| When I was growing up as a child in the sixties, | | | | Gone are the days when you felt you needed to |
| kitchens were always a hidden affair. If it was not | | | | detain your guests in the comfort of the Italian velvet |
| separated by a wall from the other rooms in the | | | | sofa in the lounge while you excuse yourself and slave |
| house, then a divider had to be installed to hide it from | | | | away in the dark, hot and steamy recesses of the |
| the rest of the world. Inviting friends over to the kitchen | | | | kitchen preparing their food. Now there is no shame or |
| to show off your new kitchen island or cooktop was | | | | cringe to invite friends over to the kitchen because |
| not the thing to be done. | | | | kitchens have become the hub of family life and social |
| But not anymore. The kitchen of my adult years has | | | | entertaining. Architects, home builders and appliance |
| now become the focal point of the house and the | | | | manufacturers have all taken heed of the new trend |
| people who live in it. There is still the obligatory lounge | | | | and have made kitchens not only functional and |
| room to receive guests but it is now just a little room | | | | efficient but also overwhelmingly stylish. Even |
| on the way to the grand, open space of kitchen, family | | | | whitegoods now come in different colors of stainless |
| and rumpus rooms combined. | | | | steel, earthy brown, luminous orange or buttercup |
| This is where most families now gather after a long | | | | yellow to suit everyone's desire and taste. |
| days work - the parents preparing the family meal | | | | Friends are invited to hover around stylish |
| while the children (if they are in their schoolyears) do | | | | marble-topped kitchen islands as they continue with |
| their homework in the family dining table or (if they are | | | | their socialising, talking about nothing and maybe even |
| already young adults), sit and chatter around the | | | | lending a hand in washing the vegetables and peeling |
| breakfast nook or family room couch. Kitchens now | | | | the potatoes. Even wine bars are now in the domain |
| exude warmth and welcome helped by the oak or | | | | of the kitchen (not the basement or the lounge) as |
| teak oil-finished kitchen cabinets that usually line the | | | | friends sit down and relax in the midst of kitchens |
| kitchen walls, as well as mahogany or red cedar curio | | | | sipping their favorite red or white. |
| cabinets housing revered family treasures such as | | | | Even when alone, my kitchen has always been a |
| photos and bowling trophies. | | | | delight and a quiet refuge from the hustle and bustle of |
| I have long used my kitchen as my lounge - one of the | | | | the outside world. When I wake up in the morning, I find |
| rooms in the house that I consider most comfortable, | | | | no greater joy than seeing the sun streaming through |
| functional, tribal and welcoming . My husband and I and | | | | the beige voile curtains of the northeast facing kitchen |
| anyone of my kids who occasionally fancy | | | | window into the deep purple flowered african violets |
| themselves as the new Jamie Oliver can showcase | | | | and tall and lanky chinese fortune plants that brighten |
| our gourmet talents as we gracefully move around the | | | | up the farthest end of my granite kitchen benchtop. |
| red and brown speckled granite kitchen island or | | | | And when I come home from work in the evening, I |
| benchtop to the glistening stainless steel sink to the | | | | open the very same northeast facing kitchen window |
| brown flattened glow of the ceramic cooktop. All | | | | to be greeted with the sweet scent of the orange |
| these in view of the rest of the family, and often times | | | | jasmines that line the backyard fence. |
| friends and guests who we show in straight to the | | | | My kitchen has certainly come a long way from its |
| kitchen/family/dining room area to sit in our beloved | | | | hiding place in the sixties and I intend to enjoy it and |
| dark aubergine brown no-nonsense, yet sumptuous | | | | keep it that way for a long, long time more to come. |
| and very practical "Virginia" sofa. | | | | |