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HOMES
Rencraft
This grade 2 listed house is a prime example
of getting the right balance between old and
new. With five bedrooms and a generous
ground floor living arrangement, the 1920’s
house had already doubled in size by the
addition of a very tasteful contemporary
extension that adds to the original property.
The result is a wonderful collection of new
and old styles that complements each other
perfectly. But it took an expert eye and bags
of experience to get the kitchen just right.
John from Rencraft was instrumental to the
new look of the kitchen and living space. He
explains that good communication with his
clients was a starting point. “We worked very
closely with the homeowners in helping to
fulfil their needs and wishes but at the same
time were given a free reign regarding the
design.”
The new kitchen design features an
arrangement of painted base and wall
cupboards around the sink area, a large bank
of tall housings which incorporate two ovens
a steam oven and two warming drawers.
The sink run has Corian worktops, in 40mm
glacier white with corian moulded bowls.
“This central component needed to fulfil the
functional wishes of the client whilst linking
it to the rest of the space.” Says John. “The
solution was to create the S-Shaped Island
which snaked round the room. The end result
created real ‘wow-factor’ and was about
6.5m in diagonal, featuring curves to soften
the corners and lead the eye round.”
The design features a fully integrated fridge
and freezer and bespoke larder cupboard and
was very much a ‘one-off’ totally bespoke
kitchen. The client had very specific ideas
and requirements. As a keen cook, she does
a lot of home baking and so had very detailed
requirements of what the kitchen needed to
fulfil from a functional point of view. She had
also specified the storage needed in order
to store all of her appliances and gadgets
perfectly.
Structurally, there were a few alterations
made to the kitchen/living-space as part
of the renovations and while keeping some
traditional elements, there is a much more
modern feel to the new room. “The whole
space that the kitchen is in is new. It’s a much
more contemporary extension compared
to the original building. Half of the new
extension has a big vaulted ceiling which is
6m tall and there is a conventional flat ceiling
over the kitchen itself.”
“It’s fantastic because there are big modern
glass doors with very minimal frames so the
whole run opens back into one big opening
out onto the patio and beyond. On one side
there is a flower garden with the main lawn on
the other side. The client went to great lengths
to source the doors, the beauty of them being
that they are nearly all glass. There is also a
home vegetable garden in raised beds off to
one side, to tie in with her cooking.”
But as with many contempory spaces,
the room is not devoted to cooking, but
also has separate living spaces, creating a
flexible social space. Adding a few simple
design elements helped to achieve the
effect of combining different moods and
functional spaces within the same room. A
key in creating these spaces was the floor.
“It defines the cooking space and the living
space. The limestone floor in the kitchen
is partly there for practicality in terms of
spillages and drops and it’s much warmer
and nicer to then have the wood in the living
area. After some deliberation it was decided
to have the curve of the floor following the
curve of the island. This works really well as
leads your eye round and mirrors the shape
of the worktop.
“At the end of the island unit as you go
into the dining area of the room we created
a dresser which sits against the wall, it
incorporates two base cupboards with
drawers over and has two wine fridges
between them, on top there are two glazed
cupboards and two open cupboards with
mirrored backs This helped link the two
spaces and tie the whole room together.
“This is the way we like to live our lives
these days with one large social space. It’s
functional for the day to day and at the same
time a very social living area. “
DESIGN OVERVIEW
•
Kitchen units - Rencraft
•
Worktop – Corian through Rencraft
•
Appliances (oven, microwave etc) –
Miele through Rencraft
•
Benchtop – Walnut on dresser unit
and Walnut end grain chopping
board through Rencraft
•
Bar stools - client
•
Joinery - builder
•
Pendant lights - client
•
Other lighting - client
•
Sofa - client
•
Dining tables - client
•
Dining chairs – client
•
Flooring – limestone and stained oak
•
Tapware – perrin & rowe through
rencraft
•
Sinks – corian sinks moulded into
worktop through Rencraft
The approximate cost of the kitchen (or a
similar kitchen) From £70,000
Kitchen Designer.
Preserving the character of a listed building whilst
simultaneously creating a contemporary feel is
always a challenge. However, when the job is done
well, the results are stunning!
