Just before I moved house, I was contacted by the guys over at Brabantia Life about their new Get Together range of casual dining products. I must admit I was quite surprised to hear this from Brabantia, a company I had so long associated with kitchen bins, and I wasn’t really sure what to expect. So I was naturally quite excited when they asked me if I would like to write a review of the new collection for the blog. The excitement mounted as I waited for my package of goodies to arrive and I have to say that I was really impressed with the sample of products that turned up. So much so, in fact, that I decided that in order to review the products I would really need to try them out in a real life situation and document the experience. So I called up my best friend Helen, who also happens to be a professional photographer (you can check out her portfolio here), and invited her round for an impromptu get together Brabantia style! She helped me style our little photo shoot and took all the photographs, for which I’m really grateful!
We began by unpacking the intriguing little box of goodies to see what domestic delights were inside. Bearing in mind that this was just a small selection of products from the range, there was plenty to get our hands on. From tea towels, napkins, placemats, kitchen towels, oven gloves and aprons, to oven dishes, dinner plates, napkin rings, coasters, pan coasters, candle holders, and tooth pick holders, we certainly had enough here to get a good idea of the what the range has to offer.
One of the first things that struck me is how beautifully packaged all the products are. The boxes that many of the products come in are both sturdy and practical but they also look great. I love the extra details like the little felt shapes and ribbons that are tied to the labels. This is a really nice touch and to me it shows that buying a Brabantia Get Together product is just as much about the experience as it is about the practicalities.
I immediately found myself thinking what nice gifts many of these products would make for friends or family. I for one would be over the moon to receive these products as a gift and to be honest I will probably be adding them to my wedding gift list, that is if I can wait until next year to kit out my kitchen.
Not only is everything really, really beautiful but you can immediately tell that the quality is second to none. The range comes in three contemporary colourways – white, grey and purple – and in a range of gorgeous, tactile materials – porcelain, stainless steel, wood, textiles and silicon – making it easy to ‘mix and match’ the colours and materials so that the Get Together range can be easily coordinated to suit your personal style and taste.
So after Helen and I had enjoyed our lunch it was time for me to get to work on the dessert and actually give the products a test run to see how they fared. Having already been up to my parents’ garden to harvest some fresh rhubarb, I was ready to start on the trusty rhubarb crumble recipe that has become a family favourite.
The first thing I did was don the apron, which again not only looks great, but goes above and beyond on the practicality side of things. One issue I normally have with aprons is that I have quite a short body so the neck strap is usually too long. But this little gem has an adjustable strap so I was able to shorten it making the apron comfortable and ensuring that it properly protected my clothes.
In addition to the normal pockets that most aprons have, this one also has a handy little detachable pocket that is ideal for keeping any utensils close to hand or even your mobile phone come to think of it.
The oven dish is great too and I found that the handles are a really nice curved shape, which makes them far more ergonomic and easier to grasp. The pan coasters come in a pack of three, each in a different colour and a different size. They can be used together or separately and being made from silicon means that they have plenty of grip and are therefore unlikely to slip or slide around like other similar products. The same goes for the regular coasters actually, once they’re in place there’s no shifting them.
What I really like about the dinner plates is the fact that the top surface is a fresh, clean and crisp white, whilst the underneath of the plate is a vibrant shade of purple (or grey). It is subtle little details like this that make the range really stand out for me. It is obvious that this is a quality product range, but it is not at all ostentatious. In fact, for me, this range is more about understated sophistication. All I need to know now is where I can get my hands on the rest of the collection…
And just in case you’re wondering, the rhubarb crumble was delicious!!
All images courtesy of Helen Strong Photography
Disclosure: This post has been written in partnership with Brabantia who provided the product for us to review. However, all the opinions in this review are our own and we stress that we only collaborate with brands and companies that we genuinely like and believe that our readers will like too.