There are kitchens that are designed to be functional and then there are kitchens that make you want to pull up a chair. Casey Bumpsteed’s kitchen is very much the latter.

In her home in Assagay, just outside Durban, the kitchen is the heart of family life, a colourful, comforting and wonderfully lived-in space where cookbooks stay open, flowers sit in jars and nobody seems too worried about keeping everything perfectly styled.

And for Casey, that is exactly the point. “I never wanted a kitchen that felt too perfect or too ‘finished’,” says the South African Cordon Bleu chef, recipe developer, food writer and photographer behind Roasted Rose.

She shares the home with her husband, Michael, their children Ella and Liam, and their dogs, Willis and Buck.

A kitchen with a heartbeat

Casey describes her kitchen as English-country-kitchen inspired, with a distinctly South African sense of fun and informality.

There are old pieces alongside newer ones, while open shelves hold cookbooks, family photographs, artwork and ceramics. Many of the objects either have a story behind them or simply make her happy.

“I’ve always been drawn to rooms that look as though they have evolved rather than been decorated in one go,” she says.

Rather than ordering everything from one kitchen showroom, she allowed the room to grow around the things she loved. “I think the secret is allowing a room to evolve. Not everything has to match and I actually think a little imperfection makes a kitchen feel more welcoming.”

That sense of comfort is important to her.

For Casey, the kitchen isn’t simply where meals are prepared. It is where breakfast happens before school, coffee is shared, homework gets done, Sundays unfold and friends arrive for a drink.

“I wanted it to feel like somewhere you wanted to hang out in,” she says.

Burgundy, pink and a little bit of bravery

Then there are the colours. Burgundy cabinetry paired with pink walls gives the kitchen a warmth and personality that would be difficult to achieve with neutral tones.

“The burgundy was a colour I really loved and knew would give the kitchen depth and warmth. The pink walls softened it and made the room feel less serious.”

The combination is romantic without being overly sweet, and bold without feeling chaotic.

“I’ve always been a maximalist, so the colour mix felt natural to me.” And the colour isn’t simply decorative. For Casey, it is part of how a room makes you feel. “I didn’t want a neutral kitchen simply because it was the safe choice.”

Pull up a chair

One of the kitchen’s defining design choices is what isn’t there. Instead of the traditional kitchen island, Casey chose a farmhouse-style table. It has become the unofficial headquarters of family life.

“We eat there, work there, have coffee there, wrap presents there, do homework there and gather around it when friends come over.”

For her, a table says something an island doesn’t quite say. “It says, ‘come and stay for a while.’”

And that is exactly what she wanted. “I love the idea of a kitchen being a place where people aren’t just passing through.” The table creates a natural centre for the room, but more importantly, it creates a reason to linger.

Let the kitchen tell your story

As someone who cooks for a living, Casey needs her kitchen to work hard, but she doesn’t believe practicality should mean sacrificing beauty.

The things she uses regularly are often part of the décor: Wooden boards, ceramics, bowls, jars, utensils and plenty of cookbooks. “If something is going to be out every day, I want to enjoy looking at it.”

The less beautiful necessities, meanwhile, can simply be tucked away.

There is also a walk-in pantry, allowing her to keep the open shelves more personal than purely practical.

And those shelves tell you plenty about the people who live there. Family photographs, artwork and collected pieces sit alongside the cookbooks that are central to Casey’s world.

“I love having cookbooks visible. They make me want to cook.”

A home doesn’t have to be finished

Ask Casey what she loves most about the kitchen and her answer isn’t the colour, the table or even the beautiful details. It is the feeling.

“It sounds slightly sentimental, but I love that the kitchen has become a backdrop to so much of our family life since moving in,” she says. “There are memories attached to the table, the shelves and even little corners of the room. The rooms I love most are the ones where you can see a life happening in them.”

That philosophy also extends to the work she creates through Roasted Rose.

“Creating a life worth savouring, in the everyday moments.” In Casey’s kitchen, it seems, that is exactly what is happening.

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