Majjie's Blog

I've been to Bunny Appliance Warehouse today - to see a cooking demonstration by Britannia. Your intrepid reporter working on a Saturday you see? What do you mean? I went to sample the food? That was naturally a part of the process - I was forced to sample the (delicious) food myself, of course, in order to judge the cooking performance.

I've been very busy recently and quite a high proportion of the designs I've been working on are for new build homes and, especially, kitchen extensions. People still seem to be extending their existing home, rather than buying a new one (as in buying an existing house) ... and there's quite a bit of housebuilding going on at the higher end of the market - the one-off, individual houses.

It wasn't long ago that I was talking about cleaning the kitchen floor - following a free gift of a (rather snazzy ... I'll agree) mop and bucket. Well it's happened again. I've had another free gift. So what do you think this one is? Is it a bird ... is it a plane ... ?

Have you seen the IKEA Kitchen Squad adverts? I've caught one or two and I have mixed feelings about them. They're based on a spoof, reality makeover show, format ... with comedian Sanderson Jones playing documentary maker Leonard Sheppard ... but with real kitchens, a real owner (who doesn't know what's going to happen), and real IKEA workers doing the makeover.

I came across an article the other day, entitled "How to Cook Up Kitchen Savings" ... by Marc Lockley on www.guardian.co.uk. That's no surprise - I'm always on the lookout for items on designing or buying a kitchen. This one made me feel slightly uncomfortable, though. Do you really all want something for nothing these days? And what constitutes a good deal?

I'm still sifting through my pictures and brochures from the KBB show but ... amongst the photos I took ... were some that stood out from the rest. Those were the concept ovens from CDA. Just have a look at this one, called "Pink Lady":

No, I haven't gone mad - I know the Grand Designs Show at the NEC was last October - but going to the Homebuilding and Renovating Show there yesterday, reminded me that I never finished telling you about the displays that caught my eye last October.

The kitchen supplier that was going to be my Grand Designs Kitchens 3 - was also at yesterday's show - so I'll come back to him later. But before I go on to tell you about the interesting things I saw yesterday, I just want to catch up with one company from the Grand Designs Show.

Britannia make a lot of range cookers. They vary from the 90cm E-Line for about £1,899 to the huge 150cm Sigma or Classic ranges for around £9,499. All of them are available in stainless steel, some are also available in black or graphite, others also have a cream version. They're well made and very popular with keen cooks.

There's also a Colourange service available on certain models whereby you can choose your own bespoke colour. That adds quite a bit to the cost, though. About £1,500 for a 100cm twin oven Sigma model.

The KBB Show at the NEC is a trade show which only happens every two years. I always look forward to going - but this year it promises to be more exciting than usual. Two proposed trade shows last summer were both cancelled due to the recession (well - trying to organise two was ridiculous anyway) and manufacturers - keen to improve their competitiveness in the new economic climate - are apparently planning lots of new kitchen product launches at the KBB show in a couple of weeks.

No - don't go away! It has to be said that my answer to that question would be "not often enough". I sweep up the crumbs and I dab at any noxious spots with the floor cloth ... but it's quite rare that I get the squeegee and bucket out, and give it a good clean. Of course, I must point out that I have very forgiving grey tiles and no kids or animals coming in with dirty feet. Those of you with young families and pets probably have to clean a lot more often.