The kitchen is the hub of the home where the cooking takes place, but in most recent years in many households, this room has become the centre attraction of the home.
The 18th century was the decade where the kitchen was a very modest space with an open fire and not a lot else. The Range Cooker was invented a little while later, and kitchens suddenly became more of an important space, where it became the running of the home. Today’s kitchens have been turned into an open-plan space that embraces three areas, cooking and prepping of food, somewhere to eat and a place to relax to after.
Kitchen Island
The island became a simple design that was invented for more preparation space for the chef. Since then it has become more of a stylish design and more multi-functional as it serves many needs to the family and home. Today’s islands can now home delicious tasting wine, provide additional storage, house many cooking appliances and work as a seating area. The island can form a divider in an open-plan space between the cooking zone and living/dining area. A kitchen island from The Handmade Kitchen Company can be as multi-functional as you like.
The kitchen island in our Winchmore Hill project is hand-painted in Plummett by Farrow & Ball. It was painted in a darker hue to create a striking statement in the large kitchen space. It is our stunning traditional shaker style with raised and fielded panels on the doors and the drawers are flat fronted. Our bespoke pedestal table sits on one end, reaching out into the open-plan space, circular in shape and completed with plush velvet stools.
Lots of storage runs down either side and is finished in a skirting style plinth. Our client is also a keen chef, so they made sure they chose the ultimate in cooking appliances by Wolf.
‘Kitchen Triangle’
The ‘kitchen triangle’ also known as the ‘working triangle’ was first developed in the 1940s. The three main areas of the kitchen are made up of the sink, refrigerator and hob/cooker working in a streamlined workspace for the three fundamental tasks performed in every kitchen. If you drew lines from each of the appliances they would connect creating a triangle, hence the phrase ‘working/kitchen triangle’.
Our classic shaker kitchen in Epping has a beautiful cock beading to the door of which is a Victorian style. The kitchen cabinets are hand-painted in Cornforth White and are designed in a U-shaped layout to fill every inch of the space. The perfect ‘kitchen triangle’ has been created in this lovely property and is made up of the wet, cold and hot areas. A Sub-Zero built-in with French-style door opening complete the cold area, a Shaws Double Butler Sink and Perrin & Rowe taps complete the wet area, and the 60″ Wolf Fuel Range with Chargrill and Griddle complete the hot area.
Open-plan
The kitchen area has changed dramatically over the years in the way we use it. It has gone from a room to just cooking, to a space where it’s inviting to cook, eat, and gather with friends and family to relax and entertain. An open-plan space can give you a flexible and relaxed feeling that a modern home provides today.
A luxurious open-plan kitchen was designed in this property in Billericay, suitable for busy family life. Magnolia by Little Greene Paint Company was applied to the cabinets and walls for a seamless and integrated finish. It’s our Modern Shaker style which is in-frame with a flat front frame with recessed panel doors. Metallics and wooden elements are bought to life from the neutral hues allowing for the whole room to come together. This space is the kitchen, living and dining area.
Plenty of storage
With a multi-functional kitchen design, there are many storage solutions available to incorporate into the space. Storage is a very important factor to consider, and we will help with the designing of the storage to suit your requirements, whether it be drawers, doors, high-mounted long-term storage, floor-to-ceiling cabinets, corner cupboards or a wonderful pantry.
Open-shelving is another factor to consider when planning your kitchen design, as it makes a striking statement and keeps your cookbook close by. Overhead storage is also a great way of providing a perfect multi-functional kitchen to the home. The dampened hinges ensure smooth operation.
What you see in this Modern Shaker style kitchen is a compact space that has been fully maximised with oodles of storage from floor-to-ceiling. Larders and pantries are becoming hugely popular in the kitchen today with them always being on a kitchen wish list. In this kitchen, we incorporated a day pantry, where our client could store all their kitchen essentials in one place, neat and tidy.
These cabinets in Bishop’s Stortford are hand-painted in Shaded White by Farrow & Ball, with the other side of the kitchen hand-painted in Black Blue, also by Farrow & Ball.
Luxury appliances
We are proud to be premier dealers of Sub-Zero Wolf appliances which are award-winning and world-known. These appliances will certainly create the ultimate cooking experience in your hub of the home, as well as being more multi-functional too. Leading chefs and celebrities choose Sub-Zero Wolf for their robust, industrial feel which delivers fantastic results every time, to similar performance as in a professional kitchen.
Our client in Hadley Wood opted for award-winning appliances from Wolf. We supplied the Wolf M-Series black glass oven in a 762mm width that’s perfect for entertaining family and friends in this large open-plan space. Next to this sits the Wolf Induction Hob that matches the oven perfectly and offers a cooking experience like no other.
The cabinets are our popular Classic Shaker hand-painted in Blackened by Farrow & Ball, a soft white to expand the sense of space.