The Scullery – The Saviour of The Modern Entertainer

Not so long ago, the scullery was a luxury only people with the most glorious homes could afford. The thought of installing a ‘second kitchen’ was more far-fetched than having a second bathroom – a practice all parents are grateful has died out. Luckily for us, the scullery is no longer only reserved for society’s elite. In fact, it is now a common addition to many new homes being built today. The resurface of the scullery can likely be attributed to our fondness for open plan living. Many older houses have kitchens that are separate and hidden from the dining and living areas, meaning any clutter or mess isn’t observed by guests. While we too are adorers of open plan living, it has created a pressure to ensure that our kitchens are immaculate at all times, a goal that is, ironically, more difficult to achieve when we’re entertaining. The scullery has saved many of us a lecture or two from mum about the cleanliness of our kitchens.  

The shape and size of your scullery can be tailored to suit the design of your home. A scullery generally includes the basic elements you would find in a kitchen. For example, shelves, cupboards and drawers, and a sink. Keep in mind that you can choose to design your scullery to suits your needs. If you don’t have a lot of space to spare, you might prioritise bench space and storage over adding a second oven or stove top. You might even choose to add a second fridge (this would avoid those tedious trips to the garage where most of us hide our white fridges covered in our kids’ barbie or hot wheel stickers). If you’re the Kris Jenner of entertaining within your circle of friends, then we recommend installing your dishwasher in your scullery to keep dirty dishes out of sight – this will also leave you with more storage space in the kitchen.

Your scullery is also an ideal place to keep those appliances that you use regularly and would prefer to store on your benchtop. There’s nothing more frustrating that having to pull a heavy blender out from the cupboard every morning when you’re already running late for work. Don’t forget to have additional power points installed in your scullery for these appliances!

If you’re designing a new home and prefer open plan living, then we highly recommend exploring your options when it comes to installing a scullery. The pressure that comes with entertaining will become a thing of the past and you can finally have that aesthetic, polished kitchen that your guests will resent you for forever.