Innholdsfortegnelse for Dream Kitchens i Country Style Specials

My kitchen is tiny. Imagine the smallest kitchen you can and then size down – that’s my kitchen. But it amazes me what it can do and the meals that come out of it. While it may not be a place where everyone can gather – there is really only room for one cook at a time – it’s still the heart of our home. Maybe the stomach of the home is more accurate! We gather around the dining table to prepare meals – due to the very limited bench space, the table serves as a workspace for peeling, chopping, measuring and mixing. During the day, it might become a place for homework or a few hours of work from home for me. But come dinner time, all that is…

KITCHEN BUYS SHOPPING…

ROBERTSON NSW HOME The pull of the Southern Highlands proved impossible to resist for interior designer Jessica Halvorsen and her husband James Parker, who spent many an idyllic weekend at Kangaloon, visiting Jessica’s parents. “James and I never wanted to go home of a Sunday evening. The space, the fresh air, the rolling hills and dry-stone walls reminded us of the English countryside where James grew up. I always felt so free to be creative in the country,” Jessica says. At the time, they were living in Sydney’s Cremorne Point and decided to transition their roles to suit a country lifestyle. James, 42, ran a business in marketing and sales, while Jessica operated her design company from Neutral Bay. The opportunity to work on large country estates appealed to Jessica…

It all started with a French teacher at a high school in Phoenix, Arizona. “I had a really good French teacher who made moving to France seem possible,” says Kendall Smith Franchini, co-owner of The Cook’s Atelier, a culinary school with her mother in the medieval town of Beaune, in the heart of Burgundy wine country. But her mum, Marjorie Taylor, says it actually all started with Kendall herself: “She’s a real Francophile,” shares Marjorie. “Even as a child, Kendall was always fascinated with France.” Perhaps it all began with Julia Child, the iconic TV chef whose 1961 cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, introduced French cuisine to generations of Americans, including Marjorie. “I really got into food in my mid to late 20s and I wanted to learn…

top billing…

KITCHEN BUYS SHOPPING…

The inspiration behind the remodelling and restyling of Tabitha and Richard Young’s Queensland home came from a faraway source – a US television program, Fixer Upper, set in Texas. Tabitha is a fan of the work of interior designer and star of the series Joanna Gaines, who together with her husband, Chip, performs stylish transformations on local properties. Joanna’s ‘farmhouse chic’ approach appealed to Tabitha and she was delighted to find that local designer Nikki Hobbs’ ideas aligned with her vision. “Originally Joanna Gaines was where I started off, but Nikki has got that lovely flair as well,” says Tabitha. “I was able to just run an idea past her and she’d say, ‘Yes, that’s good, and we could also do this, this and this’, so that’s how it all…

It could all have gone horribly wrong. When Amanda Halfpenny bought her farm in Dinninup, three hours’ drive south of Perth, WA, in October 2021, rural properties were being snapped up like hot cakes and she didn’t even have time to consult with her husband Nathan. So she put in an offer before he ever saw the place. But, she says, it wasn’t really that much of a gamble. “We’ve been together 27 years, so we know what the other wants. And I just knew 100 per cent, as soon as I stepped out of the car, that this was exactly where we needed to be.” This isn’t the first time Amanda, 46, has taken a leap of faith: her business, Copper by Design, was founded in just the same…

MOVEABLE FEAST With a rich history spanning over 100 years, The Bowmont in Franklin, Tasmania, has been a bank, a hospital and an antiques store. Today, it’s enjoying its current chapter as a country home, accommodation and workshop space under the ownership of Michelle and Leo Crawford. “I’ve always loved the building,” says Michelle. “It has a really beautiful energy when you walk in.” The main open-plan dining space and its adjoining scullery houses a number of moveable workbenches that can be rearranged as needed, as well as two stoves and a deep farmhouse sink. “We used a mix of new and vintage pieces to create an original and practical kitchen,” says Michelle, who won’t hear a bad word about the original “divisive” gum blossom-motif tiles. “I love them, they’re…

A creative retreat full of writers, stylists and photographers, held on a farm in rural New South Wales in 2019, sparked a change in Kasturi Wren. At the time, her life looked a little different. She was living in Sydney’s Inner West, with a “very demanding, consuming” legal career and had been in a long-term relationship since her early 20s. She’d done everything she felt she was supposed to do. “I was following a path that I didn’t question much. Coming from a Tamil Sri Lankan background, we were often expected to be a lawyer or doctor,” says Kasturi, 43. “I also found myself deep in the practices of a very conservative, fundamental Christian religion that dictated nearly every aspect of my life.” A yearning to explore her artistic side…

Natalie Mueller’s galley style kitchen is the heart of her home in Rockhampton, Queensland. Spices, oils and cookbooks collected during her travels are in easy reach and a beloved set of copper pots hangs gleaming by the six-burner stovetop. “Everything revolves around food here,” says the 52-year-old, who owns local business Olive Catering. “This kitchen works beautifully and it’s a lovely communal space.” The light-filled kitchen, at the rear of the house and overlooking a terraced garden, has been the gathering point for Natalie and her three children over the past nine years. Whenever they’re home, Briony, 24 (who is studying in Brisbane), Yanik, 21 (studying in Townsville), and 17-year-old Kiana can be found on the sofa catching up on news while Natalie prepares a meal made with fresh, local…

What is it that makes a ‘country’ kitchen? Do we take it literally, meaning any kitchen a certain distance from a capital city, where the paved road narrows and turns into corrugations, and red dust gathers on the windowsills? Or is it something less tangible? It’s hard to know why this little kitchen, positioned in a lovely house just outside of Adelaide, SA, has such a ‘country’ feel to it, but somehow it does. This kitchen – more than a century old and once owned by a special woman named Evelyn – feels as country as they come. Perhaps it’s the furnishings. At the heart of this little kitchen is my granny’s old table, salvaged from her homestead on the property where I grew up at the back of Buckleboo,…

special meaning MAKE THE TABLE A CANVAS AND WORK WITH WHAT YOU HAVE. A house is like a museum of you – the places you’ve been, the things you’ve collected or inherited – and the table is a microcosm of that. It’s somewhere you can share your personality. The more personal the table, the better; there is nothing more interesting than what you already own. Interweaving treasured objects and heirlooms into table settings is the recipe for a look that’s meaningful to you. sweet simplicity LESS IS MORE WHEN IT COMES TO HOSTING RELAXED GATHERINGS WITH YOUR NEAREST AND DEAREST. Try a pared-down approach to table settings that is chic yet puts everyone at ease. Don’t plant a forest of glasses by each setting; one water and one wine glass…