Dominic Massarella
KC Design House Ltd
One request from Michelle & Andrew was a raised breakfast bar with integrated lighting, an open niche and bucket seating for four people. I drafted the concept for the breakfast bar in this unique soft triangular shape in my first initial sketching exercise, as I believed that it complimented the space as well as becoming a social space whilst sat, which was important to the client. The island and breakfast bar inform the circulation space as you walk from the snug to other areas of the house.
Working with bespoke furniture is ideal as different budgets require different approaches, and we can specify our cabinetry in different ways dependant on budget. One of the ways we applied this in Andy & Michelle’s project was by using a Woodgrain effect laminate for the cabinet internals. We decided on solid oak dovetailed drawer boxes and inserts throughout in one of our own stains, and we were able to closely match the solid elements with the laminate. For some of the more prominent units, such as the double bifold small appliance garage, and the dresser unit for the bar we used a veneered internal.
Our interior decorative scheme followed this idea of celebrating the traditional style of cabinetry whilst complimenting the build. Solid oak for both the breakfast bar and dining table, as it is a softer material and feels warmer to the touch.
We knew it was imperative that the design needs to create a sense of zoning throughout the room. Breaking down the space into areas such as the snug, dining area, kitchen and bar area and their positioning was essential in order to create harmony in the space. For example, if Andy & Michelle were to host a dinner party, the last thing would want whilst trying to serve up food is a guest coming into the cooking zone to get to the fridge to fill up a glass of wine, this is why we introduced an additional drinks fridge for the bar area. We actually created a pocket in the wall cavity behind the coffee machine to sink the appliance into, in order to lose some of the depth in the wall and keep the depth of the dresser unit as shallow as possible to allow adequate practical work surface in front, without having to increase the depth of the base units below and impede into the room further than necessary.
Given the stage of the build we had advantage of influencing the space which we often do in order to maximise the potential, sometimes little adjustments to a room can make big differences to the final outcome. From the proposed floor plans, we extended the room by around 600mm, this was in order to accommodate the tall run of furniture without any compromises. Over in the bar area, which sits between a portrait window and French doors with windows either side, we initially designed a slightly scaled down version of a bar area we have on display in the showroom, but Andrew was keen to beef this up to the same proportions, so we increased this wall length to accommodate by shifting the window to the right-hand side.
Appliances:
- 2 x Miele Pyrolytic Ovens
- Miele Steam only Oven
- Miele Microwave Oven
- Wolf 762mm fully integrated warming drawer
- Tall Liebherr larder Fridge, Freezer with Ice dispenser and Wine Cooler with stainless steel doors and custom made Louvre grille above.
- Bora Professional 2.0 triple set up, with 2 x Surface Induction hobs and 1 x Tepan Grill.
- 2 x Miele fully integrated Dishwashers
- Miele Coffee Machine
- Quooker Boiling tap with chilled filtered water
- Waste Disposal system
- 2 x 350mm wide Blanco undercounted ‘Silgranit’ sinks
- Washing Machine & Tumble dryer to Utility room.
Project Cost: £79,709.72
