Handmade Farmhouse Kitchen

The location of this project was a delightful 17th century stone cottage. The client brief was to create a design that reflected the simple vernacular nature of the architecture, in order to look like a part of the original building rather than a recent addition. This was achieved with a simple unpretentious design with oak shelves rather than wall cabinets and incorporating into the kitchen design heavy section English oak timbers that harmonized perfectly with the buildings existing structural timbers. The use of heavy hand forged ironmongery also added to the vernacular period feel of the design. The entire kitchen was handmade, and of coarse this is the only way to authentically pay homage to such a fine period building.

Period buildings often have small windows and consequently suffer from a lack of natural daylight. Although this building had reasonable sized windows, the natural daylight was boosted enormously by incorporating a limestone floor, and by the use of Carrara marble as the worktop. Approximately 60% of all ambient light in a kitchen is reflected light from horizontal surfaces, so it makes sense to keep it light. The light, open and airy feel of the room is due entirely to the pale surfaces and the use of shelves rather than wall cabinets.