Sheena Kaur had been recommended to us by her cousin whom we had done a kitchen for a few years previous.

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She was hesitant at first as she didn’t believe she would get a kitchen equally as dramatic as her cousins for the budget she had in mind. Her husband is a property developer and had been steering her towards Howdens. The project involved a new build extension and so Sheena brought in her plans not expecting it to go further.

Her brief was simple. As a young Asian family they need the kitchen to accommodate several generations in the room at once and needed plenty of worktop space for plating up - possibly up to 14 plates at a time.

The floor space was an L-shaped room with bifolds leading out into the garden, with plans for a dining table in front of the doors.As they weren’t going to have underfloor heating we needed to ensure the space would provide adequate heating in the form of panelled radiators.

Recycling was important so an integrated bin was a necessity, Quartz worktops, Floor to ceiling units - no gaps above units, Most importantly Sheena like the idea of open display areas and copper needed to feature somewhere.

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Appliances

  • gas hob - as it suited her family’s style of cooking
  • integrated washing machine as there would be no utility
  • integrated dishwasher
  • pyro clean oven
  • combi oven microwave
  • ceiling extractor
  • SxS fridge freezer
  • plinth heater & vacumn
  • sink needed to be large enough to accommodate large duchy style pots and wok’s - we installed a 70cm sink
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Colours

Sheena had a strong preference for colour and wasn’t afraid to mix texture, colour & finishes. She knew she wanted at least 2 tones of colour for the cabinetry and a contrast for breakfast bar and end panels.

Her preference was for warm tones which would not look bland but had an element of a Moroccan feel with an urban edge to it. We settled on 3 colours for her cabinetry with a contrast wood finish for breakfast bar & panels.

Sheena also fell in love with an antique chocolate bronze mirrored splashback in our showroom and loved the way it threw reflections back into the room - this was added to the colour palette

Sheena knew with such strong colours the floor and worktop needed to be lightened to provide the backdrop for the kitchen.

We helped Sheena through the complex process of layout, function and aesthetics ensuring the kitchen / diner blended perfectly. Many a time, sharing images of soft furnishings and light fittings via WhatsApp to ensure a cohesive result.

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Issues & resolution

  1. As the room needed a supporting beam this meant a knib would be present in the room - Sheena wanted to conceal this where possible.  We therefore designed a reduced depth section which offered a practical solution for additional storage.  By playing around with heights of units and shelving we came up with an area where keys & letters could be left, phones could be charged and ultimately the client’s male members of the family could check their head dress before leaving the house. (The section in question now has a mirror above the top shelf).  This section needed to feel more like entrance furniture as opposed to a kitchen.
  2. The supporting beam had to be exposed and so we had to redesign the heights of the cabinetry after the technical survey.  This had an impact on ceiling fillers so we built a suspended bulk which ran in line with the exposed RSJ and had spot lights in shining down providing much needed task lighting.
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Cost of Project: £19,687.00

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