Category: kitchen

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Gneiss things

Those of you that have been reading for some time may remember that the croft is built on an outcrop of Lewisian gneiss. This is an extremely hard rock, Precambrian metamorphic, and at 3,000 million years old is one of the oldest rocks on the planet.

The gneiss outcrop by the house

Which makes it all the more interesting that anyone would try to carve it. Even denting it seems impossible. I can only imagine the huge amount of work that went into smoothing and scooping out a grinding bowl from a rock this hard.

There is a small maker over on the Isle of Lewis who does just that. A couple who cut and carve this amazing rock into bowls, earrings and key fobs. The same outcrop of gneiss as the house is built on, but in the outer isles. http://www.gneiss-things.com

I’ve always had a thing for pestle and mortars. I love them. Such an ancient implement, used since the earliest days to grind and crush grain or spices. I’ve got a few already, but when I saw that there was one made out of lewisian gneiss, I was intrigued.

Pestle and mortar

I’ve hankered after one of these for years, and I figured that it would make a fitting moving-in present to the house. A sort of homage to the bedrock that we’re built on as well as something lovely to own and use.

It arrived a few days ago in the post. It’s immensely heavy (useful when you’re grinding spices) and incredibly tactile.

It joins my French deep-bowl ceramic pestle and mortar from the pottery in SW France where I once lived, and the grey stone one gifted to me by my best friend many years ago. Almost a collection.

Hoping for many years of happy spice grindage in our new home!

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Autumn comes with a worktop

We awoke to a bright but cold morning on the island. There was a heavy dew on the grass, a sea haar clinging to the Sound, and a definite touch of autumn in the air.

Cold, sunny and clear

The butter was cold and hard in its dish in the caravan kitchen.

We clutched our mugs of hot coffee at breakfast for comfort and put the fire on to take the chill off the air. The season is on the turn as we move into September, and I feel a new sense of urgency to be in the house.

Breakfast coffee and all-bran (and yes it’s nearly time for porridge)

The installers arrived this morning to fit the Dekton worktops in the kitchen. They bumped up the track in a rusty old van which looked as if it was struggling to make it, and were unloaded into the house and working away within minutes.

I have worktops! Worktops that won’t melt if I put a hot pan down on them by mistake! I’m stupidly excited by the prospect of that. This pattern of Dekton is called Fossil, and I spent a good ten minute looking for ammonites bedded into the material, but without success. And I still love it.

PS. that long mark that looks like a crack is meant to be there – all part of it looking like fissured stone, apparently..

Now that the worktops are in, we can go ahead and fit the drawers and doors into the kitchen carcasses.

Then start to build the appliance wall. The hob, sink, dishwasher and freezer are here already in boxes waiting to be fitted, and the rest will be on order shortly.

It’s a constant juggle for space. The light at the end of the tunnel is that the barn is going up next week and for the first time since the build began we will have storage space.

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Let there be light

One of the challenges with the design of our house is that the kitchen was quite small and potentially a little dark.

All of the Hebhome designs for longhouses have kitchens that are small and minimalist. This was one of the bigger ones!

We figured with the addition of the utility room and the pantry, however, that we would be absolutely fine. We’ve just carved up the functional areas differently.

Big, seldom used appliances like a dehydrator or bulky, noisy appliances like the washing machine and tumble dryer go into the utility room, and dried or canned goods storage that I’d normally have in the kitchen go into the pantry.

The kitchen space also faces an internal wall without light, except the light that the large, double floor length windows in the dining area provide.

To counter this we asked the architect if we could install a roof window that would channel light through the sloping walls of the bedroom above down to the kitchen ceiling. It would be plastered to close the walls off from above and would be hidden in the roof slope of the upper bedroom.

Up until now during the build this has just been a square mark on the bedroom floor and a slightly odd pattern in the ceiling joists. But yesterday the plasterers cut through the bedroom floor, opening up the light well into the kitchen.

I was holding out on final kitchen finishes and colours until this happened so that I could establish what worked best in situ. The amount of light in that space makes a massive difference to the colours I’d been looking at.

So, ever onwards and upwards! We’re ordering flooring wood, tiles and kitchen units next.

It’s coming.

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Knobs. That is all.

I have been circling around kitchen choices like a lost soul for many months now. For me, the kitchen is the most important room in the house, and I’ve been agonising about getting it right.

I’ve gone through the “definitely going handleless and sleekly modern” to “definitely preferring a painted cabinet finish with handles” stage. Several times.

I could quote you catalogue page numbers from all the major manufacturers with my eyes closed. I can tell the difference between grey stone and slate grey finishes in a heartbeat. Not for me the indecision about integrated J handles and true handleless doors. Oh no. No longer.

I think I’m there now, though. A final, tortured decision has been torn from my befuddled brain.

In the end it all came down to knobs.

All the sleek, handleless kitchens had a bit of a smooth, laminated finish that I decided wasn’t for me. I also thought about how I cook, with pastry covered hands and sticky fingers. I’m tactile.

Handleless kitchens look super streamlined, and would probably be more in keeping with the open plan style of the house, but I’ve thought long and hard about the way I use my kitchen and I’ve decided that for me at least, handles are more practical as a choice. And that I just prefer a matt, textured finish on my cabinet doors (less sticky fingerprints, I’m convincing myself).

Knobs! They can look good 😊

We’ve decided to splash out on a heatproof, scratch-proof worktop in the form of Dekton, a stone-based product that is super strong. I can chop and wave my hot pans and oven dishes about with gay abandon.

We’re going with painted cabinet doors, with either cast iron or steel door knobs. The ones I’m quite taken with at the moment are actually based on an ancient Georgian design and are forged steel with a beeswax finish. I may still look at other finishes that may be easier to keep clean, but I love the way these feel in your hand. Very solid, comfortable and tactile.

I don’t think that it matters that this is a contemporary house with modern, slab door fronts but old style cabinet knobs. Does it? They add character and I like them, and that’s the most important thing. I’m hoping that if they’ve been around for hundreds of years already that they’re not suddenly going to go out of fashion tomorrow. I will not be swayed by all the shiny bar handles in the beautiful peoples houses one bit.

Knobs. That is all.

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Choices, Choices

In a world where there are a million variations on every theme, buying fittings for a house from scratch is not the fun job that you might imagine. It’s an endlessly exhausting task.

For those of you that have followed this journey from the beginning, you’ll know that we’re running a few years behind the original build schedule. Many of the design decisions and selections that we made in 2019 are either no longer available, now too expensive, or our thoughts have changed.

Things viewed in London don’t look the same here in the cool northern light of Skye.

I’ve been struggling with the kitchen design of our new build for years. The kitchen is the most important room in the house for me, cooking as much as I do. Part of the challenge I suspect is that these days every kitchen has an island. Ours doesn’t. So the photos that I see daily of kitchen designs and finishes just don’t look anything like the space we’ve got.

The second challenge that I have is that I don’t like “shiny”. Shiny, or gloss kitchens, can be wonderful in the right setting, but I’ve always preferred matt, natural, textured surfaces. It’s just the way I am. These types of kitchen have gradually started to come more into vogue in the last eighteen months, so it’s not as difficult as it once was to find selections, but every kitchen professional that I’ve spoken to has started from this point, and I simply get exhausted explaining preferences and correcting assumptions over and over again.

The third challenge is that I want a work surface that is as bulletproof and as maintenance-free as I can get it. I cook a lot and I know that at some point I’m going to cut on these surfaces, splash something on them that will stain, or put a red-hot pan down as I rush to run a burnt hand under a tap. What can I say, I’m a messy cook.

All of these things are possible to protect against in some of the modern materials available today, like Silestone or Dekton, but they come with a steep price tag.

The last challenge is that no matter what your budget, large or small, in this Inflationary, Brexit, Pandemic Britain, costs have gone through the roof in the last eighteen months. Which means in very real terms what you want now becomes increasingly expensive. Compromises become the norm.

Choices are, however, slowly being made. The poor Postie hefts box after box of flooring and tile samples over the caravan threshold with a pitying smile.

I vacillate between tasteful, subtle Scandi grey/blue/moss colours and a need for bright, warm tones. I’ll end up with a weirdly eclectic mix, I’m sure of it. Which is absolutely fine. This is home.

Husband is keen to have good, strong kitchen carcasses. I’m keen to have good worktops, plain slab cabinet doors painted in a matt finish, and well designed lighting.

I’m already thinking of my rapidly approaching dotage with dimming eyesight and shaky grip.

We will get to an end of the choices. Soon.

Watch this space.

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Chunky living

One of the things that having no kitchen tools here in the caravan has meant is that we don’t “process” any foods. This simply means that nothing we eat is smooth. Everything is chunky.

For example, when I make a vegetable soup, which I often used to blend to a silky puree with a stick blender or food processor, I now leave it au naturel. I’ve got quite attached to real chunks of vegetables in my soup rather than a blended uniformity.

Hummus

The same is true for hummus. I often make this by hand because it’s cheaper and I think much more delicious than shop bought. I can control exactly what goes into it. I add tahini, lemon zest, garlic, fresh parsley and good olive oil.

However, I’ve been used to zapping it up in the food processor to the usual smooth slurry we’re all used to seeing in the deli counter tubs.

Now I’m having to hand-crush chickpeas with a fork, an undertaking not for the faint hearted or weak of thumb. It creates a rustic, very chunky hummus, which was a bit of a shock to the system to start with, but which I actually now prefer.

So, once we are in the house, with a real kitchen with appliances once again, I shall remember these learnings.

We will keep to our chunky living. Life isn’t all smooth. We may as well enjoy it whilst we still have our own teeth 😊.

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Once around the slow cooker

Two chicken breasts, a pepper, and a non-working oven? No problem as long as you have store cupboard staples and a slow cooker.

Spicy chicken with tomato and peppers cooked in the slow cooker for four hours with basmati rice to the rescue for dinner.

Husband brought in the box with my kitchen spices today for unpacking.

As I unpacked I added in a generous scoop of dried chilli flakes, a tin of chopped tomatoes, smoked paprika, onion, far too much garlic to be sociable, smoked salt flakes and a little sugar.

Luckily he didn’t bring in the canned goods box or I might have been tempted to chuck in some tinned pineapple. Maybe that would have been a step too far.. 😏 A tin of borlotti or butter beans would however have been a worthy addition.

The slow cooker did the rest.

Served with a spoonful of Greek yoghurt as a balm to the heat, it was one of those ‘once around the cupboard’ dinners that went down well after a long day.

I can’t wait to source some local venison to make a venison stew soon. I’m sure that there is a bottle of port in the boxes somewhere found at the back of one of the London kitchen cupboards before we moved. I’m thinking beef bourgignon but with venison. And mashed potatoes.

We are eating out of bowls most of the time now, like four year olds. It’s just easier.

Just don’t ask me for chicken dippers.

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Curbing instincts

Knowing that we’ll soon be moving into the static, which has a tiny kitchen with very little storage space, means that I’m having to curb my tendency to stash food for emergencies such as the next zombie invasion or pandemic.

The current Covid-19 situation has only reinforced what I recognise is deep-set behaviour to store for bad times.

Every time I see a 10kg sack of basmati rice or puy lentils on sale I have to physically restrain myself from buying them. The instinct to stock up is strong, but there’s no logic in more dried goods sitting in storage with the furniture for six months whilst we complete the build.

There simply isn’t anywhere to put them.

I grit my teeth and tell myself that there will be the chance to fully stack that pantry once it’s built and ready to take supplies. And not a moment sooner.

I think I’m on the spectrum somewhere (aren’t we all in some way, I guess?) but it gives me great satisfaction to list what the pantry will eventually hold. I haven’t confessed to husband yet, but I’ve got LISTS of proposed purchases.

I’ve been looking at labelling systems, storage jars and boxes, and what shelving we’ll need…😂

It maybe the smallest room in the house, but I’m planning to make every inch of the storage work, and I can’t wait to add homemade jams, pickles and cordials to the stash next summer to see us through those long, dark, wet Scottish winters.

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Choices

IMG_3100.jpgI’ve been laid up for the last week recovering from a knee replacement operation. Before I had the operation I blithely imagined that I would be able to spend time researching and planning house options at leisure whilst comfortably resting my leg. Ha. The reality has been a little different, with the leg pain and the brain fog caused by the medication meaning that I’ve not been able to focus on anything much..

Because I won’t be able to get up to the kitchen design centre in Fife anytime soon, they’ve helpfully sent us samples of worktop and kitchen door fronts. The architects recommend Pronorm, a German kitchen manufacturer, and their range is extensive. It’s too much choice! We’re trying to keep it simple and the costs under control, which is a challenge. So far I’m looking at Silestone worktops with an under-mounted sink, an appliance wall, and two banks of under-unit storage with integral appliances.

We’ve also just had an email from the architects to say that we can expect building warrant approval by Christmas, which is brilliant news, and such a relief. I hope that this means that groundwork on the plot can start in the Spring.

Closer!

 

 

 

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The frustration of over-engineering

When you’re eager to be somewhere, time passes slowly. This is a picture of the rocky shore down from the Church on the Sleat Peninsula, close to where the croft is. This image helps me with the passage of time.

Every now and then when we’re knee-deep in roof light specifications, or looking for the fiftieth time at how best to configure the bathroom, I pull up all the photos that I can find of the township, the croft or its views, and remind myself why we’re doing this. And I breathe more slowly…

It’s difficult to describe what we want so that architects and kitchen or bathroom planners understand clearly. We are realising that anything that deviates from the perception of the norm causes problems. Because we are clearly not normal.

For example, it appears to be inconceivable to certain kitchen designers, who have a preconceived idea of what needs to go into our space, that I do not want a steam oven. Or why a single small kitchen sink with no draining board area would not be perfectly adequate. Or why I could not live without individually programmable humidity-controlled salad drawers in the fridge….

Trying to keep things simple these days is clearly out of fashion.

Believe me, I know that this sounds strange coming from the lips of someone who has spent a lifetime working with technology, but I don’t want to have to programme my appliances. Even the induction hob that we were shown had reconfigurable cooking zones….

I’m feeling a bit like a frustrated Luddite.

I’m happy to listen to experts and take on what works for our lifestyle, but over-engineered appliances just seem to me an exercise in unnecessary expense.

I am looking at my calming picture of the shore. I am breathing.

We are making progress…