At home with ... Aggie MacKenzie

By Nichola Hunter
Published on Tuesday 17 January 2012 00:00

Aggie MacKenzie insists her home is not a temple to cleanliness, but a functional, warm and welcoming space where she can relax or work on her latest project – a family cookbook

IT IS a little daunting interviewing a presenter from How Clean is Your House? especially when my home accommodates two children under four, two cats, a dog and more than its fair share of dust. But when it comes to her own house, Aggie MacKenzie maintains that “clean enough to be safe and dirty enough to be happy, is how it should be.

Aggie’s abode, which she shares with her student sons Rory and Ewan, is a stylish, four-bedroom Victorian terraced property in Stoke Newington, London, although it wasn’t always picture-perfect. When Aggie and her family moved in, 15 years ago, it was, she says, “A bit of a wreck.” Fortunately, her former husband, Matthew, is an architect and it became his project. “The rear of the property was removed and we didn’t have a back wall for quite some time. There was an old Victorian veranda, which was taken away, and a revolting loo on the side of the house that was so disgusting it had to be locked until we got rid of it. New drains were put in and we had to erect columns to hold up the house. It really was a huge undertaking.”

Today, nobody would ever guess that this was the case. The kitchen looks as though it was put in last week, instead of more than a decade ago. “I think because Matthew is an architect the kitchen is classic. Apart from a lick of paint every couple of years, nothing else has changed. The waste disposal unit isn’t very eco-friendly, but it is 14 years old, and I requested it after seeing my sister’s in New Zealand.

“The kitchen is my favourite place in the world. Sometimes I have dreams that I’ve sold the house and I’m leaving it behind, and then it’s like, ‘Oh my god, how can I reverse this.’ I really love it. I love my wood-burning stove, the stainless steel worktops, everything. In the winter, when it’s really cold, I light the wood-burning stove, bring my laptop through and write at the dining room table instead of using my office.”

The dining table also has its own story to tell. Designed by Matthew after the couple couldn’t find one they liked, it is constructed from a pair of legs bought from Habitat and a top created from white Formica with an oak surround. The Hans Wegner Wishbone chairs were bought with money that Matthew’s mum gave the couple as a house-warming present. “They were so expensive, we could have had a new bathroom with the money – which I did mention. However, Matthew really wanted them and today I’m actually glad we bought them. They are design classics.”

Elsewhere, a classic-contemporary look prevails. Clean lines and a simple colour palette ensure the house is welcoming but not overly fussy, which appeals to Aggie’s tidy nature. “I’m not a clean freak but I am quite tidy, which is difficult with two boys who leave a trail of detritus behind them. That said, the living room is the one room that is nearly always tidy, as regrettably we don’t use it as much as we should. When the boys were little, we decided on leather sofas for practicality. However, once they were grown up I felt the leather was a bit austere so I had it recovered in this purple wool fabric by a local upholsterer, and I’m really pleased with the result. It used to be the room where the boys kept all their musical instruments but when Rory went to college it was only the piano left, so I decided to turn it back into a proper living room.”

The boys may cause occasional mayhem, but they both love cooking and assisted Aggie on her latest project. Although known to many from How Clean is Your House?, Aggie started out at Good Housekeeping magazine, working with cooks such as Nigel Slater and Delia Smith. “My first love is food and cooking, hence my enthusiasm for my kitchen. I’ve come full circle. I’m back to food with Aggie’s Family Cookbook. When I was asked to do the book I thought it would be great as Rory and Ewan are both great cooks, but the publishers told me they needed 100 recipes, which I thought was a lot. But after my first session around the kitchen table with the boys, we came up with 85 right away.”

The book focuses on the practicalities of feeding a family, essential kitchen equipment and, just to keep Aggie’s hand in, the best ways to keep this room clean. “I suppose I am a little more focused on cleaning than most,” she laughs, “but when a photographer comes round to the house I still need to tidy up before they can come in.”

• Aggie’s Family Cookbook is published by Pavilion Books, £20 (www.aggiemackenzie.co.uk)

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