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Kitchen at PR-0042 1
Kitchen at PR-0042 1Kitchen at PR-Vignettes-0007 12021 Kitchen Cooking-0004Kitchen at PR-0005 1Kitchen at PR-0006 1d0fad1483c73316d075db5800e2394765a3aacc9_3730d67f87d1973e1d3ecec58dfedb0848f4949f_instagram

Kitchen Life and Love

Shop the shoot


At Howe, we encourage you to live with things that you love but don’t be scared to use them and look after them. With the right use and care they’ll serve you well, bring you happiness and hopefully outlive you too!

Our Howe X Plain English kitchen incorporates antique objects and materials that have found new life and use, for the whole Howe team to enjoy. Although our long worktop looked new when it was first installed (having been replaned) it is actually made from carefully chosen salvaged pitch pine with a beautiful natural grain and stability. Left untreated, with daily use by a big hungry team, it is already taking on a wonderful patina.

To look after your worktop Christopher recommends rolling up your sleeves a couple times a year and giving it a good old scrub and soaping.

We find using this old fashioned soap treatment is preferable to sealing or varnishing pine because it doesn’t leave your timber orange and shiny. The washed and scrubbed finish is about as natural as you can get and, over time, the grain of your wood will only get more beautiful.

METHOD

  1. Clear the work surface
  2. Scrub it clean, following the direction of the grain
  3. Rub a basic bar of soap across the surface, allowing it to leave a waxy residue
  4. Leave the flakes, they rub in over time
  5. For extra shine, use a bristle brush to finish
  6. Redress the worktop. Ta Da!

To look after your china and glass, you just have to leave a little time to hand wash and dry your pieces after using them. Dishwashers are great but they can do irreparable damage to old cutlery and glass in particular: old steel blades will rust, bone or wooden handles will dry out and crack, and crystal will turn cloudy due to the reaction of the salt with the lead in the glass.