Kitchens to covet
Richard Makin has ful lled his dream of having two kitchens – a test space for his work as a cook, and the other as a minimalist yet welcoming family hub
Richard Makin’s double kitchen space fuses modular simplicity with warmth and comfort
It’s been my dream for as long as I can remember to have two kitchens and last year that dream came true. I’m a food writer and vegan recipe developer based in Hastings with my husband, Peter, and our rescue dog Ripley. When we left London for the south coast in 2018, we found ourselves with enough space to imagine our ideal kitchen set-up. After cooking in a tiny galley kitchen for five years, I was determined to create a space which was unique to our needs, so we spent a year making plans and finding trusted local tradesmen. By spring 2020 we had converted the existing basement kitchen of our Edwardian house into a functional test kitchen, and installed a separate casual kitchen/living room on the ground floor.
We call my test kitchen the ‘plant dungeon’ since it’s down in the basement and is always full of vegetables. It’s a decent-sized space with a view out into the garden, but my favourite feature is the en-suite pantry, which is my most used room in the whole house. The space is lit by industrial-style bulkhead lights from a local homeware store named Dyke & Dean.
The house is old and the basement needed to be entirely tanked before we could use it safely. We had the space damp-proofed, and fitted underfloor heating for those cold, early mornings. Most of the counters are on casters, which means I can rearrange the layout to suit my needs. If I’m shooting food photography, I can push the counters right up to the window to make the most of the natural light. I can also wave up at the dog on her way to rid the garden of squirrels. I do most of my writing and photo editing down in the basement, too, so I have a cosy little desk set up, flanked on one side by the fridge and by my favourite cookbooks on the other.
Since this is my test kitchen (and I’m a utensil nerd), this space is packed full of gadgets, both low and high tech. I use my julienne peeler or my mandoline every day for making quick pickles, slaws and salads. I’m also a recent convert to Microplane graters for mincing garlic and shredding ginger. A good cook can never have enough silicone spatulas, so I have a stack of nice heavy-duty ones from Nisbets.
The ground-floor kitchen is much more casual. This space was intended for making coffee, eating breakfast and entertaining guests, so it looks very different to downstairs. The space was crafted by local workshop, Johnson Bespoke, which made everything, from the Japanese-inspired floating cabinets to the minimal metalwork dining island.
We chose grey, polished plaster for the walls, which is beautifully imperfect and contrasts nicely with the warm parquet floor. We wanted the space to work well for both mornings and evenings, so we tried to keep the design minimal without feeling cold or uninviting.
It’s a lovely, uncomplicated space to sit and work with an early morning coffee while the sun comes up – ideal for focussing and planning the day ahead. But it’s equally suited to enjoying a glass of wine or indulgent dessert with some friends, or curling up on the couch with a good book and the log burner roaring. Due to the pandemic, we haven’t had many opportunities to entertain in this space since the works were completed.
My advice to anyone designing their kitchen from scratch would be to take your time and trust your instincts. A lot of friends tried to ward us off building two kitchens but it was by far the best decision we’ve made throughout the whole house. Design your space around how you want to live and don’t rush into something which feels generic or ‘cookie cutter’.
Essential kitchen kit?
My Kenwood Cooking Chef XL stand mixer, my Littala saucepans and my Ninja blender.
What’s always in your fridge?
Onions and spuds, some sort of miso paste and Lao Gan Ma crispy chilli oil.
Is there a family dish you cook again and again?
We eat vegan zha jiang mian (noodles in fried soybean sauce) at least three times a week. It’s quick, filling, nourishing and comforting – a total quadruple threat!
Give us a recipe in a sentence, maybe something you eat when you’re on your own?
When I used to run a commercial kitchen, I’d make and share a snack which became known as an Uncle Dickie. It’s just a whole date, filled with a teaspoon of peanut butter and stuffed with a square of dark chocolate, sprinkled with flaky salt.
Favourite O recipe?
Maunika Gowardhan’s Maharashtrian amti dahl.
Favourite cookbook?
In Praise of Veg by Alice Zaslavsky.
Favourite restaurant?
Sage Vegan Bistro, Bulan Thai and Gracias Madre, all in Los Angeles.
Reasons to be cheerful in 2021?
I had a fortune cookie last week that said, “Things can only get better”, and I’m choosing to run with that!