Are people turning to their kitchens in times of trouble?

As the economic crisis goes on, more people are turning to their kitchen to provide them comfort, according to a counsellor.

In a report on the rise of home baking as a past time, the Irish Independent spoke to an unnamed counsellor who works with families.

The man suggested that people are spending more time in their kitchens because it makes them feel safe.

"In many ways, it's tied in to a kind of nostalgia for old-fashioned family life. Most people remember a time when the kitchen was the heart of the home, and the smell of baking filled the air," the news provider quoted him as saying.

A similar opinion was also recently put forward by writer and doctor Edwin Leap, who called his kitchen a place of "sanity" in his world.

The newspaper also spoke to Jenny Douglas, the manager of a kitchen appliances shop in Dublin. She said she has noticed "a huge rise" in equipment such as sandwich tins, muffin trays and cookie-cutters.