Majjie's Blog

A larder cupboard is one of the most efficient ways of providing storage in the kitchen. Manufacturers of modular kitchens tend to provide a 500mm wide, tall unit at a standard 570mm depth, but that isn't a very useful size. My favourite size for a larder is 800mm wide but with a depth of just 350 – 400mm. Obviously it won't line up with other standard depth units but – if you can find space for one of these wide, shallow larders in your kitchen – it's a very useful size. You don't lose things at the back of the shelves and, being that bit wider, this type of larder can store a lot of items.

Of course, if you want a sleek modern kitchen – with a bank of tall units – then standard larders are fine – just make sure you have internal drawers in the base of the larder, for easy access (much better than reaching to the back of low shelves).

A bespoke larder is better suited to more traditional styles of kitchen, especially if you don't want your kitchen to look too fitted.  If you can't afford a whole bespoke kitchen, then consider buying a separate larder that doesn't necessarily match the fitted units. If it's bespoke, you can design whatever features you'd like into your larder ... wine racks, wicker baskets, spice racks, drawers, shelves ... whatever. If you want to use it for actually storing perishable food, then a cool shelf made from marble or granite is a good idea (as shown above, in a kitchen I designed, made by Farmhouse Kitchens of Farnsfield).

Larders are particularly useful in older houses with low ceilings. If you put in a row of small wall units, it makes it obvious that the ceiling is low - because they look very short. As long as the proportions of the door panels are right, a larder won't look especially small and it will provide better storage too.

The kitchen above is one of my designs, made by Steve DeVille of DeVille Interiors (he took the photos!). The larder shown is my favourite size and the base unit to the right is the same shallow depth (which fits into the space left by a door on the right hand wall). This design breaks the “rules” of kitchen design – which say that a tall unit should always be at the end of a run – but I think it works well. The larder is fitted almost to the ceiling but, because it's tall and it's only one unit, it doesn't emphasise the low ceiling height. If anything it makes the ceiling seem higher. It works much better than a very short wall unit would have done – and provides more storage.

The larder above is another one of my designs and was also made by Steve DeVille but this kitchen has tall ceilings, not low ones ... and the client didn't like the look of a shallow larder. It is recessed slightly to the base units – but not by much. The wall units are fitted lower than the tall units either end – to avoid that very fitted look that modular kitchens often have – but the fairly plain panels to the doors give the kitchen quite a modern feel. With deeper larders, it makes sense to include more interior fittings ... like the wicker baskets and the spice racks on the doors.

I designed the larder on the right for a very traditional kitchen – with another low ceiling. It's much wider at 1320mm and it is standard depth ... that's because there's a larder fridge fitted into one side.  Fitting an appliance into a traditional looking larder can be a good idea, if you don't want to see a free standing model. The drawers at the bottom give better access to items stored within, than a shelf at full depth would, and having four panels to each of the large doors, ensures that they don't look too overwhelming (it's also a very traditional old English style). This kitchen was made by Farmhouse Kitchens and the very traditional look is complimented by the hand painted finish.

 Can you tell which of the units on the left is the larder?

In this kitchen (designed by me and made by Steve DeVille) there are two built-in fridge-freezers, masquerading as a larder, then there's a smaller larder next door – with the timber finish. Because the larder again needs to be fairly deep, it has internal drawers, in the base, and spice racks on the door at the top (see below). The ceiling is again low and having taller doors at the top of the larder, not only matches the proportions of the fridge-freezers but helps to make the ceiling seem higher. The style of the doors with the twin, side-by-side panels is quite traditional.

Of course, the beauty of having a bespoke larder (and indeed a bespoke kitchen) is that you can have the door panels exactly as you want them. Another of my designs for a DeVille Interiors kitchen – shown below - has two drawers to give better access to items stored in the base of the larder ... teamed with twin panelled doors above. These doors have a small panel at the top and a larger panel below to give a better sense of proportion ... and the larder also has the furniture frames extended as little legs, with little plinth brackets and a contrasting finish for the plinth. The idea is to make this very fitted larder look a bit like a free standing piece of furniture.

My next picture isn't one of my designs at all. It's a picture of a dresser made by Higham Furniture at Southwick (Hampshire). It's a beautiful piece of furniture made in maple and it just goes to show that a bespoke larder needn't look like a larder at all. I think I might call this a “larder dresser”. It makes perfect sense – from a functional point of view - with drawers in the deeper base (for easy access) and more traditional larder shelves in the shallower dresser top. The dresser doors are solid, so that visitors don't see your packets of cereals, Oxo cubes and so on ... and the central open section is actually a wine rack. In appearance, it's a modern version of a traditional dresser ... but, in reality, it's a very practical bespoke larder. Nice design Higham!

That's a pretty good photo too ... don't compare it with the ones above, taken by me (and Steve DeVille)! There are more photos of interesting larders on Higham Furniture's website.

Anyway, hopefully that's given you some ideas, as to what sort of larder you could fit into your kitchen ... and why it might be a good idea. A bespoke kitchen will nearly always have a specially designed larder, if it's large enough ... but do consider stretching to a bespoke larder, even if the rest of your kitchen has standard, modular units.