This is an Oak Kitchen with American Black Walnut handles that we designed and built in our workshops for a client in Sunninghill. What I think is interesting about this kitchen is the combination of traditional cabinet-making techniques and materials with a modern design.

The doors and drawer fronts are made using crown-cut European Oak veneer that has been “book-matched”. The doors are hung on traditional butt hinges and set into a flat frame. We incorporated a curved section to the island with an end-grain chopping block for vegetable preparation. The handles were made by purchasing some “off the shelf” handles and replacing the centre sections with oak turnings we made specially.

We designed and built a circular table with a curved bench seat. Note how the top of the seat forms the window sill. The raspberry colour of the upholstery is a key part of the overall colour scheme. The lamp above the table was painted to match, as well as the hob back-splash and curved wall next to the oven cabinet.

The kitchen has lots of big drawers to store crockery as well as the normal pots and pans. While these drawers are constructed with traditional dovetail joints they are also are mounted on state of the art soft-close heavy-duty runners.

We are rather proud of this Tambour door cabinet. We spent an inordinate amount of time designing and testing it. The slats are made in American Black Walnut to match the handles. They run in a groove that goes up, over and down the back of the cabinet. The whole thing is counter-balanced with a specialist spring-loaded cable mechanism.

Here is a little video clip showing the Tambour door cabinet in action.

Sometimes inspiration is hard to find. In this case, it was looking at this picture that provided the ‘Eureka moment’ that drove the whole kitchen colour scheme.  As I was talking to the client about colours we looked towards this painting and it became immediately clear that this was what we should work with.

Here is the kitchen that resulted. It was made for Mr & Mrs E in Liss, near Petersfield, Hampshire. You can see the picture in pride of place in the corner by the table (Artist: Veronica Seagren).

The walls are a simple off-white colour which enhances the bright and breezy feel of the place – blues can often feel cold, but in this case we’ve got enough light into the room, so it feels warm and bright.

Their previous kitchen was tiny, so we removed two walls and a door to open up the whole area, and replaced the floor from the hall, right through the kitchen into the back lobby area with an engineered oak floor which was finished with a hard wax oil, which is a natural hard wearing durable finish.

We also extended the length of the window by the table by about eight inches. On face value this seems to be an extremely expensive exercise, but it completely changed the aspect, allowing us to look down through the garden from just about any place in the kitchen and it was well worth the money spent on it.

When we knocked the walls out it was necessary to put a structural beam across the space to support the wall above in the bathroom. Fortunately the ceilings are extremely high in the property, so we were able to put in a suspended ceiling which completely concealed this new beam allowing for a single flat surface to run through the whole space. This is far preferable to having a beam hanging down into the room which would have interrupted the visual flow through the space.

We also changed the back door, formerly a solid door, to one with double-glazed panels. This along with making the window longer allowed much more light to come into the space which makes a huge difference.

We choose to use appliances that were on show. In this case they were stainless steel. There are a stainless steel fridge, oven and dishwasher. This was a deliberate choice, you’ll notice that we use stainless steel knobs and the butt hinges are also in stainless steel, so there is this theme running through the whole job.

The work surfaces either side of the tall cabinets that house the oven and fridge are in solid oak which work with the oak floor, all the other surfaces are 30mm granite.

When it comes to choosing granite, what we do is walk down the suppliers yard, with our colour swatches and materials and a sample of the things we’re using, such as the oak floor and just compare them against the slabs. What normally happens is that something sings to us as we’re walking round. Nine times out of ten it’s a very easy choice to make, as long as we have the materials with us as we’re looking.

We made the table with book-matched oak veneer, and had the cushions made to match the colour of the seating.

Notice the close-up of the dovetail joints, the traditional timber boxes. Our drawers have modern, state of the art runners, set below the box where you can’t see them. These drawers run extremely smoothly and suck themselves shut at the end of the stroke.

Often when trying to decide on a colour scheme, we chose the fabrics before we choose anything else. This is because it’s much easier to match paint to fabrics, rather than the other way around offering you much more choice in the long run.

If you would like to talk to us about your own kitchen, please get in contact and tell us your ideas.

Mr and Mrs Q. wanted to revive the ground floor of their lovely traditional style house near Guildford, Surrey; in particular their ‘L’ shaped room containing their kitchen and the adjoining conservatory. Whereas ‘L’ shapes are probably one of the most popular kitchen designs as far as the layout of the cabinets go, this kitchen‘s ‘L’ shape was formed by the shape of the room, presenting us with a challenge to overcome.

The whole area needed to be re-plastered. French doors which divided the kitchen from the conservatory were removed in order to open up the space and the old flooring was removed and replaced with oak boarding all the way through. A tip to help unify two rooms into one is to lay the flooring lengthways to generate continuous flow lines which draw the eye through from one space into another. More radiators were added and the conservatory was remade with state of the art, high insulation glass. We also completely redesigned the lighting layout. This all helped generate a greater feeling of space.

We utilised the short section of the ‘L’ shape by using this as the main sink area, perfectly located in front of windows and the half glazed back door to the garden, fruit cages and vegetable patch.

A French Farmhouse that is big enough for AGA pans sink was set into the work surface with an elegant, Victorian goose neck swivel mixer tap, fitted with attractive porcelain handles. A sliding willow basket for storing the vegetables was set below the worktop. An American style fridge freezer was suitably located in this area too, a couple of steps from the centre island food preparation area and the larder rack (featured in the main feature photograph).

In order to maximize the use of the space within the tall larder cabinet, we provided racks on the back of the doors.

The angled cabinet by the opening through to the conservatory softens the flow through to the space beyond.

We placed a Centre Island in the main part of the room so that the food prep sink and the food prep areas were adjacent to the tall larder cabinet. The island also housed a dishwasher and electric points for mixers, whisks etc. The worktops were cut from Nero Impala granite, with a honed finish (this is when the polish is removed to give a softer feel and matte look). We allowed extra length for a breakfast bar over hang at one end, with high stools so family and friends could sit and chat to those either at the table or those preparing food.

We situated a knife drawer above a cut out for chopping boards and trays, all handy for the food prep area.

The existing AGA was retained, but the surrounding area was re-modelled and rebuilt to form an arched chimney and over mantle, with a contemporary glass spashback behind it. Concealed LED lighting was fitted around the AGA and above the mantle shelf of the AGA up to the ceiling.

When working with clients who have fixed budgets, we are always able to offer them flexibility, so we bought in a table base and chairs but made a new table top from oak to match the floor.

We made a dresser adjacent to the dining area to house the crockery etc. All cabinets were fitted with stainless steel handles to give a fresh, clean, contemporary lift, which completed the look and fulfilled Mr and Mrs Q’s brief for a timeless, traditional kitchen, with a modern edge.

With World Book Day coming up on March 1st, this blog couldn’t be more timely.  Even with the advent of e-books and their counterpart e-book readers, I can honestly say that nothing beats putting one’s feet up with a steaming cup of tea and a good, old fashioned book, selected from a beautifully crafted, Limed oak bookcase.

I was asked by a Mrs R. from Petersfield if I could come up with ideas which would make more use of her living room space.   We opted for a bookcase which was set into the reveal of the window, incorporating a window seat, so she could sit and read with the light coming in from the window.
Limed oak is enjoying a resurgence  and Mrs R.  wanted to match the cabinet work with some of the other limed oak furniture in the room.

We made a latticework grille  radiator case underneath the window, designed to allow heat to circulate from the radiator behind.

The grille needed to be removable, to allow access to the radiator’s temperature adjustment valve and for bleeding purposes.

We formed woven, latticework from scratch, by cutting oak into strips, weaving it and letting it into the panel.

Notice the cabinets go all the way to the ceiling, with the coving attached and painted afterwards, to make the bookcase appear to be part of the structure of the room.    The same method was used for the skirting board detail.

The shelves are all on adjustable supports comprising small brass pins which fit into small, drilled holes.

This soft-toned, beautifully grained, limed oak bookcase became a wonderfully practical, space saving  solution, which delighted Mrs R. and left her with ample room to display her books and ornaments and even sit with the warm sun on her back and enjoy reading them!

Tweet

Mr and Mrs W. bought a listed barn in Somerset and have done an amazing job in bringing it to life.   They asked us to come up with something out of the ordinary for their kitchen.  Prior to contacting us, they had been presented with several designs, all of them were “a bit obvious”.  This is what we came up with…..

The concept is based on the idea of being surrounded by the working space.  Whilst working in the kitchen, you face into the the living space; this makes food prep a social event.

The curved blue panels were made using Burr Myrtle veneer that had been stained.

The uprights and side panels are in European Oak.  The inside of the cabinets is in American Black Walnut.

The doors are in quarter-cut European figure Oak,  specifically chosen to be “book- matched”.

The inside faces of the cabinets that are not seen from the living room have been left open to allow for easy access to the cooking implements.   Note the curved drawer fronts!

We really enjoyed making the handles on this project. They were made in our workshop  by vacuum forming layers of oak over a mould that we designed and made specifically for this project.

On the left: a detail shot of the tall larder cabinet.  Note the figured Oak panels to the doors! The baskets are for vegetables.   I will post something separately about this piece in a later entry.

On the right:  We have placed an LED lighting strip in a groove in the underside of the granite overhang.  The effect is very subtle in the daytime, but in the evening it provides a wonderful focal point!

Check out the wine storage tubes in the end of the island.  I bet you can’t guess what they are made off?

Tweet

Close up of the end grain chopping block with knife store.

The worktops were formed from Iroko (a teak substitute), used primarily for its oily, waterproof nature.  They were treated with a specialist finish, which offers enough protection to be used as an integral drainer for the sink.  The same Iroko wood was turned to make matching knobs for the cupboards and drawers.

Matt black, stone surfaces were fitted either side of the Aga for hot pans to sit when removed from the heat.  An attractive faux chimney and wooden over mantle was made by the Dovetail team to frame and unify the Aga with the rest of the kitchen.

The client had previously been involved in interior design so she added her own creative ideas for interiors, colours and textures.  She sourced the unusual bone and polished nickel handles on the larder doors from a specialist supplier and the centre lights were purchased from Paris.

Their previous kitchen was in sited within part of the house that was destined to be upgraded, the whole of the back of the house was knocked out and a new extension with vaulted ceilings added.

Tweet

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.
Tweet

If you are a regular viewer of this post you will realise that most of the items we design and blog about are kitchens.   For this particular project however, Mr and Mrs V. near Reigate, Surrey, asked us to design, build and install their bedroom, dressing room and en-suite bathroom.

In this photograph you can’t help but notice the mandolin; it has nothing to do with being serenaded in the bath, however our regular readers will know that it features somewhere in most of our blog posts and has become an instrumental part of the Dovetail blogs (pardon the awful pun)!

The bathroom is of a traditional design with ‘his’ and ‘her’ vanity units.  The clients chose a double-ended, curved bath with marble surround.  Both china sinks are set below the marble and the cabinet handles are stainless steel, which adds a subtle, contemporary twist. The marble, with its distinct, organic pattern blends perfectly with the Oak corner shelving, window and mirror frames.   These framed mirrors above the basins are hinged as they are also doors which cleverly conceal storage cabinets set into the walls of the bathroom.

Note the one-piece, curved plinths, which we have designed with a recessed, toe cut-out, for when standing at the vanity unit (the plinth design was featured in our latest ‘Design Matters’ blog post).

The property has sloping ceilings in the bedroom which presented a challenge when designing the cabinetry, as all angles had to be very precisely calculated, as the clients wanted their fitted wardrobes to go all the way to the ceiling.  Door and drawer proportions are key factors in creating pleasing symmetry within the cabinetry of a room.   Lots of time and thought went into balancing the practical needs of a functional wardrobe with the aesthetic appeal of the space it was being built into.

The Cabinets were made with raised and fielded panels, set with doors hung on brass hinges;  all woodwork was painted with a very specialist paint finish (discussed in my ‘Provencal Kitchen in Rowlands Castle’ blog).   Handles were sourced and bought from Spain.  Some doors were part glazed and fine, silk, pleated drapes hung inside to obscure the interior contents of the wardrobes.

The pale, warm, tones of the colour scheme not only generate an airy, calming feel around the bedroom, through into the dressing room, but create an unimposing and elegant space, with the cabinetry being visually pushed back against the walls.  All the above can be ruined so easily by incorrect proportions, lighting and colour choices;  for instance, dark wood, or dark painted cabinets within this particular project, would have been far too overpowering and imposing.  They would have killed any feeling of space.

The layout of the dressing room echoed that of the bedroom.

Tweet

Having designed and made bespoke cabinetry for the best part of twenty five years, we are often asked by clients if it is possible for us to design curved 0r rounded corners within our cabinetry.   Rounded corners automatically soften the overall look of a project, as the eye can move  from one area to another with uninterrupted ease. Curves are more in keeping with the natural and organic feel of the wood and they remove the sometimes awkward and harsh edges which sharp corners can often present.

Curves, although simple and eye pleasing in form, can be very time consuming and technically difficult to achieve in practice, especially on issues of how we carry plinth lines smoothly around from one face to the next!

The whole process takes a lot of time and work.  Previously,  many components had to be made just to form one corner.  We made turnings which were then cut into quadrants.  Straight horizontal rails also had to be cut and then fitted to each of the quadrants, before mounting them against the curved corner of the cabinetry (as can be seen from the photograph above).

We recently came up with a solution, although still time consuming, enabled the plinth to be made in one, continuous, flowing section.   Formers were made to enable us to shape the wood to fit exactly around the curved corner of the cabinetry.

Several layers of solid wood laminate were cut and then coated with adhesive and laid together.  Before the glue started to ‘go off’ or set, the laminate layers were wrapped around the formers and clamped tightly.  The newly shaped plinth was left to set before being shaped and cleaned up.

This new and exciting method has revolutionised, replaced and simplified our old process.

After being sanded, polished and lacquered in the same finish as the cabinetry, the finished plinth was then fixed to the front rail of the cabinet.  The rest of this kitchen, showing more examples of our curved corners will be featured in a future blog post.

Tweet

Mr and Mrs W. live in a beautiful town house situated near the picturesque, 95 acre Heath in Petersfield, rural Hampshire.   A county which was also home to King Henry III, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, John Everett Millais and Gilbert White, to name but a few.

In order to provide Mr and Mrs W. with the size of kitchen they required, a wall was removed between the original kitchen and the conservatory.   The existing floor was hammered out to level an area for a lovely, pale oak floor, which was laid and then sealed with an oil based finish; this not only generates a warm, organic feel to a kitchen, but also creates a durable, practical and easy to clean kitchen floor.  We made and installed a painted kitchen with stone work surfaces to complete the look.

The functional, soft-toned, raspberry painted Centre Island houses a prep sink, waste bin (with a chute to a bin sited in the cabinet below) dishwasher, compost drawer and integrated chopping boards.

Note the curved corners of the Centre Island.   All four sides were curved at the corners to soften the look along with cabinetry, either side of the tall fridge cabinet.  The electrical sockets were a challenge, as we wanted to keep them the same colour match as the bronze drawer handles.  We did eventually source bronze sockets.

This photograph illustrates how we added the unusual and eye catching detail to the edges of the cabinets along the far wall.  We stepped back the cabinetry in increments between the fridge and window, curving and rounding the cornices all the way  to generate an undulating flow.   A glass spashback behind the hob adds a practical and interesting, contemporary twist.

The stone worktops run into the reveal of the window, making the kitchen seem bigger, lighter and more airy.

A Rayburn was fitted in front of an old, arched opening, which was part of the existing structure of the house.  We set a useful, stone storage shelf behind it.  The tall dresser was situated opposite the dishwasher which was housed in the centre island.   This facilitated the emptying of items from the dishwasher into the dresser cabinets and dresser drawers.  We made some deeper, longer drawers to accommodate larger, heavier items of crockery.  These drawers were fitted with heavy duty runners,  so each drawer could bear 75 kg in weight.

My clients wanted two sinks, a main sink and a prep sink on the centre island.   Both were mounted below the granite stone work surfaces.  The main sink on the left was fitted with a tri-flow tap.   This offers a filtered water option (the actual filter being housed in the cabinet below the sink).  The circular prep sink formed part of the food preparation area and was positioned in front of the fridge and adjacent to the walk in larder.

Trays often present a storage problem in kitchens; they fall over, slide down and collect dust.   We made built in trays which feature and add interest within the cabinetry of this kitchen.   Note the useful, little,  finger pull drawer above.

An example of the cutlery and utensils drawer, with the partitions measured and designed specifically for the items within.  The handles were a traditional bee hive design, fashioned in bronze.

Spice jars can often be a problem to store as they get grubby, collect dust and look unsightly,  so we made a special spice drawer to house Mr and Mrs W’s spices.

Tweet