We were commissioned to design and make a bespoke kitchen that would complement the stunning architecture of a 17th Century Grade II Listed Georgian house in Hampshire. As part of a full refurbishment of the property, where the entire downstairs footprint was changed, the kitchen was relocated from a small room at the front of the house to a 52 sq. metre former drawing room at the back of the house. This is inter-connected with a similar-sized reception room and is now a long single space that extends to a formal dining room with a living area beyond. Original windows along the back elevation afford a spectacular view of the client’s garden, with a vista that encompasses the Hampshire countryside.
Our clients, a professional couple with three children, wanted a traditional Shaker kitchen with a major difference. The room was to look less like a standard kitchen and as if the bespoke furniture had always fitted the fabric of the building. However, the kitchen would still have to fulfil all the criteria of modern 21st Century living. Being Grade II Listed, the cabinetry also had to suit the dimensions of the room, which has a very tall 3.71 metre ceiling with existing carved coving and an original plaster rose at the centre.
Our clients also wanted a central kitchen island so that they could use it as a hub for entertaining and as an informal dining area for when the family were eating together without guests. In addition, we were asked to design the furniture for a separate pantry and utility area.
To make the furniture concept work, we designed a classic Shaker kitchen with a run of cabinetry that was set back into the wall by 80mm, with 80mmm curved pilasters on either side, to make it seem as if the furniture had been built in to the original room. All cabinetry features 30mm thick Shaker cock-beaded in frame cabinet door and drawer fronts with a 10mm ogee bead and décor end panels to match. All include walnut carcases, solid walnut dovetail drawer boxes and shelving.
The central cabinet along this run houses an integrated French Door Fridge Freezer by Siemens. It is flanked by mirroring 400mm width tall pull-out larders next to 1300mm width tall cabinets with double pocket doors that open outwards to slide into side recesses. These each feature a curved Shaker panel and curved pediments over a curved cornice. All are painted in Invisible Green No. 56 by the Little Greene Paint Company. The same colour is used as an accent throughout the living space. The kitchen walls are painted in Templeton Pink and the ceiling in All White, both by Farrow & Ball.
The left-hand pocket door cabinet features warm white LED internal lighting and is designed as a tea station. It features a walnut veneered back panel and solid walnut shelving for crockery. This is above a Quooker Cube 4-in1 tap and a 40cm Lincoln undermount white ceramic sink fitted into the worktop. The base cabinetry includes a specially-designed tea drawer and further crockery drawers, all on soft-close runners. The right-hand pocket door cabinet is a breakfast station, also lit by LED’s, with the same walnut back panel with walnut internals that house a built-in Combination Microwave Oven by Miele. This cabinet has two base drawers, one being a pull-out walnut bread board drawer, with further cupboards beneath for food storage. Both feature quartzite worktops in 40mm thickness Pearl Venata with a bullnose edge and this surface is used throughout the kitchen for the worktops, 100mm upstands, shelving and sills.
The main cooking run was built to surround an existing fireplace that was widened to accommodate a 1405mm dark blue Lacanche Classic Chaussin Range Cooker, with a tiled splashback in Amber Arch Terracotta by Otto Tiles. On either side there are reduced depth pull out drawers for oil and spice storage, integrated chopping boards, pull-out tea trays and deep pan drawers. Above the Lacanche sits a mantel fascia with a curved pediment. On either side are double door wall cabinets with reeded glass panels. Attached to the fascia is a Pearl Venata quartzite overmantel shelf that sits atop two brass Mosely shelf support brackets by Armac Martin.
The kitchen island is situated in the room so that the length of the worktop is symmetrical with the central doors of the integrated fridge freezer behind it. It has also been designed to fulfil a range of functions in the kitchen with numerous elements concealed by Shaker cabinetry doors above a 120mm recessed plinth, handpainted in Brinjal No. 222 by Farrow & Ball.
To one side is the task space and wet area with a Shaws of Darwen double Belfast sink that sits on a quartz sill, with a brass mixer tap and matching soap dispenser by Perrin & Rowe. An InSinkerator waste disposal is also incorporated. Behind base cabinetry door fronts are two 60cm integrated dishwashers, a pull-out bin cabinet and a storage cupboard. The other side of the island is an entertaining zone with two further storage cupboards on either side of an integrated undercounter Beer Fridge by Liebherr and an integrated undercounter Wine Conditioning Unit by Dunavox. At one end of the island is a reduced depth two door cabinet which houses the M&E items. This is concealed beneath a 40mm thick walnut breakfast bar, which is adjoined to the worktop by a brass strip. All handles and hinges are in an antique brass finish and are by Beata Human and Corston Architectural.
The 10.1 sq. metre pantry is situated off the hallway opposite the double door entrance to the main kitchen and features the same Shaker bespoke furniture handpainted in India Yellow by Farrow & Ball, with walnut carcases, internals, shelves and solid walnut dovetail drawer boxes, all with antique brass fittings. It includes wicker basket drawers, a broom cupboard and further storage for dry foodstuffs with an integrated 50:50 fridge freezer by Neff. The 60cm White Ceramic Belfast Sink is by Shaws and the aged brass Perrin & Rowe tap mirrors the one featured on the kitchen island. Brassware is by Jim Lawrence.
Designer: Darren TaylorÂ
Photographer: Paul Craig
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Searle & Taylor has been designing and creating beautiful traditional bespoke and contemporary kitchens for clients.
