KITCHEN CLOSE-UP
As the creative hub for her food blog, The Forest Cantina, Unna Burch’s Wellington kitchen has served her well over the years. Now the cookbook author has treated the space to a stylish renovation
We visit Wellington food author Unna Burch’s revamped space.
When you have multiple foodrelated tasks all bubbling away at the same time, having the perfect space to work is essential. And that’s what Unna Burch, of The Forest Cantina fame, has created in her Wellington home. The food photographer, cookbook author, blogger, stylist and, oh yes, mum of two is a woman with a fair amount on her plate. When Unna refers to her multi-skilled husband Aaron – owner of construction business Right On Building – as a “human version of a Swiss army knife”, she might well be describing herself. As well as developing and penning recipes, holding sold-out photography and food-styling workshops and tending to an Instagram account that takes food portraiture to whole new echelons of sublime, she’s been hard at work upgrading the family’s 1940s Lower Hutt home. The kitchen was the first room to get the makeover treatment. For eight years it had been filled with the aromas of Unna’s culinary creations; she began The Forest Cantina blog in it, developed dishes for two cookbooks within its walls, made many a family meal there. Now it was time to show the room some love.
“We did a full strip of the old kitchen, saving only rimu to repurpose. We took out the wall (and beloved archway) that connected the kitchen to the living area to create a larger, much more open space,” says the 39-year-old. The couple, plus sons Jah and Leo, had been living in the home as a rental for seven years before buying in December 2017, so had plenty of time to fine-tune their revamp vision.
“The new kitchen wasn’t just about aesthetics, but functional storage space was key – things like creating a new pantry (there wasn’t one before) from the adjacent bedroom wardrobe. We did a tonne of tiling, and also painted the floors a glossy white to make the rooms feel bigger (it worked, I love it!).”
Unna came up with the design herself “after many hours of research and idea planning”.
Aaron completed the renovation after work and at weekends, with Unna sanding and stripping the kitchen window back to original rimu, plus the benches, breakfast bar slats and floating shelves. A priority was that the small space should function well. “I specifically placed everything where they are so the cooking process was fluid.” The result is a kitchen that is very much the beating heart of the home, along with the dining area.
“I love to cook – especially curries, noodle dishes, tacos and desserts.”
Unna’s entertaining style is relaxed; her idea of a successful hosting session is “a mix of good food, a squad of friends who give you deep belly laughs and fun conversations, boozy cocktails and dancing... with the kids running around playing in the bush that surrounds the house long into the night.” The ‘bush’ in question is a little suburban forest that inspired the name of the blog and of her second cookbook,
The Forest Cantina HOME, a collection of ‘treasured recipes and a guide to suburban self-sufficiency’. Her first book was My Garden Kitchen, wholesome dishes garnered from her family, and the title a reference to her way of life; the property boasts a lush vege garden, plus chickens and bees.
On weeknights Unna likes to whip up meals that take 20 minutes or less to prepare. “Or ones that I have made so often, I don’t have to think too much about. Fajitas, larb, burgers, crispy chicken salad, curries, mee goreng…”
In coming months, there’s plenty on Unna’s menu: as well as the styling, developing recipes and social media, there’s a big trip in the works: Hong Kong, Vietnam, Thailand, Penang and Singapore. “I’ve been working on the itinerary, mostly planning where to eat. This is TOTALLY a work research trip,” she laughs.