We provided a homely, painted, country kitchen for clients in their large listed country house in Farringdon, near Alton, Hampshire. The kitchen was built around the concept of a central island for food preparation.
It was necessary to remove several walls from the original kitchen area to enable the clients to get the space they needed for their new kitchen. The original terracotta tiled flooring was kept, but we needed to match and patch up where tiles were missing due to the renovation work. At the end of the centre island the AGA was set into a faux chimney reveal. This was made from MDF, but shaped to look like a brickwork chimney. On close inspection one can see that it is hollow and shelves were situated inside the opening. The centre island was fitted with a solid oak worktop.
Pale 30 mm thick, granite worktops were fitted incorporating integral drainer grooves in the sink area with matching upstands. A special feature of this kitchen was designing the worktops to run right into the windows, making the room look bigger. This was preferable to having the existing window sills breaking up the flow lines of the kitchen, as sills are normally higher than the work surfaces. Cast Iron knobs chosen for the cupboards and drawers echoed the dark AGA top and the black antique iron door furniture.
We brought the level of the worktops out along the AGA run to even the flow lines of the kitchen. A full height larder cupboard was constructed with spice racks on the back of the doors and willow vegetable baskets at the bottom.
Cabinet bases were made with ‘face mounted’ plinths. These fascia plinths are shaped and planted onto the front of recessed plinths so toes can fit under when standing at the cabinets. Mixing the old with the new really worked; the well-worn and trodden terracotta tiles were brought back to life by their new surroundings and instantly generated a welcoming, country kitchen, lived in feel.
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