Catering couple'sclassy kitchen

Walnut worktops, ebony and cream units and room to entertain: EMMA CULLINANlooks at a relaxing kitchen for family and guests

Margaret Clapham is managing director of Sodexo and her husband Nick is a chef at the Seapoint Restaurant. They live in Monkstown, Co Dublin, with their children Megan and Jack

How did you come to live here?

The house was built 20 years ago and Nick's dad bought it off plans. Then we bought it off his dad. So it's always been a Clapham house.

Has it changed over the years?

We have done a lot of work. When we moved in we pulled up the carpets and put down wooden floors. We took out the traditional bannisters to make the space very open and more liveable in. When you have rails going up it feels closed in.

When we had the children people said how can you have no bannisters? But they got used to it, it was not a problem for them to manoeuvre up and down the stairs. When Megan was born we converted the attic into a lovely big room for her.

You both work in the food industry, so presumably the kitchen was important?

We both love to cook and the house wasn't hugely conducive to entertaining. We have had parties where we had had up to 30 people but we always had to manoeuvre around the area and try to fit into what was there.

The kitchen and dining area were separated with double doors whereas now it is a much more open space and the new counter means we can have informal chats, cooking and entertaining all at once. You can work around whatever house you have but it is great to have something you have created.

So it's changed the way you live.

Yes. Now I tend to do antipasti as a starter with everybody standing up with a glass of bubbly as we cook. We then move on through a more formal main and dessert whereas before we did everything plated, from starter to dessert.

For us the main thing is that people feel relaxed and at home and everything we have done has reflected that. We are much happier with the open space.

How did you go about choosing a new kitchen?

We went to Gerry McCauley of McCauley Kitchens in Cavan, who was very helpful, creative and good at coming back with solutions. We really didn't know what we wanted in the units and he suggested the cream gloss. The previous kitchen had very old-style bevelled cupboards, so this is quite different.

I'm happy with the cream and it is very easy to keep. It is broken up by the ebony elements - if it was all cream it would be a bit too much. The contrast works well and softens it all.

Was the worktop a big decision? We wanted the kitchen to look well as part of the diningroom so we put in a walnut worktop to fit in with all our wooden furniture and to give a warm feeling - a granite top wasn't going to do that. Gerry did three-dimensional drawings and he sent through samples of what would look well. We were very particular about the wood and worktop and he was mindful of what we were looking for. He said, "I know exactly what to get" and it was perfect. There are very few joints through the whole piece and he put in a round sink to keep in line with the extractor fan and he provided a circular chopping board.

He was really good on attention to detail.

So you did some designing around the extractor fan?

I love its quirkiness - it looks more like a speaker than a fan. The thing I particularly love is the combination microwave, oven and grill - you can do everything in it.

The other amazing new appliance we have is a tap for filtered boiling water so now we have no kettle in the house.

How did you find out that there were such things?

Gerry sent us to the KAL kitchen company. We went out and said, this is the space we have for our equipment and we would like a 50/50 fridge/freezer, an oven plate warmer (which I use for proving breads), a small dishwasher (which has changed our lives enormously, we had no dishwasher before). We have a Smeg oven and we've always had a gas hob - never anything else.

So even though you both work in food, you're happy to carry on at home?

We met at the Shannon College of Hotel Management. I even won chef of the year there yet I never went into that: Nick did. I worked in many, many five-star hotels around the country and food was always very much part of what I did. Now at Sodexo I manage all sorts of services from security to cleaning but we also do catering for companies and workplace canteens.

Some canteens aren't great.

Food is very emotive and if it is not right people are very disappointed. I love reading recipe books and going into the kitchen and creating things of my own: trying new things like Thai curry. This summer I made a traditional chicken curry and put coconut milk in it. My son Jack ate it when he came back from the Gaeltacht and said, mum that is the best curry you have made.

I get very good honest feedback and they love home-cooked food.I like to grow herbs in our patio - rosemary, thyme, mint, parsley, chives - and go out and pick up what I need for a dish.

If you have a hectic life you should make cooking at home easy, fun and quick so people are more inclined to do it.

A good kitchen solves a lot of problems where kids are getting processed food; they love it if they can get involved. There is also a great sense of achievement.

This kitchen is easier to use ergonomically. Two of us can comfortably work in the kitchen whereas before we would have been bumping off each other. The kids love coming in too: making flapjacks and cakes. They can be at the worktop while I can be over at the cooker.

This kitchen has made it easier for everybody: it's improved what we do. It's amazing how changing one small space can make such a difference. Now, whoever is doing the washing up is not in a separate room, so it brings the family together more.

'I love the quirkiness of the extractor fan - it looks more like a speaker than a fan