I'm with Becca on the ideal kitchen but if I have to have one, I'd like the one my granfer had in his farmhouse.

The pantry alone was the size of our present kitchen. The kitchen itself had a fireplace you could put an AGA, an armchair, a log box and a calf in, without encroaching on the actual kitchen. There was a dresser that must have been 10ft long, and a table that sat 24 people without bashing elbows. There was still room for a sofa and the other armchair along the inner wall, with an electric cooker, the washing machine (and mangle), a huge stone 'Belfast' or Butler's sink and the draining boards under the window.

It always smelt of sweet cow dung and rose carbolic soap, when it wasn't having huge roast dinners cooked in it. With a kitchen table like that, who needs counter tops?!

LTS