Mr and Mrs Wilson 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 the Wilsons 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.
Our 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.
