A Contemporary Oak Kitchen in West Sussex

This contemporary Oak kitchen was designed for clients in Midhurst, West Sussex.   They wanted a modern kitchen, with a timeless quality about it.  At Dovetail we pride ourselves on being able to provide bespoke cabinetwork, that will last for generations, without looking dated.  We chose crown cut European Oak and specified stainless steel appliances such as the large American style fridge freezer and a Mercury Range Cooker.

 

We ‘book-matched’ the grain of the timber on the doors around the entire kitchen.   An example of this can be seen on the doors of these tall cabinets.   This is a procedure whereby we match up all the grain lines of the veneer so they flow from one drawer or one cabinet door to another , whether it be horizontally or vertically.  Even the drawers either side of cooker match each other.

Note the stylish cornicing above the tall storage cabinets which has been run around the contours of the cabinets. The doors are glazed with etched glass; this provides just enough visibility to the whereabouts of the contents inside, but obscures visibility enough so that complete tidiness is not required!

The bottom shelf of the upper part of the cabinet houses a coffee machine.   The doors, once opened, slide back into the cupboard.   These are called ‘pocket doors’.   This prevents the doors from obstructing passage around the kitchen.

 

The centre island work surface, along with the other work surfaces is made from reconstituted stone.   This gives an edgy, minimalist look as there is no organic grain as such, to interrupt and distract the eye.    Its smooth, light coloured surface visually increases the surface area of the worktops and creates an attractive and inviting serenity to the overall look of the kitchen.   These surfaces are beautifully and sympathetically echoed by the pale, limestone floor.  The centre island amongst other things, houses two dishwashers, one at 600mm and a space saving one at 450mm.

 

A circular, stainless steel prep sink was set below the stone work surface in the island to form an important part of the food preparation area, adjacent to the beautiful, steel Mercury range cooker, (part of the AGA Rangemaster group of appliances).   The extractor canopy, along with the built in microwave and other stainless steel appliances further add to the contemporary look of this kitchen.

 

From this picture you can see the detail of the curved corners which actively soften the overall look of the room. It was this kitchen which featured in part of our ‘How We Make Things’, ‘Curved Corners in Your Kitchen’ blog post.  The cabinet doors and drawers were fitted with stainless steel bar handles which co-ordinate with other stainless steel items around the room.  We made a small, solid oak knick-knacks drawer, which features our namesake dovetail joints.

 

A close-up detail of the cabinets curved edges, along with the stainless steel bar handles, and hinges.

 

We designed bench seating, set within the bay window.   An ideal table design for this particular type of seating is a pedestal table, so human legs don’t bang into table legs whilst being seated! The added bonus of bench seating is one can fit more around the table if necessary.    It looks beautifully simple in its design but the top is intricately veneered and laid in quadrant sections, so we were able to create a grain line which runs around table in rather an interesting way.
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