Her previous kitchen was installed by her partner 12 years ago. Kim did have some preconceived ideas before her first visit to our showroom: she wanted a kitchen that was futureproof, ergonomic, built to last, and finally to contain elements of blue and warmth.
When first visiting the property, the client wanted ideas of how to improve the usability of the room, as well as creating what she called “a wow”. My first instinct when designing kitchens is to try to futureproof with eye-level cooking and refrigeration. The initial room layout had an unergonomic slalom of movement from the living room, through the dining room into the kitchen and out of the back door. My first thought was to connect the space better and change the window in the dining room to French doors. This would allow the back door to change to a window allowing a U-shaped kitchen and a better flow of movement in and out of the house. Fortunately, the client agreed with this almost instantly, allowing me to consider the design around the footprint that we had now created. This connectivity allowed me to create a futureproofed area of tall refrigeration, eye-level cooking and larder storage. I could now reposition the hob on the peninsula as there would be no need for someone to walk past the cook towards the back door whilst cooking was in progress.
Once we then dealt with the benefits of induction and how it opens up cooking into the room and not against the wall, and how the Neff slide and hide ovens with telescopic rails allows the oven to be positioned without adjacent worktop, the overall layout had been agreed upon. I had to deal with the unattractive stairwell issue in conjunction with a boiler in the middle of the wall. Instead of blocking the stairwell, I designed this space with some lit open-shelving, married with a wallboard on the opposite side of the room with similar lit shelves, and a conventional sized cabinet around the boiler. This cabinetry was built extra deep so it would still have the task-lighting incorporated into it, but not positioned too low to maintain the worktop as a good preparation area.
The key decision for Kim was with regard to the degree of blue in her kitchen. CAD drawings and our advice with regards to the appeal of large amounts of bold colours in the long term added some insight to this. We later suggested a tone of grey could create a space that was more sustainable and futureproof for Kim, whether she chose to live with the kitchen for the foreseeable future or decided to sell later down the line. During the third week, the Ethereal Noctis Silestone quartz worktops were installed, and in week four the room was decorated and new flooring fitted.
Project cost: £21,495.00