At the height of the celebrity-chef epidemic, we aspired to clinical kitchens: roaring gas hobs, metal surfaces, macho pans sans Teflon, big, big knives. Now that the recession has turned our tastes away from Michelin-starred cooking, we're more interested in having a comfy, snug family kitchen. So what are the key ingredients?
Rather than high-gloss cabinets and shiny gadgetry, go for fixtures and accessories that lend character and warmth: freestanding wooden furniture, ceramic sinks, ranges draped with printed textiles, scrubbed tables laid with chunky china and, on the counter tops, woven and wooden vessels filled with seasonal fruit and veg. If this is the look that lights your wood-burning stove, you're not alone. The cosy kitchen is seriously in vogue.
OVENS AND SINKS Not many of us have the budget for big-ticket items this winter, but there's no harm in making a wish list. A reconditioned vintage range must come somewhere near the top. Mid-20th-century styles are pleasingly retro, and a renovation job is a canny route to a bargain Aga, with a two-oven traditional 1940s-style cooker starting at £3,780 (W99cm x H85cm x D66cm; 01432 355924, twyford-cookers.com).
If you can stretch to a brand-new model, check out Emma Bridgewater's Polka Dot Aga, a fanciful twist on the venerable old form (W99cm x H85cm x D68cm, £9,999; 0870 756 1238, www.greatbritishcookers.co.uk).
Baileys Home has been doing mix-and-match vintage and contemporary kitchen kit for years, and has pretty much perfected the informal, cosy look, with scrubbed-wood refectory farmhouse tables and big ceramic Belfast sinks (W45.5cm x H20cm x D38cm, £130; 01989 561931, www.baileyshome.com). Holloways of Ludlow offers the Gamekeeper sink in "piecrust" ceramic, grooved like a Victorian jelly mould (W76cm x H25cm x D50cm, £460; 020 7602 5757, hollowaysofludlow.com).
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RACKS, CUPBOARDS AND SHELVES A cosy kitchen displays tableware and cooking utensils, rather than fussily concealing them. David Mellor's latest collection includes a handsome two-tier wall-mounted dish rack in beech and birch (W50cm x H44.5cm, £65; 01433 650220, davidmellordesign.com). Katherina Saunders, of Ella's Kitchen Company, offers a Nordic-style food storage cupboard, with 21 compartments for flour, rice and spices. For a small fee, she can paint it to match your Aga (W77cm x H50cm x D25cm, £439; 01588 673976, ellaskitchencompany.com).
Islands have no place in the comfy kitchen, but free-standing meat blocks and wheeled storage are acceptable. Harvey Jones has launched the Cook's Companion, by Sophie Conran, a mobile wooden unit with spice drawer, knife block, wine rack and shelf (H92cm x W66cm x D56cm, £1,600; 0800 389 6938, harveyjones.com). For a 10th of the price, John Lewis has the duck-egg blue Cotswolds butcher's trolley, with a single drawer and two slatted shelves below (H90cm x W70cm x D50cm, £175; 0845 604 9049, johnlewis.com).
CERAMICS AND ENAMELWARE The quick, inexpensive route to the homespun look is pretty china. Instead of a matched set, get a selection of sizes, colours and patterns, with vintage thrown in. There are pleasing organic shapes and textures in the unpatterned, rippled White Oak range by Sophie Conran for Portmeirion, available in White, Celadon, Sage or Forget-me-not (set of four cereal bowls £27.40; 01782 744721, www.portmeirion.co.uk).
For stronger colour, try Wonkiware mugs, from Toast (£13 each; 0844 557 5200, toast.co.uk). There are lovely retro prints around, including the British designer Hannah Turner's Birdy teapot (£30, hunkydoryhome.co.uk), available to order for delivery in December. TG Green's striped china, Cornishware, is the last word in cosy chic. A set of four mugs, one of each in yellow, lilac, red and pale-blue stripes, costs £40 and will be available from December (020 8874 6546, tggreen.co.uk). The firm is best known for its blue and white china tea and coffee canisters, which look perfect in a country kitchen.
Stylish alternatives, less rustic and extraordinarily popular at the moment, are enamelled metal storage canisters and bins. Garden Trading has just launched its enamelled bread bin in a subtle new clay colour, with matching canisters, cake and biscuit tins (W33cm x D16cm x H30cm, £28; 0845 608 4448, gardentrading.co.uk). Lakeland has an elegant cream enamelled "peely bin": a perfect place to store kitchen scraps on the way to the compost (H25cm, £14.89; 015394 88100, lakeland.co.uk).
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TEXTILES For traditional red and white gingham tea towels, try David Mellor (£9.75; 01433 650220, davidmellordesign.com). The Jamie Oliver range of homewares, Jme, includes striped cotton aprons, oven gloves, place mats and napkins in pea green, inky blue and pink, but the highlights are the two tea towels designed by Tamsin Loxley. One is a print of three perfect white eggs on a pale-blue background (£9), the other a couple of line-drawn spoons on yolk yellow (£9; jamieoliver.com).
For a real treat, look out for hand-printed linens from Teresa Cole's label, Teresa Green. Cole is an avid collector of vintage kitchenalia, which has inspired her to create a range of textiles in patterns such as delicately drawn flying birds, retro kitchen scales and fruit, on unbleached cotton and Irish linen (aprons £36, tea towels £11; 01509 261691, teresagreen.co.uk).
HEARTH'S DESIRES
For more cosy kitchen ideas, visit timesonline.co.uk/interiors