Johnny's seasonal greetings Welcome, everyone, to my favourite-time-of-year newsletter. We wish you happy times in the kitchen during your celebrations. From left, Unfitted pieces: appliance garage, 'Frigidarium', central island, oven and china storage cabinet Finally, ready-made kitchens!After decades designing every kitchen from scratch and having the furniture individually built, my studio is poised to offer a collection of beautifully crafted pieces called the Unfitted Kitchen. Easy decision making has arrived as you can see in advance how the furniture looks. People’s appetite for a more relaxed living-room-kitchen seems to be stronger than ever. The new Unfitted Kitchen delivers this through function-specific freestanding furniture as the principal method of planning. Soft furnishings, a desk, toy storage, art and family paraphernalia can then be added. You can have as many or as few items from the collection as you choose. Most of us generally don’t want everything to match, which is one of the problems with a lot of kitchen design. But there is more to the Unfitted idea than eclecticism. It can be streamlined and practical. We've included modular cupboards to keep tight spaces simple while allowing room for choice pieces. One of the highlights of this kitchen is a state of the art induction hob from TPB. The uniquely textured cooking surface is layered from porcelain, bakelite and aluminium. Its comes in a range of colours. All will be revealed at the launch early next year. The furniture will be available in specialist kitchen shops and on a new website complete with augmented reality. A detail showing the island and gantry embracing the architecture Working for friendsA number of my clients have been friends first. This is delicate ground. I believe in what I do. Money comes up but I hope that much of what I offer transcends this. My work is based on insights and enthusiasms combined with ideas I have adapted from others, and an attitude of caring and attention to people’s lives. The kitchen above was made for very old friends going back to our schooldays, who were restoring their house in Chichester. Is it possible in the complex world we live in to combine business and friendship? I wondered this when we started exploring the project but then quickly realised I could not resist this one. The clients and I talked together about colour theory, impressionist painting, our shared love of eighteenth and nineteenth pine furniture and mutual dislike of laminate-covered kitchens. The project was shaped by our enjoyment and respect for each other’s approach to living, as well as the character of the house and its restoration. A big thank you to my dear friends for commissioning the kitchen. Ice cream lover, Rachel Cooke Book of the year: Kitchen Person by Rachel CookeThe observation that ‘life is meals’ (James Salter) makes a perfect start to this book (coincidentally, we too have a quote by Salter – from Stoner - on our website). Beginning with a lively personal manifesto, you are in the presence of a food writer of warmth and skill. Cooke’s book is like an almanac for foodies who want to be kept up to date right across our contemporary food landscape. She’s a writer who meets all the people you want to meet, thinks a lot of the thoughts you’d like to lay claim to and offers up content for your food dreams. And for all her modesty about her own cooking I am sure she does this brilliantly too. I was intrigued by her mini chapter on ice cream, referencing Agnes B Marshall’s 1855 Book of Ices, as I recall Elizabeth David talking about this Victorian cookery teacher who used one of the first ice cream makers to create her Roseline Bombe, 'a snowy convection flavoured with rosewater, maraschino and preserved cherries'. I was particularly taken with the section written in The Observer Food magazine in 2012 about the tentative development of a British food scene between the wars. This was fostered somewhat ironically by American hostesses in London such as Wallis Simpson and Nancy Astor. It makes fascinating cultural history and Kitchen Person would make a terrific present. Elizabeth David Collection from Grub StreetAt the relatively early age of 52 Elizabeth David had a stroke. Her sense of taste went awry, making the practical research for her writing too difficult. Her doctor, my father, knew she had travelled all over France compiling detailed notes about regional cooking equipment. He suggested she could use this information to gather stock for her own specialist shop. At the same time that Terence Conran was launching Habitat, David was activating her sources and bringing together supplies, ready to open her doors in Bourne Street, Pimlico. This new shop came as a surprise to Conran who then tried to involve her in his own business as a consultant. She held back from that but they remained friends. The Bourne Street shop was modern and excitingly full of batterie de cuisine the British had never previously seen. Window displays were bold and original, for example just a giant pyramid of tinware filling the plate glass shopfront. On opening, the entire contents of the shop sold out in the first week. As part of this venture, David wrote a series of food and culture booklets. These have been stylishly reissued as a boxed set by Grub Street. They would make a lovely Christmas present. My choice of seasonal recipe – from the Syllabub and Fruit Fools booklet – is the Everlasting Syllabub, so called because of the preserving effects of its alcoholic ingredients: one small glass of sherry, 2 tbs of brandy, one lemon, 2 oz sugar, half a pint of double cream and nutmeg. Hand whisk until it thickens. Not difficult to do! Try also (assuming you eat fish) Cod’s Roe Paste in the Greek Manner on the back page of English Potted Meats and Fish Pastes: ‘it’s cheap, easy, made in advance and an admirable standby’, in the words of my aunt. The Elizabeth David Collection is available from the Grub Street website or to order at your local bookshop. Unfitted Kitchen Spice and Condiment Drum with provisions from Stansted Farm Shop Goodies on an oak board I love going to this country shop whose collection of British cheeses - try the sublime Idle Hour or buttery Mayfield - is unique in the South Downs. We could not resist filling the Spice and Condiment Drum in our new Unfitted Kitchen with their stylish provisions. You can order online too. Check out Stansted Farm Shop here. They are offering this quirky seasonal hamper, ‘The Unusual Suspects’. It’s a selection of artisan products on an optional Petersfield Oak Charcuterie Board. The collection of goodies costs £45 in a cardboard hamper or £85 with the charcuterie board. Contents:
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