London map tea towel
Everyone needs a good stack of tea towels in the kitchen, but it’s even better when they’re interesting!
This 100% cotton tea towel features a London map – but look closer, and you’ll notice it’s rather unusual.
The whole of the map is made up of the written names of London places. It’s a clever idea and is guaranteed to provide plenty of interest as you endure the joys of drying up the dishes.
The London map tea towel is by Unity Peg and costs £8 from To Dry For.
Retro scales
Given the choice between traditional style kitchen scales and digital scales, the traditional ones win me over every time. I’ve never found the digital scales quite so accurate and love the look of the traditional ones.
These retro ivory kitchen scales are stylish and functional, with a clear dial on the front and easy-to-use metal bowl perfect for measuring out baking ingredients. They measure in grams and kilos, and pounds and ounces, and are reasonably priced at £19.95.
If you fancy a bit more colour, then the scales are also available in red, black and mint, from Dotcomgiftshop.
Kitchen chopping board set
Kitchen hygiene experts recommend using a seperate chopping board to chop each different type of food on, such as raw meat, fish, vegetables and bread, as it helps avoid contamination.
With this set of four chopping boards, you’ll be well equipped for all your chopping needs. The boards are all slightly different shapes, which is great for identifying which is used for each type of food, and they’re all thread with leather ties at the top so you can hang the boards up for storage.
The set of four chopping boards are sold by Jme for £39 (with free postage).
Handmade shelf and kitchen roll holder
Alison Capeling got in touch via Twitter to let us know about her shop and products. The online store and shop in Truro sell a variety of lovely home interiors and accessories, focusing on country style and coastal living.
Alison designs furniture too, which is handmade by carpenter, Phil. We love the idea of this functional kitchen shelf, which has a built in kitchen roll holder shelf below, on which you can also hang tea towels or kitchen towels. Shown here in vintage lime white, the shelf is also available pale sage, white or French Grey, and is made to order.
There’s also a practical shelf available for the bathroom, with useful pegs underneath the shelf.
For more details about the handmade kitchen roll holder shelf, or to discover lots more inspiring home furniture and accessories, check out Alison Capeling’s website.
Rose pattern bin
At first glance, this looks like a rose patterned storage jar, but on closer inspection, it’s actually a pedal bin.
Who knew a bin could be so pretty? It’s the perfect finishing touch for a country style kitchen or bathroom.
You’ll find the roses pedal bin at An Angel At My Table.
Traditional cutlery box
This wooden cutlery box reminds me of a similar item that my grandparents used to have.
The box is designed to hold cutlery (although you could easily use it for anything else) and has four sections inside for storing all your knives, forks, spoons and teaspoons. Underneath there’s a a full width, deep drawer that would be perfect for storing larger serving spoons or cake slices.
The top of the box has a nice etched glass lid, so you can see at a glance what’s inside. As well as having a functional purpose, the box is nice enough to leave out on display in your dining room or kitchen. You could use it for storing your ‘best’ cutlery, or your everyday cutlery.
The Wilbury cutlery chest is available from Graham and Green for £36.
These ceramic cockerel design pieces offer a fresh take on country living. The jug, egg cup and butter dish use pastel shades, tiny polka dots and homely hearts, with quirky cockerel images.
They’re all part of the cockerel range of ceramics at Dunelm Mill and, whether you buy a single piece, or start a collection, they’re each very reasonably priced.
The cockerel butter dish is £4.99, the cockerel embossed egg cup is £2.29 and the cockerel jug costs £6.49.
There are lots more coordinating pieces in the cockerel range, including a sugar bowl, place mats, dinner plates and a toast rack. Find them all for sale at Dunelm Mill.
One of my all time favourite ranges of ceramics is the blue and white Clipper designs from Whittard.
Different designs in the range have come and gone over the years, but with the standard blue and white colouring, everything mixes and matches very well together. But a few years ago, the worst scenario happened and they stopped selling Clipper.
For a while, it was still possible to pick up odd bits and pieces in Whittard discount stores and I’ve hunted through many to find vital bits to make up the set (and extras to account for any accidents and breakages). I’ve also found the occasional item on Ebay, which has been great.
But now I’m thrilled, as the wise folks at Whittard have brought good old Clipper back again. There are some new designs, like this lovely blue and white stripe, and some old favourites, like polka dots. There might not be quite so many unique pieces any more (I haven’t seen bowls or serving dishes yet), but it’s great to know I can get replacement cups and saucers or mugs once more.
The handpainted blue and white six cup teapot is £15, the cup and saucer is £6 or a nifty two-in-one teapot and ceramic cup set is available for £15. For more fabulous Clipper designs, check out the Whittard website.
As far as measuring spoons go, these have got to be some of the cutest ones available.
The set of four spoons have all the essential qualities of a good measuring spoon – four differing sizes of spoon – but have the added advantage of also being delightfully charming too, with cute little birds perched on the top of the handles.
The bird measuring spoons are produced by Bombay Duck and you can buy the boxed set of four from Wysteria Lane, where they promise to lovingly wrap them in tissue paper and ribbon before posting it out to you.
Treat yourself, or buy them for a special gift.
Metal housekeepers box
I love this metal housekeepers box from Leekes. It’s the perfect storage solution for all my cleaning products and cloths and would make carrying them around the house so much easier.
It may even encourage me to do a bit more cleaning….
The spotty house keepers box has a removable tray on the top and is available from Leekes.
