My Kitchen

The lovely Emma from Supper In The Suburbs has organised a bit of a collaboration between a few bloggers, including myself, where we introduce you to our kitchens. It'll come as no surprise to regular readers that I spend a lot of time in my kitchen, as I love cooking, so I was well up for letting you all have a nosey round what is probably my favourite room in the house - the kitchen was what sold the house to me when we were looking for a place to live - I couldn't have coped with a tiny, poky little kitchen with no cupboard space! So, without further ado, meet my kitchen:
I love that the room is really bright and open, meaning there's room for myself and my boyfriend to cook even whilst two small children want to "help" and/or just play somewhere close to us. There's loads of cupboard space behind the lovely white doors, and I had a great time deciding what would go where when we moved in. I've not taken photos of the contents of all the cupboards as a) most of it isn't very interesting, I'm sure everyone has pasta, and b) I really need to go shopping, there's not much in there at the moment... However, this is my baking cupboard. I love the silicon teacup cupcake moulds, although the silicone is ridged which makes them a nightmare to wash, so I usually use cupcake cases too! Ours were from B&M Bargains but you can find similar on Amazon.
We have Scrabble tile magnets on the fridge, which we use for leaving notes, or more usually for playing word association games, which is what's happening here. We also have a few cute little magnets which I made, and on the side of the fridge is some of the kids' artwork. The awesome Union Jack bin was my boyfriend's housewarming present to me when we moved in - I love it! It was from TKMaxx but again, you can find similar on Amazon.
I have an assortment of tea tins which came from various charity shops and junk shops, which house our rather extensive tea collection. My best friend decorated this teapot for me for Christmas last year, and the amazing hand-knitted cow tea cosy was a birthday gift from the same friend for my 21st - she's called Myrtle (the tea cosy, not the friend...)
The Kitchen Devils knife block was a Christmas present off my parents last year, which I got rather over-excited by on Christmas morning, scaring my Nan just a little. In my utensil pot, you can see my wooden spoon Jess which was made, you guessed it, by my best friend. Also in this corner we have a marble slab which we rarely use (because it's too heavy to lift to clean it afterwards!), a lovely little spice rack which was a gift off Rob's grandparents, and a set of speakers because who doesn't love dancing round the kitchen to Fall Out Boy of an evening!? Oh, and yes, that is a real-life iPod Classic there, which does actually still work. I know.
I have a little collection of cacti on the windowsill; I say collection, it's actually a pair these days - Nicholas and Carlos. They're kept company by my cow-shaped soap dispenser (gift from same best friend, can you tell why we're friends yet!?) and my Mr Potato potato brush, along with exciting things like washing-up liquid, kitchen paper and cloths. Also, a liquorice allsorts mug - it's amazing, but horrible to clean, so I'm intending to use it as a plant-pot holder. I did have some herbs on the windowsill in the summer, but they've sadly passed on now *sob*
This wonderful baking pinny with a hen-shaped pocket and WOODEN SPOON HOLDERS was made for my 22nd birthday, from scratch, by hand, by the same wonderful best friend. I've been too scared to use it so far, but isn't it amazing!?
On the wall, I have an Emma Ball weekly planner (source: same best friend) which I use to plan out our dinners for the week - I write down who'll be around each day, then fill in what we'll eat, so I know what I need to buy when I go shopping, and what I need to get out of the freezer in the morning.
My recipe books don't actually live in the kitchen as there isn't much free counter space, so they live on the shelf in the living room. My favourites are the Dairy Diary Just One Pot Cookbook, the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook, Cake Days, Home Sweet Home, and Curry. I also have a scrapbook which I use to keep random recipes together - cut from magazines, picked up on cards from the supermarket, or written down by various friends and family members for us.
So, that's my kitchen! I hope you enjoyed the little tour, and if you'd like to link up there'll be more details on Emma's blog at some point today! Please do link up if you've done a similar post as I'm really looking forward to having a peek at other people's kitchens and I'd love to see yours in there :)
What's your favourite room in your house? Are you a fan of handmade gifts?

xo
This month's Featured Advertiser is the wonderful LaylaD Beauty; check them out for gorgeous natural skincare and cosmetics!