It is reported that after Aino married Janne Sibelius in 1892, she asked her husband about his favourite meals. His answer was: “Champagne and oysters!”
The daily menu at Ainola did not include such luxuries. On weekdays there was often porridge, boiled potatoes and pork gravy. Roast veal and green peas was a common Sunday meal. The meals were planned by Aino Sibelius, but the actual work was done by Helmi Vainikainen.

Sibelius’s activities in the kitchen mainly consisted of mixing the salad dressing for distinguished visitors. On these occasions roast fowl and green salad was served.

After Sibelius’s 80th birthday party in 1945 there was a memorable moment in the kitchen, when the composer in his gala dress paraded in front of the stove, wearing his present from Nokia. Today the company is known for its mobile phones, but then it presented him with its most successful product, rubber boots

During Sibelius’s lifetime water was brought by cart from the wells of Ainola in a large oak barrel, and from there poured into the kitchen tub. Water pipes were not installed until the 1960s. The composer had not wanted the hissing of the water through the pipes to disturb the peace of his home.

The present kitchen of Ainola follows the plan adopted during the repairs in the mid-1920s. The space is dominated by a big wood-burning stove, which is equipped with a baking oven. All the meals were cooked on this. It was also used for baking bread, cakes and Hellu’s [Helmi Vainikainen’s] famous ginger snaps.

The kitchen equipment at Ainola

A waffle iron, which could also be used for grilling, can be seen on the stove. The doughnut pan came into use on May Day in particular. It was used to make “sima” (a traditional, lightly fermented May Day drink prepared at home from lemons, sugar, yeast and raisins). The family at Ainola always kept to this tradition. An apple corer, which Sibelius brought from the United States in 1914, is fixed to the shelf.

Above the stove there is a space which can be closed off: it contains a shelf on which dishes were warmed up or kept warm.

The glass-fronted kitchen cupboard contains pottery by Heidi Blomstedt. The kitchen still contains large milk jugs with the name “Sibelius” engraved on them. They were used for fetching milk from the Wasenius farm. It has been calculated that as much as 250 litres of Wasenius milk was sometimes consumed at Ainola during the course of a month.