Life Kitchen, a Sunderland-based cookery school created by Ryan Riley was opened last week by TV chef Nigella Lawson.

Fisher & Paykel is partnering Life Kitchen and has donated 20 appliances to the school, including the CoolDrawers and DishDrawer.

Ryan Riley, food writer and stylist opened cookery school in memory of his mother who passed away from small cell lung cancer in 2014. Chemotherapy treatments can affect people’s tastes and appetites; Ryan aims to bring back the flavours and joys of cooking and eating through accessible and creative recipes.

Ryan has hosted multiple pop-up cooking masterclasses at locations across the UK, and now the award-winning non-profit organisation has a new home in the North East. The cookery school is the result of a successful fundraising campaign and support from local and national businesses such as Fisher & Paykel, Sir Robert McAlpine and Ryder architecture.

Creator of Life Kitchen, Ryan Riley said: “I’m absolutely delighted to be working with Fisher & Paykel on the Life Kitchen Cookery School. Their products are intuitive, smart and beautiful and are the beating heart of the cookery school. I look forward to our guests cooking in the coming weeks!”

Helen Haider, Head of Marketing, Fisher & Paykel says: “The kitchen is the humble engine room in which we choose to live – where we create, socialise and enjoy the best that life has to offer. Cooking is a social activity, and even more so in a cookery school.

“Ryder Architects and Ryan have created a wonderful working kitchen and cookery school that looks sleek and modern yet is still warm and inviting with a really accessible set up for patients, carers, friends and families. Ryan’s dedication to getting this cookery school up and running and his creation of tasty recipes for people to cook and eat to boost their health is truly inspirational, we are very happy to be able to support Ryan is this wonderful project.”

The school incorporates clever design to make cooking in the kitchen an effortless task. Fisher & Paykel’s intuitive appliances make the cooking process as easy as possible. CoolDrawers™ are available at each station and can be switched from fridge to pantry mode depending on what’s being cooked that day. Other appliances include large, American-style fridge freezers, ovens and induction hobs.

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