Making A Home: The Kitchen
How cooking in over 30 kitchens has shaped my dream kitchen & Comet Dublin.
We’re halfway through January and I just had one of those wonderful life affirming meals in Dublin. Comet has been on my radar since it opened last year and their instagram feed began to fill with wood panelled, warm interiors, soft lighting and considered menu items. The glowing reviews followed, with whispers of Michelin greatness afoot. Hype aside, you step into this little back-alley gem off Dawson Street, away from the noise of boozy, loud watering holes and English-owned chains and into a quietly confident, shining example of a new wave of Irish cooking. The service zips into gear with the house aperitif, aptly named comet, white vermouth over ice with the brine of guindilla green ghillies and a solo chilli to garnish, which our server wisely recommended taking a bite of.
We chose the 4-course carte blanche option (€78pp) and were treated to memorable moments like marinated mackerel tartines, savoy cabbage with pistachio, pork chop with pommes boulangère and turbot with morels. Dessert was as iconic as the revered chocolate nemesis cake which helped make the River Cafe in London famous- Mayan Red Cake with mezcal caramel- rich, complex, basque cheesecake levels of indulgence and perfectly balanced with a spoonful of the caramelised milk ice cream that arrived to the table. Michelin promises aside, this is a restaurant that requires no pomp or ceremony. Joyful, confident cooking. Go and you will leave on a high that such a restaurant exists in Ireland’s foodscape. Congratulations to owners Kevin O’Donnell and Laura Chabal.
Now down to business, plans for our house build continue at pace. This week we have been discussing the main living area which will include our kitchen, living room and dining table.
Thank you for the lovely response to this new series- read back here about our home build project. I’ve spent years cooking in other people’s kitchens. Rented kitchens. Borrowed kitchens. Kitchens for studios we’ve designed to look great in photographs and on TV, but which in reality had a hidden gas bottle under the counter beside a basin of water where an unfitted sink drained into- nothing like forgetting about it until it starts to overflow. Without really meaning to, I’ve been making fairly strong design decisions about what my dream kitchen might look like if I ever got the chance to build it. The pinch points like extractor fans which are too low or sinks in islands (don’t get me started!), the cool little features like hidden chopping boards, boiling water taps, fridge drawers under the counter top. What interrupts the flow. What makes cooking feel calm rather than stressful.
A couple of years ago, while filming a segment for This Morning, we stayed in an extraordinary house, Trewarren on the west coast of Wales, an award-winning retreat overlooking the water designed by John Pardey Architects. The kitchen was made of bespoke wood, clearly designed for the house, and clearly thought through in terms of how people actually move, cook and live.
Yes, there were elements I wouldn’t choose, like the subway tiles and open shelving, but the overall layout stayed with me. A U-shaped kitchen, generous enough to have two people working in it but not oversized, with a direct view out across the water. You could cook and still feel connected to what was happening outside- a sense of place.
That idea has stayed with me. We don’t want a kitchen that could belong anywhere. We want one that only really makes sense within the flow of daily life. We’re drawn to open-plan living, but we’re also very conscious of its downsides. Acoustics, in particular, were an issue in one of our previous rentals- the moment you had more than 6 people at the dinner table, the din was almost intolerable. Large open rooms can become noisy very quickly, kids, friends, music, cooking, everything happening at once. I think like many parents I’m constantly advertised loop earplugs to reduce stimulation! If we’re going to open things up, we need to soften the sound through materials, finishes and subtle separation, so the space still feels calm even when it’s full. This was one of the things we loved about our little cottage when we first moved in- it was cosy and quiet.
This week I finally sat down and sketched out the space which has been allocated to our kitchen. It’s not dissimilar to the kitchen I loved in Wales. A generous counter top- U-shaped with a deep counter. I’ve chosen to put the hob looking towards the window and the sink at the back leaving a large open uninterrupted work surface. The idea is that you work from right to left- moving from food prep to hob to washup.
Then there’s the reality of mess. With an open kitchen, I’m adamant that there has to be somewhere for it to go. A breakout space. A pantry or utility room where dirty dishes can disappear when people are over, where the everyday chaos doesn’t need to be on display. I’ve learned the hard way that open kitchens only really work if there’s somewhere nearby to absorb the clutter. More on that to come.
How I use a kitchen now has been fine-tuned over years of cooking in all sorts of layouts. I often think about that scene in The Founder, where Michael Keaton’s character tapes out the perfect kitchen flow on the floor. It sounds obsessive, but the idea has always stuck with me, and while I’m not trying to setup my home kitchen as a fast food joint, flow is important. Obvious things like the dishwasher close to where plates, cups, glasses and cutlery live. Bins underneath a clear prep space. Movement that feels logical and calms the mind.
As mentioned, I have a particular bugbear about sinks in islands. For me, that central surface should be clear, somewhere to work, to gather, to put things down. Once you introduce a sink, you introduce washing-up paraphernalia, and the calm disappears. I’d much rather keep the mess to the edges and let the centre of the room breathe.
Material-wise, this kitchen needs to feel layered rather than uniform. Not one finish everywhere. I’m drawn to a mix of stainless steel, timber, polished concrete, softness from fabrics and materials and considered lighting. Something robust enough for daily use, but warm enough to live with. After years of carting too much stuff from house to house, we’re craving clean lines and fewer, better-chosen pieces.
I want objects chosen for the kitchen to be something I genuinely love. A couple of years ago, we asked Steve & Alexis at Fermoyle to make us a dinner set, and it’s taken pride of place ever since. Every meal feels slightly more considered because of it. That’s the feeling I want threaded throughout this space, small, meaningful touchpoints.
More than anything, this kitchen needs to feel like home straight away. Stylish, but softened. Particularly as this is a modern build, we are conscious of finding ways to soften the spaces. If I’m being honest, I finished the sketch above and immediately wanted to start over again. But in terms of materials and placement this week the direction feels clear now.
More next week, and please do share below the things that you love about your kitchen and what might be an essential part of your own designs.
I have double ovens myself and I love it. But in my next kitchen I will have them next to each other and not above each other. When you have them above each other, none of them are in the right height. But next to each other you can have them in the right height and still have storage and so on in the 2 cabinets.
If you're tall I'd recommend raising the height of your worktop just a bit - we did and it's very comfortable to work at