The kitchen is, without doubt, the most important room in any home; it’s where everything happens. It’s where you sluggishly begin your morning with a cup of coffee. It’s where you replenish yourself throughout the day and ensure sustenance. It’s where you drink your last glass of water before going to bed. It’s also perhaps where you keep some of your favourite heirlooms.

But beyond this, the kitchen is also a meeting point for family and friends. It’s where you share conversations and make plans for days ahead, it’s where memories are made, recipes meticulously executed and bonds between yourself and others strengthen.

So, it’s no wonder that caring for the kitchen becomes second nature to most of us. And why, perhaps, it’s so important to get the feeling of it right. Today, I love my kitchen, but it hasn’t always been the case. One of the most important things I did to make it my own was to put a kitchen island that I bought from IKEA in the centre of the room. Not only has it provided me a space to store food containers and dry foods, it’s changed the way I move in the kitchen, where I stand and go about my chores and, most importantly, it’s provided a central point that people gravitate to, whatever it is they’re doing in the kitchen.

Once the island was in place, I chose to combine it with an antique wooden glass cabinet filled with glasses and teapots handed down to me by my mother. I added wooden elements to the mix – a wooden chopping board, an old pottery jar filled with wooden kitchen utensils, a rattan basket to hold my spices, all of which bring a more earthy, traditional feel to the space.

Green is the dominant colour and I have carried this theme throughout the kitchen, from the colour of the walls to the colour of my tableware. I’ve got green and mustard yellow scatter cushions on the wooden bar stools at the island and generally earthy tones are my go-to colours, be they bowls, cups or serving dishes.

It almost feels as though the wooden elements have entitled me to add modern twists to kitchen’s decor without making it look too modern or ‘store bought’. My cookware is silver and my sleek kitchen appliances are ultra modern. But instead of standing out they blend in with the old, making it all the more cosy. I could go on and on about the fine tuning my kitchen over the years; I even got a living green area going in the corner with succulents and hanging plants that create a natural nook.

But let’s not forget practicality. Or should I say functionality. Combining a functional and beautiful space is probably the hardest part of laying the foundations of the kitchen. But I’ve come to understand that the more functional a kitchen is, the more beautiful it becomes. Because if you have a magnetic knife rack on the wall next to your chopping board, if you have an eye-level height cooker, if you have a designated coffee or tea area with colourful containers and jars hold your sugars, teas and honey, and if you ensure the island is always free from clutter and clean to start anything you want to do, the functionality enhances the style you’ve worked so hard to create.

Add to that good lighting, both a powerful shine from the ceiling light and low lights from the hob and table lamps tucked in corners along with candle holders in place for the right moments, and you’re set. I live in my kitchen. When it’s just me and my daughter eating, we eat in the kitchen, when we wake up in the evening for a midnight snack, we sit at the kitchen island, when we’re deciding what to do with our days over a fresh lemonade, we’re in the kitchen. And when I turn the lights out to retreat to my bedroom, the kitchen light is the last to go out. Because if I take that last glance and everything’s in place for the following day to unravel, I can sleep soundly. And my heart is happy.