When is a kitchen not a kitchen?
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The answer is because a kitchen is much more than just afood preparation and cooking area. A kitchen is a place where people talk,where things happen, where there is excitement, smoke, steam, flames, big metalpans which make a satisfying clanging noise when banged together and bizarrelooking implements hanging from hooks.
Okay, so todays modern kitchens may not be quite theromantic image I just painted, populated as they are with the beep ofmicrowaves and the smell of oven cleaner, but they still play a vital role inany house.
Try to imagine visiting someone who did not have a kitchen.At first you might not even notice its not generally the first place avisitor heads to in a house. But I think your subconscious would nag at youthat something wasnt quite right, that feeling that something is missing butbecause its not immediately evident you cant quite put your finger on it.
For some people the kitchen can act as a sanctuary.Certainly in castles and country manors of yore the kitchen was the kingdom ofthe servants and waiting staff, where the nobility never so much as stuck theirnoble noses through the door.
Yet still these kitchens had a strict hierarchy, with thechef ruling all, creating order amidst the chaos and producing everything fromgreat feasts to dainty breakfasts. This tradition has translated to moderntimes, and you only have to watch one of the dozens of popular cooking showsconstantly on television to hear the phrase Yes chef! emphatically barkedacross a flambing frying pan.
And in domestic kitchens the chef still rules. Screamingchildren are banished, assistants (also known as family members) are ordered topour a drink for the chef and with a wooden spoon as a baton the triumphantcook conducts a chorus of bubbling pans, which will fetch any curiousinterlopers a sharp rap on the knuckles should they try to lift a lid for apreview of the contents.
I know what youre thinking I said that kitchens werentall about the cooking, yet that is all I appear to have eulogised so far. Iwill confess there are probably few people who find dish washing or doing thelaundry a rare treat, but the activities are not the point. The kitchen has adifferent atmosphere than any other room in a house. No other room will havebeen so meticulously designed, be so practical yet so aesthetically pleasing. Everythingin a kitchen is functional and yet we refuse to let this compromise itsappearance.
Without a kitchen a house is nothing more than an extendedhotel room, a place where nobody really lives for long. So next time yourejust sticking something in the microwave before you rush out, take a minute tothink what a pleasant thing it is that you have a room to do it in.
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