My Kitchen story with Fairy Platinum

Everyone has heard of the saying that the kitchen is the heart of the home. In our family that couldn't be more true and you will find out just why with our #kitchentale...

Once upon a time, there was a family who had the tiniest kitchen ever. I've tried to find some photos to show you but it was so small that we could not even take any photos in there. This family ended up eating unhealthy food and lots of takeaways because their kitchen was too small to cook in. 

Whenever they had friends around for dinner, people would always comment on just how small their kitchen was. At the end of the meal, offers of help would come to help stack the dishwasher. Embarrassed, I would tell them that I was the dishwasher. There was no space at all to have an actual dishwasher put in. 

We knew something needed to be done and after many years of struggling in our tiny kitchen, we decided to have a house extension giving us a bigger and more usable kitchen.

I finally had space to actually cook! We also got a dishwasher for the first time and whenever we have guests to dinner, I whisper a thank you to my dishwasher as I wonder how I managed so long without one.

Our new kitchen also opened up the doors to a whole lot more...

It was big enough for J to do his Occupational Therapy excercises in.

It was big enough to have teddy bear picnics on the floor.

It enabled us to start home-schooling J and D as there was space for a table for them to work at (we even managed to fit in individual desks for them on the other side of the kitchen too!)

It meant that when Miss T was born, I was able to keep an eye on her whilst being in the kitchen (there was no way a highchair could have fitted in our old kitchen).

It faces the garden so I can keep an eye on these three even when I am indoors and they are outside.

And it truly has become the place where we can all 'hang-out' - the kids can sit at the dining table which now fits in our kitchen, and play board games or school work or just chat with me whilst I am doing chores or cooking.

And we even decided to keep hold of our old dining table which was dented and stained but makes a perfect art and craft table.

Our new kitchen meant that I could finally have a decent sized fridge rather than the teeny under-the-counter one I had before which saves oodles of time not having to pop to the shop to buy milk daily because more than a couple of pints each day just wouldn't fit in the old fridge.

Of course the fridge has to have the alphabet fridge magnets which seem to be oligatory once you have kids in the house. And it doubles up as a bit of an art gallery too.

One of my favourite things I keep on my fridge is a letter from J after he / we had a difficult day.

I now also have space for a few kitchen gadgets from really simple things like my bright yellow lemon squeezer.

To a bread maker which makes tasty loaves of bread that get demolished by the whole family in minutes.

And my Kenwood Chef mixer which I honestly don't know how I managed without as it makes whisking, mixing and kneading a breeze.

Although I often have plenty of helpers on hand to help with the mixing anyway as it is Miss T's favourite job in the kitchen.

Our kitchen has also enabled D's passion for cooking to blossom as we've been able to take photos of him cooking for his blog, The Brilliant Chef, and even make recipe videos of him. None of which could have been done in the old kitchen as it really was too small to even take photos.

We have a few little touches that make out kitchen our own like growing a few herbs on the windowsill.

The windowsill also acts as a practical area for keeping things like paints and bubble wands to hand for me to get out for the kids.

A quirky elephant fruit-bowl which granny gave us from her travels is a great way of keeping plenty of fresh fruit ready for the kids to munch on when they need a healthy snack. 

Our new kitchen has revolutionised mealtimes, as I have the space to cook, lay the table, and just want to spend time in my kitchen. 

We can enjoy simple summer seasonal favourites without it becoming a stressful squeeze in the kitchen.

We weren't quick enough to get a sample of Fairy Platinum Dishwasher tablets but bought our own to try as we love and trust the Fairy brand so much already. Whilst I have Fairy to help with the dishes, I have another little helper to help me clean the floors by tying rags to his feet and sliding around the kitchen.

I hope you can see just how important our kitchen is to us and why it has truly become the heart of our home.

“This post is an entry for the “My Kitchen Story” Linky Challenge, sponsored by Fairy Platinum” . You can find Fairy on facebook at Facebook.com/fairydish. And you can find out more about #Kitchentales over on Britmums here.