The brief

This family of 5 were doing a big building project which included opening up two rooms to create a spacious eat in kitchen which led onto the lounge.  They do a lot of cooking, baking, and often entertain.  They wanted the room to be a place where they could easily share meal preparation, gather with friends and create happy family memories.

The materials chosen had to stand up to messy teenagers (and sometimes messy parents!).

Storage was very important.  They loved drawers and hoped to avoid wall cabinets.  And they wanted lots of worktop space.

Our approach

The clients opted for a classic U shaped kitchen with a large peninsula providing the perfect work area and a great surface for baking or setting out food when lots of people visited.

The area between the utility room and kitchen was perfect for a wall of pantries.

Space was left for a large table and we built a table which seated 14 and doubled up as a great work, homework, socialising and game playing place.  The white surface bounces light from the window around the room.

The style

Dark wood floors ran throughout the ground floor of the property so a contrasting warm white colour was chosen for the cabinets.   The clients loved the idea of concrete worktops but were concerned about staining so opted for a no maintenance ceramic with a concrete look. Hot pans can go directly from the hob and oven onto the worktop. They chose walnut for the interior of all the tall pieces. Lighting strips set into the cabinet walls come on automatically  when the cabinets are opened and highlight the beautiful wood.  A marble mosaic splashback completed the grey/white theme.

Storage

The row of pantries were built with internal rollout drawers allowing all of the space to be utilised and easily accessed (no getting down on hand and knees to find things lost at the back of the cupboard!).

A large piece was set into the wall between two columns that support the previous external wall.  Just steps from the table it holds all the day-to-day mugs, glassware and dishes allowing the table to be set and drinks to be taken without entering the ‘cooking zone’.

Touch latches were fitted to the doors at the back of the peninsula to provide storage of wine glasses, serving platters and less often used dishes.

Cooking and baking

The bakers in the family love the drawer that holds all the measuring cups , rolling pins and baking utensils.  And the peninsula is perfect for letting trays of freshly cooked biscuits cool.

The clients opted for two self cleaning double Miele ovens and a large induction hob – lots of food can be on the go at once and clean up is easy.

Lighting

A light tray painted to match the cabinets and placed near the ceiling sends indirect lighting around the work area and avoids shadows. A matching box was placed above the kitchen table to support three beautiful glass lights the clients brought home from a trip to Venice.

Utility room

A utility room with washer, dryer, linen cupboard, ironing board, a small chest freezer and lots of extra storage was cleverly disguised with doors that were made to match those of the pantry.

What the client said:

“Our kitchen ticks all the boxes for our family – it works as a cooking space and a place for us and our friends to spend time together. We spend most of our time here and it really is the very heart of our home.”