View of the kitchen. The large cast iron wood-and-coal-burning stove dominates the end of the room. In the background to the left is the dark wooden door to a pantry; on the right is the door into the foyer. (Photo by Pamela Tucker).

The kitchen as the hospitality center of the house

Percy and Ella's kitchen is cozy and old-fashioned, with one end dominated by its cast-iron stove. (The latter is superseded for modern everyday use by a microwave oven.) The back door, opening onto a small back porch, was used by Percy and Ella as a shortcut when going into town. A secret stairway leads from the opposite corner of the kitchen to the second floor, where it exits from an anonymous-looking door next to the main staircase, doubtless a reminder of the days when every well-to-do family had servants.

Inez Bull, singer, pianist, and interpreter of Percy Grainger's music, reminisces thus about the kitchen as the hospitality center of the house:

"There was the wood burning stove at the right wall as you entered Ella's kitchen, and a wooden table neatly set near the back door wall. A long wooden counter was always piled high with lots and lots of Swedish goodies--especially the delicate cookies and the knäckebröd (Swedish krisp bread), which rested under the windows by the sink. And on the wall were shelves of cans and boxes of tea, mixed or matched. It really didn't matter whether the tea was English or American--it was there anxiously waiting to be brewed. Somehow, the kitchen invited everyone to sit down and have a "lovely party"... Here, in a country kitchen, guests from around the world gathered, talked, and just munched goodies as they enjoyed themselves immensely." (Inez Bull, 7 Cromwell Place: A Loving Tribute to Percy Grainger, 1989).

The kitchen still welcomes guests

The kitchen is as comfortable a place to eat lunch and talk as it was in the days of Percy and Ella.

Here we see Stewart Manville, archivist and curator, in the kitchen after one of our meetings. Behind Stewart is the door to the back porch (pictured below). Out of sight to the left of the antique sink behind the rocking chair is the secret staircase that goes to the second floor. (Photo by C.A. Sowa.)

Visit the back garden

You can go out through the kitchen to the back porch, and visit the garden from another route.

View of the back porch and kitchen door. Note the small "milk-and-eggs" door to the left of the main door. Percy and Ella used this back door as a shortcut when going into town, and would leave food on its porch for the neighborhood cats. (Photo by Pamela Tucker).

Going from one room to another on the virtual tour

To "move about" from one room to another on our pictorial tour, click on the icons below:

...or return to the beginning of the Grainger house tour by clicking on the "house" icon: