Kitchen Islands in the Sun

Anonymous UK Homemaker - I'm loving my new house, and the best thing about it is the amount of natural light. The windows are enormous, and there are French doors all across the ground floor overlooking the garden. In the kitchen, I'm making the most of this by having my primary work space facing the doors so that I get a great view all the time.

I've always admired kitchens with islands, and now I own my own! It took a long time to decide on how best to use the island – with a sink, a hob, a split-level breakfast bar, or simply a work surface. In the end, I went for a plain and simple granite top so that I can spread out my ingredients when cooking, or clear everything away for eating. It's become my new favourite place to be for coffee breaks and culinary creativity alike, and as Spring arrives, the sun through the open doors is paradise.

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The "I Hate to Iron" Rant

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Anonymous UK Homemaker - This Design2Share column is supposed to be all about luxury, but I've decided - in all my anonymity - to complain about my worst chore. Call this my anti-luxury rant, even though I tried to find the most luxurious photo to go with the subject (see above). If there's one household item that I have an aversion to, it's definitely the iron: I spend an awful lot of time making sure that I dry things flat or on hangers so that I can get away without ironing them. When clothes shopping, I always consider things on the basis of how much ironing they will or won’t need, and my husband has instructions only to purchase work shirts declaring themselves happily non-iron.

For the most part, many of my friends are in agreement with me – apart from the odd obsessive with too much time on their hands, of course – but the one thing which gets people divided is whether or not to iron bedding.

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