Back in 2010, food writer extraordinaire Nigella Lawson highlighted - and cemented into the design world’s consciousness - a new way to think about the kitchen. "The kitchen is not merely a room, but a pleasure palace,” she said, going on to explain that for her the most important kitchen essential was…a sofa.
With that decree, she ushered in a new era for how kitchens were designed. Ultimately, she was saying that the kitchen is the heart of a home - not a new sentiment in itself. But she was implying that it needs to be somewhere comfortable, and inviting, that you want to spend a lot of time in. This was a big move on from the 1970s version of the home’s heart - all shiny man-made surfaces and forward-looking efficiency. From the lurid colours of the 1980s approach and the sleek, metallic minimalism of the 1990s dream kitchen. This was a family space, an entertaining hub for friends to sit and drink wine and laugh and chat while you stirred the pasta on the hob.