Enamel kitchen ware making a comeback

Tough, durable and wistfully old fashioned Carol O’Callaghan says enamel has staged a stylish comeback.

Enamel is my favourite finish in kitchen wares. It goes back to childhood when I have the vaguest recollection of a kitchen table — which we used as outdoor furniture — having a white enamel top with navy blue trim. It was a happy spot at which my friends and I spent summer afternoons eating jam sandwiches and drinking orange squash while newly-bathed teddy bears hung on the clothes line to dry.

In its hey day, when this table had pride of place in the kitchen, apparently its chilliness was perfect for everything from rolling out pastry to combing nits from hair. They could be spotted easily scarpering across its gleaming whiteness before being crushed by a parental thumbnail with a satisfying crunch on its hard metal surface.