Everything but the kitchen sink

Throughout my two years and a bit of blogging, I have regularly shown you some of the kitchenalia we are collecting.

Some of you have asked to show a bit more of my kitchen, so by popular request, here's a little peek into what must be Dove Cottage's most colourful room.

This post will only give you a general idea as it is barely scratching the surface of our collection, which was begun even before we moved to Dove Cottage!

You'll probably recognize the frock I'm wearing from my previous post, as we took most of these photos on the same day.

For good measure, I have added one of my vintage aprons. These can generally be picked up at charity shops and flea market for next to nothing, often proudly displaying their wear and tear, as well as the odd faded cooking stain.

The one I'm wearing is one of my favourites (well, you know, it's green!) and in perfect condition.

I'm sure it will come as no surprise that Dove Cottage doesn't have a classic, fitted kitchen. It is, in fact, a mix and match affair, which we have added to over the years.

Pride of place is taken by this vintage kitchen cupboard, which was already in situ, and one of the original features which sold Dove Cottage to us.

Not only does it have oodles of storage space, it has the added bonus of a glass fronted display cabinet.

This is, of course, the perfect place for showcasing our ever growing collection of smaller kitchenalia as well as some other odds and ends.

There's a whole section dedicated to soaps and washing powders, while the rest is a jumble of baking paraphernalia, small gadgets and other curiosities, mugs and glasses, vintage Tupperware, and a small selection of family heirlooms. 

It is becoming ever more of a challenge to fit it all in, yet still we keep adding things. In fact, we have added another treasure since these photos were taken.

Standing in the doorway between our dining room and kitchen, this is the view towards the back door and garden.

On the left, just visible behind the kitchen table, which doubles as a work space, are our fridge and cooker, with a small run of traditional kitchen cabinets, and a sink unit beyond.

The units were already there when we bought Dove Cottage, and although they are a little tired looking, not to mention a bit boring, we have yet to replace them, which I guess we will do at some point, together with the very impractical white glazed floor tiles.

On the right is a charity shopped vintage cabinet, again featuring glass sliding doors, above which three long shelves have been put up for displaying even more of our vintage kitchenalia.

This is the view in the other direction, taken from the back door. The top of the cabinet has some kitchen essentials: scales, an enamel jug full of utensils and a tray containing condiments as well as our kitchen timer.

The traditional kitchen scales aren't vintage but rather bought new in a kitchen shop in Lyme Regis back in 1997, before we moved to Dove Cottage. Earlier during that same holiday, we'd seen lovely vintage kitchen scales in an antique shop in Exeter, but didn't buy it as according to Jos we had nowhere to put it. As it goes, we regretted it almost instantly, so we settled for this new one instead.

At the far end is yet another charity shopped cabinet - again featuring glass sliding doors - which holds most of our Boch crockery. 

On top is our treasured Teasmade, a French coffee pot, a Wedgwood butter dish found in an antiques centre in Wales and a battered Wright's Biscuits tray, a lucky find at a local flea market many years ago.

I don't remember where the copper jelly mould came from.

The hanging plate rack was one of the first items we added to Dove Cottage's kitchen. It has a shallow shelf below the rack itself, as well as some handy hooks, but we still ran out of space, so that there are now Thermos flasks, a ceramic poodle decanter with four tiny cups (see here), as well as some other bits and bobs, living on top of it.

We've made use of  the mantlepiece on the left too, which contains our collection of coffee grinders. These two Bakelite ones, in green as well as the usual reddish brown, are the rarest.

Crammed between the mantlepiece and the cupboard are yet more shelves! These are shallow Tomado shelves, a rarity in itself, picked up at Blender Vintage Shop when they were still trading.

They contain coffee pots and filters as well as some odd pieces of crockery. 

The vintage creamer (top left) and Tala Cook's Measure both came from Cardigan Antique Centre.

Returning to the shelves above the cabinet, let's have a look at the stuff which is crammed on them.

The top shelf has a set of vintage ceramic canisters. The larger ones were a consignment shop find which we brought home about twenty years ago. They have a sailing boat design and proclaim their contents in French.

The smaller set, with their contents written in Flemish, were a recent gift from my friend Inez, and they match a salt cellar and tea canister we already owned.

The middle shelf holds vintage tins in all shapes and sizes. 

One of my favourites is the Smith's potato crisps tin, which we unearthed in an Alladin's cave of a shop in Leominster, Herefordshire, called Utter Clutter! I'm sure the same could be said of Dove Cottage by now ...

The jelly moulds and pastry cutters, both from Tala, were found in a delightful antique centre in  Newcastle Emlyn, Wales.

Another favourite is this colourful and fabulously illustrated tin, probably dating from the late 1950s, which used to contain Brinta, a Dutch brand of porridge.

The bottom shelf, like the top one, has a blue and white theme.  You can see part of the shelf in the bottom right photo of the next collage.

Centre stage is taken by our small collection of T.G. Green items, a Cornishware bowl and salt shaker and an orphan crockery set in Blue Domino. This set was bought in the village of Lower Solva, Pembrokeshire, back in 2011.

The bread bin came from a shop specializing in kitchenalia in Rye, East Sussex. The "family scale", its twin recently spotted in the 1910's episode of Back in Time for Dinner, holds my collection of vintage aprons.

The French fries potato cutter (again, it should be Belgian fries, as it weren't the French who invented them) came from a small shop in Wells, Somerset, on a visit in the early noughties.

1960s and 1970s kitsch, clockwise from top left: a small boxed hand blender, Emsa serving bowl and dishes, atomic Tupperware salt and pepper set and Emsa cheese dish.

The orange enamel colander and utensil holder both came from the Expo 58 shop, while the glass light fixture was picked up in the aftermath of a charity shop retro event, when it was reduced to half price.

Even the gingham curtains were charity shopped. If I remember correctly, we paid € 5 for the pair!

Finally, these wooden signs, although not old, nor kitchenalia, are testimony to a very important member of the Dove Cottage household: Phoebe!

That's all I have time for now, but I promise to show you more of our kitchen treasures in another post!