Designing Bespoke Kitchens
There are as many layouts for kitchens as there are clients who ask for them; any one kitchen could be designed in a multitude of different ways. Whether it is a contemporary kitchen, a hand painted traditional kitchen, a simple shaker kitchen or an ornate country house kitchen, each design has to complement the location, the individual and the life they lead.
Plain English has designed bespoke handmade kitchens for every type of property; from town houses to country estates, from Huff houses in the Lake District to beach huts on the East Anglian coast. Our designs vary considerably, so establishing a client’s requirements and “wish list” early on is paramount.
For families with young children, simple shaker style kitchens with minimal detailing on the doors tend to be favoured to allow for easy cleaning and kitchen islands with stools are often appreciated, to give children somewhere to sit and eat snacks or do their school work.
Granite has always been the worktop material of choice for families given its practicality and easiness to clean, however with recent advances in sealant technology, beautiful stone such as York or Belgian Fossil can now be equally considered. Beautiful yet hardwearing worktops like these will prevent any staining or marking from accidental spills or children’s baking sessions.
For those who like to entertain, the use of space and the practicality of the design have to blend seamlessly with the aesthetic element of the kitchen.
Frequent entertaining needs lots of workspace and storage, as well as extra appliances, so housing them can be a challenge. In a large space, appliances can be integrated behind beautifully detailed cupboards, maintaining the look and feel of a ‘room’, rather than that of an industrial kitchen. For a country look, Plain English makes freestanding work tables with slatted bases which are ideal for extra storage and additional preparation areas.
If space is restricted, there are always storage solutions to help increase the useable areas you have. At Plain English, we have designed a ‘Clever Corner’ cupboard that has curved wooden shelves on the door and sliding trays inside, which give access to the deep recesses at the back of the cupboard. From a design perspective, in a smaller room it’s better to keep door detailing, for example mouldings and beadings, to a minimum so as not to over-clutter the space and detract from the kitchen itself; simpler is often better and a simple design will defy passing trends.
Whatever the design and layout you choose, you will only really get out of your kitchen what you invest in it. Quality craftsmanship should be the first concern and at Plain English we are wary of kitchen manufacturers that supply drawers with separate fascias screwed onto the main box; every Plain English kitchen has solid wood drawers that have the front panel fully integrated using traditional dovetail joints.
Bespoke kitchens should last a lifetime and if the design is kept simple and quality materials and joinery techniques are used to make it, there should be no reason to warrant buying a new one. And if you ever fancy a change, a new colour palette and handles will give your kitchen a spruce up, without it costing the earth.
Carina Evison is the author of this article. Carina works for Plain English, a traditional joinery company that specialises in the design of bespoke kitchens, ranging from country house kitchens and shaker style kitchens to contemporary kitchens. Using the time-honoured Georgian techniques of furniture making, their designs are simple and long-lasting, with cupboards handmade and hand-painted in Suffolk from the finest quality materials.
