When my dad moved into our current duplex, he immediately noticed that the range hood over the stove wasn't connected to anything. It wasn't that it hadn't been installed properly, it was just a stainless steel funnel nailed to the wall with nothing in it. To me, this symbolizes everything that the fetishism of the “luxury kitchen” has gone mad: in what should be the most functional room in the house, aesthetics have taken precedence over function, to the point that designers imagine that future residents would be satisfied with the image of a sturdy, shiny gas range hood and never check to see if it actually worked.
Kate Wagner writes: The Nation“Kitchens were originally conceived as spaces with walls, but they became less and less functional and less efficient for cooking.” The huge kitchens with walk-in-closet-sized islands and open designs that are featured in most home improvement shows and design magazines are actually poorly suited to accomplishing the task of preparing food. You have to constantly walk around looking for what you need. Nothing is within reach. Wagner blames this on “an unsustainable cultural ecosystem that values the home as a status symbol and investment, rather than as a place to live and live.” Of course you want your kitchen to look good, but it's no use if you have to hit an obstacle every time you cook.
Ellen Bennett, chef and founder of Hedley & Bennett, said: [her] “Soul” learned how to keep a professional kitchen organized from his time as a chef. When he started planning a new show for Tastemade, Kitchen brilliance(now available on a variety of streaming apps), Bennett wanted to bring her professional sensibility to at-home kitchen design. In each episode, she remodels kitchens to make them more accommodating for whoever uses them, from a single woman living in an apartment to a couple with toddlers who love to help with cooking. And rather than big renovations that turn every kitchen into a Nancy Meyer dream kitchen, these renovations dig into what you actually need to be your best cook. We spoke with Bennett about what she hates in the kitchen, the importance of a spice drawer, and what anyone can do to improve their kitchen, regardless of budget.
Eater: Why did you decide to do a kitchen renovation show?
Ellen Bennett: I am a total kitchen nerd. I will always call myself a chef, and keeping things organized and clean has been ingrained in me since I worked in professional kitchens. Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, I have been using my experience equipping professional kitchens to spend a lot of time organizing my home and kitchen. And Andrew Zimmern [whose production company is producing Kitchen Glow Up] We've always wanted to do something together. I had this idea in my head that I wanted to design a kitchen that was functional but also beautiful to look at. It's like hiding the broccoli. You want to do it because it looks good, but actually, you'll thank yourself for how functional it is.
Most kitchen remodeling shows focus on big Nancy Meyers-style kitchens. They're obsessed with big central islands. What does a good kitchen look like to you?
I think Nancy Meyers' kitchens are epic and amazing. I live in Pasadena, and it's something that everyone dreams of. What I wanted to do was to make it something that everyone can actually experience. There are so many things in the world that we dream of, but very few that are realistic and practical. So I pursued that thoroughly, deeply, and geekily. There were a lot of real kitchens on the show, but the approach was to make any kitchen functional. If you're a good cook, you can do anything with fire and knives, right? So we upgraded the basics.
One of the things that I made sure that every kitchen on the show had was a 36-inch-wide sink. It was big enough to fit a sheet tray or a giant pot. There were no double sinks that didn't hold anything. In terms of functionality, the pro kitchens had little foot pumps to turn the water on and prevent cross contamination. I found an amazing family-owned company called Principal Faucets, and we installed foot pumps in almost every house. And we took everything out of the cabinets and installed pull-out shelves or just cabinets. I call it light customization. Instead of building from scratch, we took the bare bones of the kitchen and improved it.
That's how I run my life. Everyone needs a pantry. Everyone needs a dedicated spice drawer, or an ugly Tupperware drawer. And everyone needs a little corner with a cutting board, little bowls of oil, salt, pepper, lemons — a prep area. No need to hunt around for towels and knives and cutting boards. It's all ready and ready to go.
What do you like least about kitchen design? I feel like there are so many kitchens these days that are really beautiful but not really functional.
No pantry is a huge pet peeve of mine. Over half the kitchens we've done don't have a proper pantry. A pantry is like going to IKEA, buying a cabinet, putting it in the hallway and calling it a pantry. It makes the job that much harder. Which of these seven cabinets would you put orzo in? And the spice drawer is in awful condition – more than 50 percent of the spices are expired in most cases.
For those who can't afford to remodel, what are some practical steps you can take to improve your current kitchen?
If you don't have a lot of money, start by making the basics high quality. This is something I learned from my time at Hedley & Bennett. Everything we do is of the utmost quality and [asking]can you wear it out? I think the same way about the kitchen. Buy All-Clad pans, upgrade your knives, get a decent cutting board. If you can afford a better stove, do so. If you can't afford a better stove, get something nice like a Breville Joule oven. Our oven is from 1975 and we haven't replaced it yet, but we did get a Joule oven. The Joule oven is also portable. If you're on a budget, you want to be able to take those things with you to your next destination.
If you have a little more money to spare, you can start investing in organization. Go to the Container Store and buy some drawer inserts. And just organize and empty your cabinets and group like items together. If you have a bigger budget, maybe a few thousand dollars, add something like a pull-out cabinet or paint your cabinets. I also love using wallpaper in the kitchen. It's a fun way to bring in color and flair without spending a lot of money, and honestly, you can do it yourself.
It's interesting that there are so few bedroom renovation shows and everyone is so obsessed with the space that is the kitchen. Why do you think the kitchen has become such a status symbol?
It's a basic necessity, that we all eat. And I feel that with COVID, because of Instagram and social media, everyone is cooking in the kitchen and documenting it. And they want to compete with each other. They're showing off what they have, what tools they have. I'm like that too. I like to display my Le Creuset and beautiful pans that I saved up for. And it's really the heart of the home, the fireplace. That's where people gather and hang out. Yesterday, we had a lot of family over and everyone was in the kitchen. People want to see the food being cooked and they want to help. For example, What can I grab? What can I cut? This makes them feel more at home.
What would you like to see more of in the home improvement space? What trends do you think need to be broken?
I think what Tastemade is doing is great. The concept of being more practical and useful for the viewer is great. It's true that watching Netflix for three hours straight will not give you anything but a headache. But if you watch something and it inspires you to organize your spice cupboard, that's great. Instead of prioritizing only Instagrammable things, prepare more functional and practical things. That's what I was always thinking while filming the show. What am I teaching people today? If the photographers had gone home and tidied up parts of the house, we knew we were doing something right.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
