How Anna Olson's kitchen became a TV star

Unsurprisingly, Anna designed with an eye to function first, paring down the living and dining rooms and brightening up the built-in bookcases and original fireplaces. In her 20-by-12-foot kitchen, the cooktop is at the centre of it all—on the island, where the cook faces the house, not a wall. Working in the kitchen is a shared pleasure for the couple, so there's room for two here. "Cooking is a dynamic process," Anna points out. "Being with someone in the kitchen keeps you talking and creating. That's
as important to me as the end result." With entertaining in mind, a double sink was sited out of sight of the dining room, so no clean-up mess is visible to guests. A smaller bar sink for food prep anchors one end of the island.

Practicality prompted the choice of finishes, too. Gleaming oak hardwood floors keep the living and dining rooms feeling fresh and airy, while in the kitchen, beech countertops are both affordable and forgiving—a little sanding and oiling removes the inevitable nicks and scratches. Anna loves the bistro look of black and white honeycomb floor tiles, but she notes they also mask crumbs and dirt, and it's easy to pop out a small tile if it cracks: "We're tough on our surfaces."  

Of course, a typical day for Anna Olson demands a lot of even the best-designed kitchen. With a new season of Fresh underway in March, even more is required of both her and her kitchen—more prep time, more experimentation, more of the process that keeps her grounded, as she writes in her new cookbook, In the Kitchen With Anna—so during the four-month shooting periods for the show, she and Michael move out of the house entirely. And why not? Even an über-chef like Anna Olson sometimes needs a break from her co-star.

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