Wealden Times | WT181 | March 2017 | Fashion supplement inside

HOUSE OF THE MONTH
1.
Space & Dine
Maggie Alderson finds homes with fabulous kitchens
It started with the kitchen hatch, beloved of the neatly pinafored
1950s housewife. So convenient to be able to pop a hot Pyrex dish
straight through, ending the tiresome oven-gloved march from
kitchen to dining room and the even more irksome parade of dirty dishes
back. The next stage was the eat-in kitchen, with preparation and eating
happening in the same room, but now our expectations have cranked
up another notch to the eat-in kitchen with integral family room.
So the 21st century ideal home has a lovely open plan area where Mum
can kick back on a sofa watching the news with a glass of wine and her feet
up, while teens work on their Snapchat ‘streaks’ (something no one over
the age of 25 understands…), younger siblings run in and out through
the glass doors to the garden and Dad mans the induction hob.
But into this open plan modern idyll creeps that eternal foe of domestic bliss:
mess. And so the dream kitchen now requires another element – extra rooms. Top
of the shopping list is a walk-in larder – for food and ingredients storage – or a
pantry, which is the same idea but with additional space for china and utensils.
Although even better is the Martha Stewart ideal of a separate china and glass
store. Serious food storers also dream of a stand-alone refrigerated cool room.
Also highly desired is not just a utility room, but a fully equipped laundry with
a butler’s sink, a permanently erected ironing board and a pulley clothes airer.
Really posh is a return of a feature of Victorian homes – the flower room, specially
for the preparation of arrangements and storage of vases (bulky blighters).
Not strictly speaking a kitchen area, but still a sought-after adjacent
addition is the boot room, where messy outdoor kit of all kinds is
safely corralled out of sight of the high-traffic family kitchen HQ.
Here are four houses for sale which boast some of these appealing extra rooms.
1. The Old Rectory
Where? The Old Rectory
sits in the charming country
village of Frinstead, on the North
Downs, in an Area of Outstanding
Natural Beauty. It’s five miles from
Sittingbourne, with its excellent rail
link and convenient for the M2.
What? True to its name, this is the
quintessential double-fronted Georgian
old rectory. With the expected elegant
reception hall, dining and drawing
rooms to the front, the rear of the house
is described as given over to ‘domestic
offices’. These include a breakfast room,
open to the kitchen, large utility room
and a simply huge boot room, with a
wall of cupboards. There’s also a wine
cellar. There are three bedrooms, one
en suite, a bathroom and dressing room
on the first floor. Two further bedrooms
and a bath on the second floor.
How much? The house is
listed with Knight Frank, Sevenoaks,
with a guide price of £1,500,000.
Call them on 01732 744477
or browse knightfrank.com
wealdentimes.co.uk
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