beautifully simple
David Carter, the chef behind London barbecue restaurant, Smokestak, and soon-to-open Italian, Manteca, shows us round his minimalist, ergonomic home kitchen
I live in Bethnal Green with Lucy and my son, Ned. When we moved in, we knocked through the downstairs and extended into the side return in order to make one large room that contains the kitchen, living and dining areas. The kitchen is minimalist, designed to be all clean lines, with a nod to the Victorian heritage of the building, and sits at the rear of the house, looking out on to the garden through a wall of glass doors.
I think you’ve always got to look at the blank canvas, what the infrastructure is like and what is going to work within the space. Where we live, just off Columbia Road, all the houses are the same – two up, two down terraces, and so locating the kitchen at the rear made most sense for the natural light, and so it leads into the garden.
We definitely thought a lot about the ergonomics of the space. As a chef, the less walking you have to do in a kitchen, the better, so the fridge, sink, range and dishwasher were all fitted with this in mind.
We also wanted to make it timeless. We looked at all these amazing appliances and induction hobs but actually settled on quite straightforward, classic pieces, such as the Lacanche range cooker, as we were really keen to make sure we acknowledged the building’s age, while also making it suitable for modern life. We looked at lots of design references but I think, more than anything, the house itself and the infrastructure shaped and inspired the design of the space.
Before I got into restaurants, I always wanted to be an architect, and this was the first major job that I project managed myself from start to finish. We worked with a lot of small independents, which is great, but the problem is that if they have another project, you end up being at the back of the line. It was a very long process coming together and we had about two to three months living there without a kitchen, which wasn’t easy.
I think you have to really celebrate the small victories when working on a renovation like this, as they are few and far between, but always worth it in the end.
“I love how the kitchen is the centre of the house and a constant hub of energy”
“I like the ergonomics behind the design, the mixture of old and new, the clean surfaces, clean lines and the natural light”
• Do you have a beautiful kitchen that you’d like to see featured in O? Email a few images of your space and a paragraph about yourself to Oweb@immediate.co.uk, and if it’s right for the magazine we’ll be in touch to arrange a photoshoot!
Essential kitchen kit? A really good knife.
What’s always in your fridge? Bajan seasoning.
Is there a family dish you cook again and again? Roast chicken – Ned loves it.
Give us a recipe in a sentence – maybe something you eat when you’re on your own?
Cheese, ham, piccalilli.
Favourite cookbook?
The Sportsman by Stephen Harris.
Favourite restaurant?
Brawn, London – as much for the food as what it represents.
Favourite travel destination? Rural France or Tuscany, Italy.
This year’s best food discovery? Mãos restaurant, London.
What do you cook when you want to unwind? A braise.
Reasons to be cheerful in 2021? Life hopefully coming back to normal.
Turn the page to discover the O recipe David loves to unwind with, plus how to get his look in your kitchen