It's an issue that will be familiar to many homeowners: you've found a beautiful period home, but it has a kitchen that simply isn't suited to modern family life. Amelia Thorpe discovers how one couple solved that problem while making sure the new room was in keeping with their house.
A small galley-style kitchen was never going to satisfy the owners of an Arts-and-Crafts home in leafy Kent. Therefore, with their young children in mind, they chose to repurpose a large sitting room into a kitchen-dining-living space suitable for modern family life and relaxed entertaining.
‘The character and impressive size of the room made it well suited to becoming the heart of their family home,’ says deVOL senior designer Helen Robson, who was called upon to create a kitchen designed to make the most of the room’s soaring height, period windows and restored parquet floor.
Cabinetry from deVOL’s The Real Shaker Kitchen collection was chosen for its classic style, which was sympathetic to the age of the property, and its dark Pantry Blue-painted finish adds a touch of contemporary style and plenty of definition in such a large, off-white room.
The range cooker is recessed into the original fireplace, with an extractor concealed in the chimney breast above. Shelves on classic-style brackets, both above the cooker and sink, offer display space for the owners’ collection of vintage finds.
A large island is the main preparation area in the room, with one corner designed as a breakfast bar. For this reason, it’s topped in rustic oak, chosen to provide a surface that is warmer to the touch than the durable Opal Carrara Quartz surface used elsewhere in the kitchen.
More warmth is added by brass details, from cupboard latches to the hanging rail above the cooker, and large vintage factory lights sourced by the owners – try Trainspotters (www.trainspotters.co.uk) or Skinflint (www.skinflintdesign.com) for something similar – that can’t fail to catch the eye.
See www.devolkitchens.co.uk for more information.
The kitchen dresser, and why it’s ‘more important than central heating’
What is a country kitchen without a dresser overflowing with crockery, car keys and keepsakes? Flora Watkins explains all.
Jason Goodwin: ‘There must be a moral here, but I can’t work out what it is’
Our Spectator columnist ponders the highs and lows of picture hanging.
A kitchen that’s a breath of fresh air in a world of homogeneity
Giles Kime takes a look at a new kitchen design that's taken the best elements of Victorian and Edwardian traditions
The new kitchen design mantra: Don’t be afraid of the dark
Dark colours and rich materials are creating moody new looks in kitchens, says Amelia Thorpe.
