, bed and bath.
ReplyDeleteWe sat out food and drink all over the house when we had people over. We could have been serving gold on the lower and upper floors and still the kitchen would have been packed.
When we retired, we downsized and have a much smaller kitchen. Still, it is always full of people.
I think they put people people-magnets in ovens and other kitchen appliances so we will use them more and they will wear out faster.
I do love a nice comfy kitchen to hang out in.
ReplyDeleteI think every important talk happens in the kitchen. There's such comfort and nourishment there, heart, mind and soul.
ReplyDeleteGravitate-to-the-kitchen phenomenon. You can't swing a cat in my kitchen but in they come.
ReplyDeleteMy father never allowed us in the kitchen while he was cooking. Nor does he now!
ReplyDeleteWe're more often porch-sitters at our gatherings...
Seriously...I know what you mean. I had a few friends over the other night and we were bumping into each other in my kitchen...take a look!
ReplyDeletemaggiessecretgarden.blogspot.com
It was crazy fun!
We have a big house with a tiny galley kitchen . . . that everyone wants to squeeze into! Your descriptions are so apt -- and wonderfully sensual.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely, Willow! Here at Necky Knoll House the kitchen is always a hub of activity, inactivity, peace and chaos! All at once.
ReplyDeleteIsn't this the truth? I designed our kitchen with this in mind.....best decision of the remodel (!)
ReplyDeleteStimulates all five senses? hmmm...hadn't thoght of that. How very true Betsy's comment.
ReplyDeleteI have to say that I agree with the quote heading your post. Although in my case our kitchen is the first room you enter in our house. It's right by the entrance.
ReplyDeleteCracking post.
Greetings from London.
Now I wonder why we migrate to the kitchen, probably because the lady of the house is usually working there!
ReplyDeleteI wish it were so for me now, Willow. At 65, I live downstairs, my two sons are upstairs and, because it's hard for me to climb up and down the stairs, I don't do so more than a couple of times a week. Then, I will cook, in the midst of my 500 cookbooks, acquired in world wide travels and I do remember those wonderful days of entertaining when the kitchen truly was the gathering place. For a brief time, though, I linger with my boys ( sometimes, the 3rd son is down from Sacramento )and it is a fun time of laughter, good wine, fine food and festivity.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, 21 years of being on call, almost nonstop, interfered with entertaining since that inevitable shrill beep would shatter the intimacy.