Commissioned to create a country-style kitchen with an 'unfitted' feel, Landmark designed a timeless space by incorporating traditional features and adding contemporary trimmings, to make a kitchen that is perfectly suited to busy, modern lifestyles.
When Paula and Richard were planning a new kitchen in their country home, the key criteria were for it to have a 'freestanding' look that would suit the rest of the open-plan room without dominating it, and to be built around a Heritage range cooker that the couple had already chosen to fulfil all of their cooking, hot water and heating needs. What attracted the couple to Landmark was its expertise in designing traditional elements into understated, beautifully designed cabinetry. By treating every cabinet as a piece of furniture in its own right, whilst also marrying the different features throughout the kitchen together as a whole, Landmark was able to create the appearance of a kitchen that has evolved over time rather than being newly manufactured.
The finished result combines practicality with the exact style we were looking for. There are clever features such as the dresser-style cupboards either side of the Heritage oven, lots of recycling and composting bins and really deep pan drawers. The attention to detail was brilliant - we wouldn't have chosen to do anything differently. Two years on the kitchen looks as good as new but feels like it has been part of the house forever.
Paula Bland and Richard Grieve,
Twowatersfoot, Cornwall
Specification
Overview
Landmark approached this project with a simple 'shaker' inspired design, consistent with the uncluttered, eclectic style of the scheme throughout the room. We used carefully sourced materials that complement the exposed green oak ceiling beams and Delabole slate floors.
Key objectives
Working within a space, under quite low ceilings (dictated by planning restrictions) one of Landmark’s main objectives was to retain a sense of openness and make the most of the generous floor plan. One way we managed this was to forego wall units and instead recycle a pair of open shelves and a plate rack from the previous kitchen. Not only well-suited to the design, this was also a solution inline with our environmental ethos - a stance furthered by the re-working, repairing and re-finishing of the existing beech worktops for use in the utility room.
When selecting the worktops flanking the range cooker, Landmark suggested using honed (matt finish) African black granite to tie in with the dark slate floor slabs and the jet-black enamel hotplate on the cooker. A false chimney breast was also built in situ, to conceal the heating and vent pipes leading from the cooker. This also housed an inline extractor and was finished with low voltage down-lights, a simple shelf and corbels. The traditional dresser-style cabinets beside the cooker house extra-deep drawer boxes that glide effortlessly to full extension even when loaded with the heaviest cast iron cookware.
For the utility, Landmark created cabinets to match the kitchen, and it was here we re-used the existing beech worktop and Belfast sink (ideal for cleaning off home-grown produce from the vegetable patch). In this room we also housed large recycling bins and a tall cupboard for brooms, mops and the switchgear for the underfloor heating.
Unique features
- In-frame tulipwood cabinetry, hand painted in Farrow & Ball 'French gray' No.18.
- Sink-run worktops in 30mm Bianco Sardo granite with a small up-stand. The window height was specified by Landmark to allow the granite to run continuously into the sill, which not only looks great but also has the benefit of allowing space around the taps and reflecting light off the polished surface.
- Two ceramic under-mounted sinks by Franke, with an Ionian chrome bridge tap with crosshead handles by Perrin and Rowe.
- A fully integrated Neff dishwasher, with whisper quiet operation at 41 decibels - perfect for open kitchen/dining arrangements.
- All cabinetry is finished off with Pewter knobs and drawer pulls from the Finesse fittings range.
