Majjie's Blog

Have a look at these "before" pictures of a kitchen I was asked to re-design in London. It belongs to Richard and Belinda and it proved to be quite a challenge to me. I was delighted to see how colourful it was ... I like clients who are brave with colour ... but the new design kept me pondering for quite a while.

It's a tiny space, roughly 3.1 by 3.5 metres (at floor level), with a table in the middle, the fridge and cooker along one side wall ... a boiler, the washing machine and a sink along the back wall ...

... and a sloping wall on the other side, including a tall sash window with a cill much lower than worktop height. This flat is tucked under the mansard roof of one of those tall, elegant, London town houses.

To add a little bit more interest, there's an angled buttress with a vent, in the back right hand corner.

Like many small kitchens, this one was full of clutter  ... leaving very little free worktop ... because there just wasn't enough storage space to put things away anywhere. (Plus ... Belinda was busy cooking a meal as I was measuring!)

Richard and Belinda wanted a smarter, more modern look with steel appliances, and were already planning a sleek hardwood floor to extend out into the hallway ... but the kitchen layout was more tricky. They needed to keep an eating area in there, since they don't have a separate dining room ...  they wanted a larger range cooker ... and also wanted to add a slimline dishwasher. At the same time, they wanted to respect the architecture of the building and leave the sloping ceiling and low window exposed.

Were they asking the impossible? I don't have time now ... but I'll add the "after" pictures to the gallery in the next couple of days. In the meantime, what would you have done?