For more than 16 years Daisy Lowe has been at the forefront of the fashion industry and is well known for her commitment to body positivity and promoting a healthy lifestyle. She’s starred in major campaigns for designers including Louis Vuitton and Marc Jacobs, is the author of a well-received cookery book, was a competitor on the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing and is a keen activist on environmental issues. We caught up with her in her gorgeous new kitchen…
Having spent more than a year not visiting other people, it’s a huge joy to drop in on Daisy Lowe. She’s just finished renovating the regency house she’s owned in north London for four years. Having put her heart and soul into the project, her joy that it’s finally finished is palpable. And it was worth all the hard work – the house is exactly as she wants it to be.
Daisy shares it with her boyfriend, Jordan Saul – a property developer she met while out on a walk during the first Covid lockdown – and her dog, Monty.
“Jordan and I met just over a year ago,” she says. “It’s definitely a testament to our relationship that we lasted through various lockdowns, a house renovation and so many other things on top, like living with his parents while the house was being renovated. All those things where you think ‘this is either going to make us or break us’ and we stayed strong.”
Jordan has been instrumental in helping Daisy project-manage the renovation, including all the major works in the deVOL kitchen. It’s a gorgeously elegant and filled with natural light and it’s easy to see that this is where Daisy feels most at home. A mix of dark greens and pinks, with luxe marble worktops and an AGA built into an island, it’s the perfect space for someone who loves cooking.
The kitchen is also the room that’s undergone the biggest transformation. It’s been extended and is the room Daisy spends most time in.
“I absolutely adore it,” Daisy says, “and it’s the heart of the home. I love the English Country feel. Coming home to it is such a joy.”
The cabinetry is painted in Bakehouse Green and Old Rose and all the hardware is in an antique brass finish. The worktops are Arabescato marble from the Worktop Library and the flooring is poured concrete resin. The lights in the kitchen are from Rothschild & Vickers and Soho Home.
One thing Daisy was certain of was that she had to have an AGA. She chose an AGA eR3 160i, which offers the best of all worlds because – as well as the radiant-heat ovens and hotplates the AGA is famous for – it also has a fan oven and induction hob. With fast heat-up times, the hotplates and cast-iron ovens can be turned off when she doesn’t need them and they’ll be up to temperature quickly when sh
e’s ready to cook.
“It’s just the best,” says Daisy. “It makes the best food. There’s nothing else that compares. In my last place I had an AGA, but this one is a whole step up because, as well as having the standard hotplates and three ovens, there’s now the extra warming oven and a fan oven I can control the temperature on. I’m also getting well acquainted with my induction hob. I was a bit scared of it for a while, but I’m now getting the hang of it.
“I love how much of a social hub the kitchen is. I thought it would be special to have the AGA in the island so I can chat to everyone while I’m cooking and I love cooking for the people I love.”
Daisy wrote a cookery book, Sweetness & Light, back in 2014 and says she has plans for something new. “I’ve been working on a couple of cookery things lately,” she says. “It’s been huge fun, but I can’t give the game away too much.”
Her enthusiasm for food is contagious, as can be seen in the Instagram Live she did with AGA during which she made a hearty vegetable stew. She’s a huge fan of AGA roasts too. “I made a really delicious, slow-cooked lamb shoulder where I made lots of little incisions and put rosemary and garlic throughout and then cooked it for five hours.
“Yesterday I made a Victoria sponge, which was really delicious. Last week I was really proud – I made the ultimate gluten-free, pillow-soft chocolate sponge with salted caramel and Swiss meringue chocolate butter cream. It was the hardest graft ever baking, but it was the most delicious thing I’ve ever made by quite a long shot.”
