Mary Berg is a star in the food world. She won MasterChef Canada, hosted Mary’s Kitchen Crush, is the current host of Mary Makes it Easy (CTV LIfe channel and Food Network), and is the author of two cookbooks, Kitchen Party (2019) and Well Seasoned (2021). In early 2020, Kim had the pleasure of helping her find a home. If you’ve watched Mary Makes it Easy, you’ve seen her cooking in this very house!
As we all know, a kitchen sells the house. So, I spoke with Mary about her house hunt generally and what she was looking for in a kitchen. Mary is a Chef and hosts a television series in her home kitchen, so she is uniquely qualified to advise on all things kitchen-related.
Robyn: What were you looking for when you were first house hunting?
Mary: When we were house shopping, we were trying to decide if we wanted to stay in the city or buy a cottage property. I placed a lot of emphasis on the feeling that I would get when I walked into a home. We were looking at houses in the city, and I just wasn’t feeling any of them. Luckily Kim and Sam gently pushed us to look in Mimico, and we’re so glad they did. We got a house right by the water, and we are so happy here. The first time I walked into this house, I felt a very good feeling. I could tell this is a happy house. A happy family has lived here. After seeing a lot of very artsy and modern homes in the city. This house was full of colour! And it was more kitschy, which is right up my alley.
Robyn: Was the kitchen important to you when you were house shopping?
Mary: Yes! I don’t work in an office; I work in my kitchen. So, It needed to be a space where I could spend a considerable amount of time in. The kitchen in our house was a great, functional kitchen for a family. It had a lot of counter space and cupboard space. However, it was one-sided and was more of a utilitarian room than a place to stay for a while. It was also in an old addition to the house, so it felt closed off from the rest of the house. I knew the kitchen wouldn’t work for me, but I could immediately see how to renovate it.
Robyn: How did you renovate it? What advice do you have for aspiring home cooks to remodel their kitchens?
Mary: I get FOMO when we have people over. I don’t want to be shunted into the kitchen while everyone else is having fun in the rest of the house. I love having a big party with everyone standing in the kitchen. Fortunately, my husband works at an engineering firm, so he and his colleagues figured out a way to remove what was originally the exterior wall and open the kitchen up into the dining room. This made a massive difference for us.
But, kitchen renovations are costly. So, even if you don’t want to renovate your whole kitchen, you can make small changes by thinking about how you use your kitchen space. For example, I don’t like large islands. I prefer peninsulas. I like peninsulas because they are connected to the rest of the kitchen, so I’m not making a huge mess on the bare floor as I transfer food and dishes from the island to the other counters. And also, I can leave the sink behind me and not put it in the middle of a kitchen island. Peninsulas work for me! Maybe islands work better for you? It is totally up to how you to work in the kitchen.
Another example is everyone goes bananas for those pot fillers over the stove. They look beautiful, but they just don’t work for me because I always think about how I’ll still need to schlep all that hot water off the stove when I’m finished cooking. But! Maybe they work for you.
My advice is to think about how you personally use a kitchen and design it around those needs. Do you need a lot of storage? Do you prefer to have an open concept kitchen or a more closed-off kitchen? It doesn’t need to be the fanciest, it just has to reflect you.
★ Click here to for our The Ultimate Guide to Home Renovations Toronto
Robyn: Work from home culture means a lot more people are cooking, and they’re not necessarily loving it. What’s your advice to get started in the kitchen in a joyful way?
Mary: First, there’s really no such thing as a mistake in the kitchen. Professionals like me even make mistakes. I made a big mistake the other day. And I learned! “Ok, Mary, that’s not the right ratio. Don’t do that again. It’s not a mistake. Just a learning opportunity” It’s one of the few areas in life where the stakes are pretty low.
Second, Life in general is hard. Life right now is very very difficult. It is humdrum and dreary. The thing about cooking is that you have to do it every day. That’s every day you get to accomplish something on your own. Even if it’s just pouring a bowl of cereal or tossing a quick salad. Or, maybe you want to make something fancy or bake a big chocolate cake. You get to cross something off your list, and I’m a real list checker. It is a fun thing to accomplish. Even I’m having to tell myself that lately. That’s where I cook from. It’s an opportunity to create something that I can have for myself or share. The kitchen should be chiller than it is. Take three breaths and get in there.
Thanks to Mary Berg for spending time with us!
As always, Stay safe
Robyn VanderVennen
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