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Location: UK

Interior Designer: Pippa Paton Design

Photography: Paul Craig

The expansive 1100 sq. ft. kitchen space was almost loft-like in scale, but the existing small island was visually lost, the cabinetry offered inadequate storage and two steel pillars intruded into the space. Sub-dividing two metres at the entrance and altering the dining area access enabled formation of a dark-stained oak-clad walk-in pantry for food storage and coffee-making with crockery & glassware storage cupboards opposite, visually reducing the room’s length.

A seven-metre island (bronze-clad on one side, timber-clad on the other) with oversized industrial hinges and lay-on bronze-wrapped drawers and doors is now the centrepiece of the space. The design allows multiple prep and cooking stations, capacious storage and a breakfast bar seating six. The concrete-coloured Corian worktop continues the industrial aesthetic, incorporating Bora hobs and extractors (wrapping below to mount controls), multiple-use stainless-steel trough (herb storage to champagne-on-ice) and conductive phone-chargers.

Vintage pieces have been placed throughout the kitchen to add interest – wall-hung boxes display vintage collections of glass and tinware and a vintage butchers block, renovated and raised to worktop height on steel legs, sits alongside the wash-down area providing an area close to the sink to store and trim garden vegetables. An inset dark-stained bookcase on the return wall of the aga displays vintage siphons alongside recipe books. A vintage slab of marble brought from the client’s previous home has been inset in the island to provide a proving surface for food prep when required.

A table with banquette seating provides a working area for menu/recipe development and casual dining with a larger dining area adjacent to the kitchen. An Aga provides additional cooking facilities and warms a cupboard with dog bed for two miniature dogs (a bronze open-grill allows closure of door at night).

Drawers for pans, crockery, cutlery, utensils, knives and spices have specially-sized inserts to accommodate clients’ exact requirements such as number of knives, herb jar size and exact dimensions of their weighing scale. Beyond the island a relaxed sitting area with floor-to-ceiling glazing on two sides seamlessly connects kitchen to terraces, with the same large-format concrete-effect porcelain flooring (enhancing space by minimising joints) laid both internally and externally.

Overall, the expansive kitchen with its industrial, loft-like feel has successfully provided a professional-standard kitchen but without the look and feel.