Random right?

It is one of my favourite rooms though; maybe cause it is where I do what I do best – eat and cook, but it is also funnily enough, one of the places I can gather my thoughts. Some people do so in the shower, or in the garden, or in the bedroom, but not me. Kitchen it is.

Unpopular opinion- I also prefer open kitchens to closed.

Yeah, Yeah, I heard that collective gasp of dismay from Kenyans. This is always a thorny topic in building and construction groups. One out of ten posts will most probably be about how open kitchens are not African –as if. We really refuse to remember how a lot of the traditional cooking was done outside or if inside, all gathered at the hearth? Another disadvantage a lot of people give is how nobody wants to taste if the salt is enough in the food in front of the guests  read eat pieces of meat from the pot unseen. Or how y’all don’t want the aromas of the cooking food wafting through the house. Omena is that you?

I get it though.  Closed kitchens do have their advantages. Woe unto you if you live in a kitchen done in Kikuyu goth style, painted in what we call “landlord cream.”

You really don’t want to subject your guests to the visual torture.

However I like the accessibility an open kitchen offers.  I get to interact with the kids as they do their homework, I can keep an eye on what they are watching or doing and can converse with friends comfortably as I prepare a meal.

The Kampala kitchen is closed though, and aged in terms of design but it makes up for that in loads of space. This kitchen is big enough to host a small party in, exercise in, have the kids play in and best of all dance in. ( I know I’m not the only one in the world who makes weekend pancakes as I do the electric shuffle to New Edition songs).

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And during these Corona lockdown times, it has come in pretty handy as my staffroom cum office.

Of dream kitchens, I saw these photos of a kitchen in Australia and fell in love with it. Look at all that storage space, the size of the island, you can fit a whole person in those cabinets.

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I like visiting different websites, show houses and showrooms just to see the varieties of kitchens available and also get updated ideas on how to get a kitchen design that suits my needs.  From the type and height of the cabinets, to the type of flooring and lighting, the colours and how the appliances will all fit in seamlessly, it is an endless list of things to be considered to have the perfect kitchen.

And maybe, ok not maybe, WHEN, I build my dream home, I will have a spice kitchen at the back; for the culture.