The Journey of Belling - Brooke Styles
Our home is a century-old highset Queenslander with little blue stained glass windows and weatherboards, inspiring us to name it Bluelle Cottage. Our plan was always to preserve its heritage character while adding our own personality and filling in some of the missing features typical of a house of its age.
Since the kitchen is the heart of our home—the centre of our hosting and cooking—we knew it had to make a statement. We envisioned a bold oven and rangehood right in the centre of the room, drawing your eye from the moment you walk in.
Food is my love language. When selecting an oven, I wanted one that would be the centrepiece for date nights with Jake and for cookbook club with the girls. I needed an appliance I could rely on for family nights every Sunday, whipping up a fresh loaf of bread and homemade relish. An oven that can do it all, looks antique, and has the room and functionality to assist me in hosting—surely that's not too much to ask?
Enter the Belling Richmond Deluxe Range Cooker. A multi-door oven featuring four ovens and a 5-zone induction hob, allowing for the preparation of several dishes at once—music to a host's ears. The thought of having an entrée, sides, main, and dessert ready all at once means I can focus on the little touches that make the hosting experience special for my guests, like a welcome drink!
We’d already fallen in love with the Belling Richmond Colour Boutique range, and when we found out they were releasing a Seafoam Blue that matched our blue stained glass windows, the boxes kept ticking.
With my dream range cooker installed as the statement centrepiece of our kitchen, framed perfectly beneath a custom rangehood, I headed to my local market to prepare for our first-ever dinner party at Bluelle.
Gathering and preparing as much as possible the day before a multi-dish night saves a lot of time and stress when your guests arrive. I believe it enhances the experience by allowing you to pick fresh food straight from the fruit shed.
The morning then becomes a day of pouring love into the plates. My husband and I put on our favourite playlist, write down a timeline for when each dish needs to be prepped, cooked, and ready, and usually work backward from when our guests are expected to arrive. With the keep-warm setting on the Belling cooker, there’s no need to stress if things don’t go exactly according to plan.
We find that a spread on the table, rather than plated dishes, works best for a group and fills the room with a shared experience. For each event, we aim for one meat main, a bread, a dip-based side (always a huge hit), one or two vegetable sides, and a salad before heading into dessert. This is usually enough to feed eight guests.
Our Belling has been a huge hit with visitors; its beautiful blue hue and vintage hardware are great conversation starters. Plus, it makes us look like master chefs when our guests finish their plates and ask for takeaway containers for the leftovers.
The Belling Richmond Deluxe Range Cooker and Deep-Mount rangehood are perfect for us. From functionality to style and colour, you’d think they were made especially for our home. We can’t wait to make so many memories in this kitchen with friends and family in the years to come.
If you'd like to follow along with the rest of my journey, you can follow me here.
