Contemporary Kitchen

About The Project

I enjoyed working on this project immensely. It was a real collaboration with my artistic client. We worked closely throughout, and she brought her own passion for materials to the project, especially when it came to colours and textures.

The house is a period property with a modern extension, and the kitchen was an unusual shape. The working kitchen area was within a long and fairly narrow 'L' section which also contains structural oak posts. Along with these and the different floor levels, I had to contend with ceilings of different heights, two chimneys, and vertical and horizontal oak beams throughout, which needed to be incorporated into the design effectively.
In order to work with all these features the kitchen had to be entirely bespoke.

About the Project

I made the decision to block off one side of the chimney space completely, and built an oven into the void. On the opposite side, I kept the wood burner and created a comfortable, quiet snug and sitting area.

Originally, the kitchen cabinets and worktops were tucked behind the vertical oak posts, which created shadows and meant that the posts were causing an obstruction when trying to work in the kitchen. Using bespoke quartz worktops, I designed this section of worktop to be deeper and to effectively wrap around these posts, thus creating more worktop space. In doing this, the vertical oak posts immediately became an integral part of the kitchen itself and a real standout design feature, rather than simply being obstructive posts.

This deeper section of worktop allowed me to install a downdraft extractor. When not in use, this now adds to the sleek and minimalist overall effect, which is something my client had specifically requested. This deeper worktop area meant that I could create a good-sized breakfast bar area on the end, ideally located for socialising but at a safe distance from anyone cooking on the hob. On the other end I designed bespoke open shelves so my client could display her ceramics.

I wanted to use two different work surface materials: solid white quartz for the cooking and eating area, and then full staved solid oak worktops with a white washed effect, along the window wall to add some warmth into the room. I also designed a bespoke oak housing for the free-standing American fridge freezer to tie in with all the oak beams.

My team had to work hard to completely level the floor and then tile it throughout with large porcelain slab tiles, but this really helped unify these three separate spaces. 

My client was keen to incorporate bold 'pops' of colour throughout the kitchen diner space. The main two colours were a teal or turquoise and a contrasting orange. The orange bar stools compliment the fabulous super-sized print in the snug area, and the dining chairs, sofa, and both sets of tiles were all variations of teal. I chose a simple, contemporary light grey gloss and handless kitchen to maximise the effect of all the other colours throughout the space.

A specialist ‘shimmering’ warm terracotta paint was chosen by my client to create a tonal backdrop, along with the contemporary pendant lightings.

Rebecca Coulby