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Hertfordshire Cottage

This kitchen is in a delightful old cottage, full of character. Great to live in; but character kitchens can prove quite difficult ... for the designer ... and for the cabinetmaker and fitter.

The kitchen had obviously evolved from several smaller rooms, resulting in a big, L-shaped pillar in the middle and a lot of low beams (supporting beams, that is, rather than attractive timber ones). And when I say low, I mean low ... the ceiling itself was about 4 inches lower than a standard modern height, to start with. The owners were also planning to add another section to the room by knocking through into a downstairs cloakroom.

Just to add to the ... challenges ... none of the angles of the room were at 90 degrees and there was an existing Aga and Aga Module, in an awkward position, very close to the main window.

The original kitchen units had been hand made but were looking distinctly worse for wear. They had fancy profiles to the door frames and "skirting board" style plinths; very traditional, but with plenty of opportunity for collecting dust and grease. Not only that, but the layout had been designed with a very small working floor area and not much worksurface. Andy and April, the owners of this kitchen have a young family (many congratulations on the new arrival!) and were desperate to have a more pratical arrangement whilst also wanting a really good looking and interesting layout.

With such a wealth of character and history in the room, they wanted another hand made kitchen but one that didn't look too fitted and which wasn't just in a single, uniform finish. We came up with a mix of cream painted and oak units; very plain in style but with the oak stained a rich colour and full of knotty personality. The worktops were mainly in practical, dark (but not plain black) granite, with just a few touches of rich walnut, which is dark enough to contrast with the oak.

I recently went to visit and I'm delighted to say that they seem very pleased with the result.

The kitchen was made and fitted by Steve DeVille of DeVille Interiors.
If you want to see the "before" pictures ... I posted those in one of my blogs.

 

Although the Aga was in an awkward position, April really wanted a mantel surround. Eventually we came up with a shallow design which looked good and yet didn't block the window.
Next to the Aga, is a slim but chunky looking butcher's block, in beautiful dark walnut. Apparently nobody can resist touching it.
At the other end of the butcher's block is a curved unit with a small undermounted ceramic sink and a waste chute, ideal for food preparation.
The main sink and the dishwasher are the other side of the doorway, where the cloakroom used to be. Shallow units with curved corner posts then take the eye around the protruding wall to a seating area.
Units were built around the large L-shaped pillar in the centre of the room - to look a bit like a rather tall island - with square posts this time. The positioning of the plate rack was awkward ... but it looks very welcoming as you walk in the door.
One side of the island is Andy's domain ... it houses the coffee machine and the wine cooler.
A perennial problem in kitchens is the number of doors into and out of them. In this case Andy and April were happy to have one blocked off ... and the gap was neatly filled with a dresser
To free up space around the Aga, the main storage areas were fitted along the back wall ... in what appears to be two large larders
The large cream painted larder is, in fact, hiding two tall fridge-freezers
The slightly smaller, oak larder has a spice rack, on one of the upper doors, and a couple of internal "bread bin" drawers to one side of the base
To the right of the cream larder, balancing the oak larder and leading into the dining room, is an oak desk and display area, which also houses the cookbooks
The other side of the island includes a housekeeper's cupboard ... for storage and to hide the toaster and microwave ... and no ... I didn't say that was April's side!
One of the walls bordering the original cloakroom couldn't be entirely removed but, with a large hole cut into it and a curved walnut seating area (to echo the curved sink unit) added to one side, it blends seamlessly into the new kitchen
The final plan probably gives you a better idea of the overall shape of the room
The windows in the extended kitchen area were altered, after the sketches were completed, but the units here didn't get changed much
The little curved sink unit and the butcher's block were also constant features in the new scheme (and ... yes ... it is really difficult to sketch curved units!)
The mantel area was more difficult and required several revisions. This is the final version.
The most important thing, is that the new kitchen looks great and provides a much more practical working space