The one design feature you'd never find in The Block's Scott Cam's house: 'Just nonsense'

When it comes to calling the shots on The Block, Scott Cam may be the master of the house, but there’s one important piece of advice about kitchens he says no one listens to – and the result is “madness.” Year after year, Scott has questioned the decisions by many blockheads to include a butler’s pantry in a kitchen design but is astounded his advice continues to be ignored.

“I don’t believe in butler’s pantries,” he said in a new behind-the-scenes The Block video. “I've been trying to talk them out of butler's pantries for years!"

A butler’s pantry, traditionally known as a scullery, is that adjunct space off the kitchen usually used for food preparation, cleaning up and extra storage.

Scott labels the space “nonsense”, arguing that having a secondary kitchen work area is not only repetitive, but also blocks dinner party hosts away from the main action.

“The old concept of you want to hide the mess or you want to put all your pots and pans away (in the butler’s pantry) - that's just nonsense!” he insists. “The whole process of cooking is the party, isn’t it?

“If you’re holding a dinner party or have friends over, then there you are there - behind in the butler’s pantry … while all your friends are enjoying the kitchen.”

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Cam reveals why kitchens are so important in home design

The award-winning builder who’s been in the trade for 34 years, the Gold Logie winner said the kitchen’s importance to the home design should never be underestimated.

“I love kitchens, I've built a lot of kitchens, I love cooking, I love being in the kitchen and so I really feel as though the kitchen is the most important room in the house.”

However, he believes the addition of a butler’s pantry is not beneficial to the space. In fact, when it came to renovating the kitchen in his Sydney home, the father of three admits he did not even consider including the popular design feature.

“But it's a big, open-plan kitchen. So, when we're cooking, we're all together," he said.

Butler's pantries now 'ubiquitous', judge says

Scott also felt he needed to intervene with last year’s winners Steph and Gian when they initially planned to hide away such key kitchen appliances as a coffee machine in the butler’s pantry.

“So if they had five friends over, then to make coffee they are in the butler’s pantry,” he said. “The coffee machine is a piece of art – it should be out there.”

“It is just madness – the kitchens are quite small but the butler’s pantry is huge.”

The 62-year-old host is not the only one member of The Block team to question the current fascination with the butler’s pantry. Judge Darren Palmer even labelled them “ubiquitous”.

As Darren states in the video: “A functional kitchen - that's the thing that should be doing all the work.”

And yet, the butler’s pantry continues to be high on the kitchen agenda with not only The Block contestants but also in the design decisions by many Australians.

Popular kitchen trend has become 'status symbol', renovator says

Renovator project manager Kate Potter of Sydney’s Renos by Kate told Yahoo Lifestyle the popularity of butler's pantries continues unabated and the feature has even become “a status symbol”.

Kate said: “Having a butler’s pantry is on trend. I spoke to someone recently who's trying to sell a house on Sydney’s northern beaches but is having problems as she’s had feedback that because it doesn't have a butler's pantry, it doesn't tick all the boxes.”

A well-designed butler’s pantry should, Kate advises, be in proportion to the rest of the kitchen and is best as an overflow space. “It’s where rarely used items like big platters or extra glasses should go, or where to put things away in a hurry when you want to tidy up,” she told Yahoo Lifestyle.

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And just like Scott and Darren, Kate also questions why the design feature has become such an essential with many renovators.

“There's a lot of people doing it just because it's on trend, but what they end up doing is just creating a carbon copy of what’s already in the kitchen.

“I’ve also heard from some people they get confused about what area they want to work in and so it’s a bit of nonsense in that way. One well-designed kitchen should be able to do all of that.”

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