kitchens to covet bright ideas
Olive|September 2021
Hollie Newton’s airy, light-filled Dorset kitchen brings the outdoors in, combining whitewashed Scandi simplicity with pops of colour for added warmth and character
Hollie Newton
kitchens to covet bright ideas

unwind

Feel at home in a spacious, calming, lightfilled kitchen, catch up with Rosie Birkett’s latest home projects, and lose yourself in the deliberately patient approach to making perfect eggs benedict

I’m a screenwriter, creative director, gardener and cook. I wrote a bestselling gardening book a few years back, How to Grow: A Guide for Gardeners Who Can’t Garden Yet (£20, Orion Spring). I live down by the sea in Poole, Dorset, with my husband Tim, toddler Bertie and our doodle, Lettuce. This is our home – a dilapidated 1920s bungalow that we bought four years ago, completely renovating it from top to bottom.

We have a light, bright, L-shaped kitchen/living room – about 40 square metres – with an enormous peaked floor-to-ceiling window extension that makes it look far bigger than it is. The entire back wall is glass, so even on the dreariest of days it’s impossible for the kitchen to feel gloomy or cramped. Though white is the base, I’m a magpie when it comes to colour and have pops all over the place; they’re particularly concentrated in the snug living room corner.

We moved here from a basement flat in London that had a windowless galley kitchen where you had to crab-walk past each other to the cupboard. Light and space were consequently the biggest design factors with our new kitchen. Those, and an open-plan cooking/dining/living space. No more shouting to guests from the next room!

This story is from the September 2021 edition of Olive.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the September 2021 edition of Olive.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM OLIVEView All
kitchen therapy with Rosie Birkett
Olive

kitchen therapy with Rosie Birkett

Give salad the Jersey Royal treatment with Rosie's rustic new potato platter

time-read
3 mins  |
May 2023
PUB MENU The Barley Mow
Olive

PUB MENU The Barley Mow

Put aside some quality time at the weekend to recreate this relaxed Anglo-French pub menu from a newly restored Mayfair landmark

time-read
3 mins  |
May 2023
BOLTHOLE Fort Road Hotel, Margate
Olive

BOLTHOLE Fort Road Hotel, Margate

Kentish ingredients, local artists and extra touches of hospitality give this distinctive seafront hotel the perfect combination of contemporary style and seaside nostalgia

time-read
1 min  |
May 2023
COOK LIKE A LOCAL South Korea
Olive

COOK LIKE A LOCAL South Korea

Su Scott introduces the deep, complex flavours of this East Asian country

time-read
4 mins  |
May 2023
READY? SET MENU? GO!
Olive

READY? SET MENU? GO!

Delegate decision making to the experts - say feed me, thrill me. Rather than poring over menus, opting for a great-value set menu or a blow-out tasting experience allows you to kick back and relax, confident that incredible food will follow

time-read
5 mins  |
May 2023
Speedboat Bar SIGNATURE DISH
Olive

Speedboat Bar SIGNATURE DISH

Whip up a spicy chillispiked dish and zingy ginger cocktail from Thai canteen Speedboat Bar in London's Chinatown

time-read
2 mins  |
May 2023
Coronation chicken cups
Olive

Coronation chicken cups

Give this gorgeously creamy filling the canapé treatment - perfect for easy entertaining

time-read
1 min  |
May 2023
3 WAYS WITH Pickles
Olive

3 WAYS WITH Pickles

Whether it's cornichons, onions, beetroots or dill pickles, you can do so much more than you might think with these vinegary beauties

time-read
3 mins  |
May 2023
Keep it sweet
Olive

Keep it sweet

Show-off desserts to end your meal with a flourish, from food writer Claire Saffitz

time-read
9 mins  |
May 2023
Cook with the season
Olive

Cook with the season

That sweet spot between spring and summer brings with it some of the very best produce

time-read
8 mins  |
May 2023