Ashley Green

One of the crucial elements of being a truly bespoke furniture business is that we can say yes to requests that other companies will not usually undertake. For this new kitchen and home renovation project, our clients had an unusual request. As opposed to removing and creating a new kitchen island, they asked us, instead, to refurbish and repaint their existing one. It was a 1.8 metre vintage oval design by furniture company, Chalon, to which they wanted a new worktop added to complement their new kitchen style. They also asked for us to renovate the oval hanging rack and light fitting above it, and to re-paint an existing wine rack, also by Chalon. We duly took the furniture pieces to our cabinet workshop and carefully restored them, whilst making the rest of the new kitchen so that it could all be installed at the same time.

The rest of the new kitchen was designed, made and installed by Simon Taylor Furniture in accordance with our clients’ brief. They wanted an elegant dark wood-drenched kitchen that would complement new herringbone flooring that we also supplied and laid. They requested lots of storage, both overhead and undercounter. We incorporated various drawers at different depths to accommodate all their cooking items, including pans, crockery and cutlery, together with specifically-designed drawer inserts for chopping knives, herbs and spices. The door and drawer fronts are all handmade in Black American Walnut with a cot bead detail throughout. This beautiful timber features a stunning woodgrain when lacquered and polished. A new 60mm thick worktop in American Black Walnut was added to the refurbished island, which was handpainted in Cinder Rose by Farrow & Ball.

This romantic pastel violet colour also follows through to a wall-mounted wine rack that faces the island to the left-hand side. The wine rack is located above the sink run, which has a window at the centre of it in the u-shaped kitchen. There are three base storage drawers next to an integrated 60cm dishwasher by Gaggenau, adjacent to a to-door utility cupboard and a cabinet for pull-out bins. Within the 50mm raised Calacatta Gold quartz worktop is a Kohler single bowl undermount sink with a Quooker Fusion 3-in1 boiling water tap in gold colourway.  To the centre of the u-shape is the surface cooking run, with an antique mirror splashback behind a central 90cm Gaggenau induction hob with a concealed Gaggenau canopy hood installed within walnut cabinetry above it. Flanking the hood are two tall wall-mounted cabinets with fluted glass inserts that have integrated LED lighting to make a feature of them at night.

To the right-hand side is a slim cabinet next to housings for a bank of Gaggenau Vario 400 ovens a 45cm combination microwave above a 60cm pyrolytic oven, with a 14cm warming drawer beneath, and with storage cabinets above and below to accommodate cooking trays and accessories. Adjacent is a tall Vario 400 integrated fridge freezer, also by Gaggenau. 12mm Calacatta Gold splashbacks are featured above the worktop in the corner space. All hammered forged antique brass handles are made bespoke by Ged Kennett and the plinth is finished in brushed brass to complement the accessories in this kitchen. The project also included a matching utility room, with floor-to-ceiling walnut cabinetry and open shelving with a farmhouse sink by Shaws and an antique brass tap by Perrin & Rowe.