For me, the quaint charm that a shabby chic design offers is exactly what I’m looking for in a kitchen. Cold, hard designs are all well and good in a commercial kitchen but our homes are all about comfort and there’s nothing more welcoming that soft pastel colours and periwinkle china.

For those that don’t already know, shabby chic is a kind of interior design where your furniture and furnishings are chosen for their appearance of age and signs of wear. You could also ‘add’ the wear and tear to your existing furniture if you wanted to (believe me, it’s a fun way to spend a Sunday afternoon!)

As well as ‘antique-y’ looking items, soft, cottage-style decor can be incorporated to give a room a feminine feel. It’s all about mixing and matching. I’m thinking beautifully distressed wood, beaded mini chandeliers and old jars made new with gingham fabric tops and elastic bands. Have I painted a picture?

The beauty of shabby chic is that is can be so cheap. It’s all about what you make of it. One of my latest creations was tying ribbons to some white china plates then securing the ribbon and plates to the wall and ending up with a gorgeous piece of art.

Shabby chic fridge magnets are an easy way to update a plain kitchen. You could get yourself a decent-sized collection and turn the beautiful canvas that is a fridge like a Beko TLDA521W into something beautiful.

 

Leisure also make a selection of quirky range cookers, the CMTE95C being one of my favourites. With something like this the work is already done – you’ve got a stylish cooker shabby chic cooker that’s actually brand new!

Whether you’re into shabby chic or not, there’s no denying that our kitchens are an extension of our personality, so make sure yours gives off the perfect impression of you.

Got any tips for me? Whether it’s a cute shop or a website that’s full of little gems, leave a comment and let me know. I’m always on the lookout for great finds.

Did you know when cooking a Christmas dinner the cooking functions you use are just as important as the ingredients? Most people don’t, but we at Appliances Online have decided to let you in on some golden nuggets of Christmas cooking secrets.

Firstly how are you cooking your roast? You absolutely need an oven with true fan because it creates a really even temperature throughout the whole oven. If you have a particularly fancy oven it may have fan with upper and lower elements which form a very concentrated heat throughout the entire oven. It’s great for slowly cooking your roasts on a low temperature for an extremely tender and juicy bird.

Secondly on Christmas day with all the family round one thing we could all do with a bit more of is space. For this I would give my right arm for the Leisure CM101FRCP because it has bags of space and the almighty Handy rack. This is a baking tray attached to the oven door so when you open the oven door your roast comes with it, perfect! You won’t need to lift the heavy roast out when checking on it. The hob has an extended hotplate, great for keeping veggies warm while the Yorkshire puds finish off cooking.

Talking of veggies the best way to cook those on Christmas Day is with an induction hob because it’s great if you have kiddies about. The hob doesn’t start heating until the pan is placed, making it much safer. You can also get induction hobs with a timer, but not any old timer. You can set it to boil and then go down to simmer, so the hob takes care of itself. They’ll be no chance of soggy carrots this Christmas!

Have a look at our Top 10 Christmas Ovens.

They are calling it the Baking Renaissance. Shows such as ‘The Great British Bake Off’ have rejuvenated our love of all things baked and it seems we can’t get our goodies to rise quick enough. There are plenty of TV chefs spreading the gospel of cake, tarts and bread buns, though it may surprise you to know that it isn’t just the more mature generations who have cottoned on.

To support National Baking Week 2011, 17th – 23rd October, Leisure Range Cookers released the results of their study about baking, and they were really rather unexpected. It turns out that people aged between 16-24 are six times more likely to bake something from scratch every day, in comparison to every other age group.

These TV programmes are clearly having a big effect, as now 77% of us Brits enjoy making something sweet or savoury from scratch. That’s a pretty tasty statistic, especially if you’re getting invited round for afternoon tea!

In honour of the rekindled love for all things born in the oven, we in the Appliances Online Content Team held our own baking competition to put our culinary skills to the test. Dubbed the ‘Bread-a-thon 2011’, there were only two rules: No store bought items. No bread makers.

After some apprehensive conversations before the big day and a healthy amount of gainsmanship, a few good recipes and a selection of fantastic ideas got us all through the experience with ease. And the results were stunning.

You can see for yourself that everyone really pulled it out of the bag. We loaded all our loaves, bread buns, Stromboli and even hot cross buns on to the judges table, waited for them to finish casting their votes and then dived in to enjoy the fruits of our labour.

It wasn’t long before the whole office came to have a nosey and at the end of the day, there was nothing left but crumbs. I think it’s safe to say we’ll all be trying our hand at baking again soon, though I think our Director of Marketing might be disqualified next time. His Apple & Cinnamon hot cross buns won 1st prize, though the fact he was on the judging panel may have had something to do with it…

Last night whilst sat at my kitchen table I looked up and found my oven looking right back at me. It was a rather bizarre experience, as I had never given much thought to my little old oven before, let alone assigned it a personality. As its shiny eyes winked in my direction, I realised how big a mistake that was.

The longer she (naturally it’s a lady; sports cars, luxury cruise liners – we think of them all as ladies) looked at me, the more obvious it became that my oven did, in fact, have a face. The plastic dials and display made up the eyes and nose, the huge oven door would be the mouth. If you put a blonde wig on it, it would look like Joan Rivers - terrifying. Have a gander yourself, it’s a Zanussi ZOB150W. Uncanny isn’t it?

I took a look around my kitchen and noticed it was filled with famous faces and personalities. In fact, the more you look, the easier it is to see that every different brand and model has a totally different celebrity face.

In my opinion, this Smeg oven is a re-incarnation of Arnie in the Terminator flicks: Smooth, polished stainless steel; the red LED eye on one side, child-safety features. You’d definitely be safe in your kitchen.

The Stoves ‘Flavours’ Range Cooker is The Fairy Godmother from Disney’s Cinderella. So brightly coloured and with so much versatility, your cooking wishes will definitely come true.

However, my favourite personality is the Leisure GR6CV Electric cooker.

It’s not big or flashy but it offers so much warmth and comfort that you can’t help but love it. The cream-coloured traditional range style gives it such a homely feel that you’ll be well looked after, though saying that the black colour option gives it a bit of a sexy side too. It’d be like having Nigella Lawson in your kitchen (just without all the double-entendres).

It has five ceramic hobs and a double oven cavity which means anything you might need, the cooker can provide. It’s like having a home-made meal cooked by your Mum every time, and let’s be honest, who doesn’t love that?

Give me Nigella over Joan any day.

What famous face do you have in your kitchen?

I’m pleased to announce that last week I finally moved into my new house. Contracts were exchanged, the removal men came and we were completed by 1pm. It was a surprisingly smooth process.

Until we got into the house!

The house we bought was a repossession so we weren’t expecting Buckingham Palace but nor was I expecting five water leaks and a cooker that threatened to kill us all.

On day two in our new house the leaks were all stemmed and our very clever plumbers even managed to fire up the ancient central heating system.  The relic of a gas fire was condemned, unsurprisingly, but I was ecstatic to have water and heat for the first time in 24 hours. Food apparently, was too much to ask for.

As I turned on the oven I wondered why every door and light fitting in the house had been repossessed and yet they’d left the cooker. And then I nearly lost my eyebrows to a two foot flame.

The elderly cooker had two settings; off or die. No matter what setting I chose I couldn’t decrease the size of the flame, so I made the best decision I could in the situation – takeaway.

The following day we embarked on the search for a new cooker and I am very pleased with my purchase. We bought the Leisure GR6GVCP mini range cooker in cream which is a product I have admired for a long time.

Personally I find the appliance absolutely beautiful with its creamy facade and contrasting black cast iron pan supports and I can confirm that it has not yet attempted to maim me in any way!

It has several features which stand it well above any appliance I have ever owned such as the very exciting hob mounted griddle and handyrack roasting facility. Plus it has two ovens!

After a very exciting and somewhat stressful week the Leisure mini range cooker has provided us with a focal point for our house renovations. It’s great to have something that’s new, that works and that is so beautiful I want to model the rest of the house around it!

And when I eventually get organised enough to cook a Sunday roast or griddle some pancakes I will let you know how it goes!

If you’ve recently bought a fantastic appliance please let me know in the comments section below.