Why having two of everything is the new middle class life goal

After years of years of being told that minimalism is the goal, that any self-respecting interior decorator embraces the quiet luxury of space, and that unnecessary possessions – especially the kind that don’t spark joy – are a cardinal design sin, you could be forgiven for thinking that when it comes to modern domesticity, less is more. 

And it is, it still is. Apart from when it comes to ovens, and sinks, and fridges, and washing machines, and Christmas trees, and dishwashers and, increasingly, entire kitchens. In those cases, it seems, the new middle-class rule is “the more, the better”. Ideally, at least two of each. Any fewer and, well, how do you cope? 

Celebrities embrace it; influencers influence it; estate agents prioritise it. It’s the rise of the double life. Thought you had it all? You’re really only halfway there… 

Dishwashers 

A dinner party game-changer, they say. A pure life-hack, the advocates insist. “Anybody who could, should,” say dishwasher salesmen. And people really are buying two dishwashers – according to reports this weekend, sales at some kitchenware companies are up as much as 35 per cent. 

With two, it’s argued, dishes need never pile up on the side, spoiling the ambience of the kitchen with evidence you’ve just eaten a meal. Instead, one appliance can be filled (or emptied) while the other is washing, then they can swap roles, like the perfect tag-team. You needn’t even put dishes back in the cupboard, if you can’t face it.

“It isn’t an extravagance,” Richard Jewkes, managing director of KC Design House in West Yorkshire, said. “It is a practical solution for busy family homes or even couples. We have five children and two dishwashers – this morning, my breakfast pots were going into the second dishwasher because the first one had already started the cycle.”

Open-plan kitchens are partly to blame. If a dinner party is being hosted in the same room as the dishes are washed, everybody can see behind the curtain, spoiling the magic. Despite usually costing somewhere between £500 and £1,000, another dishwasher solves that problem. Jamie Oliver, who understandably uses more dishes than the rest of us, has multiple. For less obvious reasons, Ben Fogle has four. Now, what was once a sign of mega-wealth is trickling down to the middle classes. 

“People mocked me for putting in two dishwashers into our Cambridge kitchen,” read one message on X (formerly Twitter) recently, “but they did not understand the importance of double buffering and decoupling LOAD operations from UNLOAD operations, a hazard that often occurs during multi-course dinners.” 

Exactly, exactly. And so relatable.

Ovens

It wasn’t quite the primary takeaway from the recent documentary series on David Beckham, but it was an unavoidable, gleaming one: that his kitchen, the one he painstakingly cleans every night, looks like it belongs in an upmarket restaurant, rather than a family home. All stainless steel, upmarket appliances and roughly the size of a three-bed semi, it represented the kind of kitchen many aspire to these days. Out with the island and Aga, in with a set-up that could easily cater 60 covers over two sittings, twice a day. 

At the centre of any kitchen is an oven, but at the centre of many these days are two – minimum. Multiple cavities on the same oven is not enough. A microwave will not cover all bases. Air fryers won’t do, either. Instead, it must be a full twin set-up, allowing for elaborate multi-course menus and for two of you to cook and feel in charge at once. Thus, dinner parties become a breeze, and paying the energy bill becomes… less of a breeze, but presumably that’s not of huge concern if having several ovens is a consideration. 

Four years after the late Tory MP James Brokenshire was pilloried for having four ovens, it’s a trend. Beckham undoubtedly has several; Hailey Bieber, the model and wife of Justin, gave fans a tour of her two ovens during a YouTube video last week. Many keen bakers dream of it. So, what’s stopping you? Money? OK, fair enough.

Sinks

Seeing a double sink – two large basins under the same taps – in somebody’s kitchen is relatively commonplace these days. As are “his and hers” bathroom sinks. But now you’re a nobody, an absolute nobody, if you don’t have two entirely separate sinks in your kitchen.

Use them as you see fit. One can be for prep, the other for washing up (assuming your two dishwashers are full). One can be for meat, the other for veg. One can be for hand-washing and drinks preparation, the other for sharp knives and draining the rice. One can be for bathing your miniature Schnauzer in, the other for bathing your miniature father-in-law in. 

It’s really up to you, but since they’re deemed both more convenient and more hygienic, no kitchen designer will argue against a second sink these days. Naturally, Bieber, Beckham, Oliver and Fogle all have multiple. So do Catherine Zeta-Jones, Craig Revel Horwood and Jennifer Lopez. In the world of statement kitchens, it’s sinks or swim. And nobody wants to swim. 

Kitchens 

Slowly accruing two of every kitchen appliance might lead to some having a eureka moment: “If I have two sinks, two dishwashers, two ovens, two washing machines [not uncommon] and feel I need to double everything else, why don’t I just… get a second kitchen?” Many have decided to do just that. 

Back kitchen, prep kitchen, butler’s pantry, Miliband kitchen: they go by many names, but all refer to having one small, fairly shabby, don’t-you-ever-show-anyone-this-one kitchen, and one spacious, carefully curated “show” kitchen that can accommodate nosy dinner party guests and nibbles. 

The food writer and cook Nigel Slater has more than one, principally because his life revolves around cooking, so he divides “work cooking” and personal cooking. His personal kitchen has an installation of 279 pots by Edmund de Waal instead of a dresser. Kim Kardashian also has two kitchens – though that’s perhaps so her private chef can work in one, while she can potter around in the other without having to see him. 

And who can forget Ed Miliband? In 2015, the then Labour leader proved his man-of-the-people credentials by being filmed having a cup of tea with his wife, Justine, in his modest north London kitchen. The problem? It was his second kitchen. And lo, the media threw one of the kitchen sinks at him. 

“Two kitchens Miliband” he was daubed, creatively. Miliband’s friend Jenni Russell leapt to his defence, insisting it was merely a “functional kitchenette... for tea and quick snacks.” This did not help; nor did Miliband’s insistence they actually only use the smaller of the two kitchens. But this, remember, was 2015. How times have changed.