The East Sheen Kitchen & Gin Bar
The Backstory
We recently completed this show stopper of a kitchen for a family in East Sheen, London. Our clients Adam and Karen, bought the house in 2018 pre-kids, the kitchen was 15yrs old and in an L-shape design, “we hated everything about it”. They bought the house to extend and combine a kitchen living room so they knew everything would need to be designed and fitted from scratch.
The clients had done other renovations on a previous property which included designing the kitchen. At that time, their budget was smaller and so they went for a large kitchen supplier.
“The finish and quality was ok but not something that is going to last 10yrs+ in a bigger house and with kids. Our rationale was to think about the overall value of the house and then design a kitchen that was in keeping with what you would expect to pay for a house on our road. The kitchen worked out for us at around 3.5% - 4% of the value of the property, which when you think how important a kitchen is, in real terms its important to strike the right balance of value for money and quality.”
The Design
This open plan, kitchen and living room extension features cabinetry in our Westgate range, a mixture of modern and mid-century modern elements as well as a fantastic gin bar & wine storage. The design includes a long run of wall, bottom and tall units, wrapping around the room into an L-shape, as well as a long kitchen island in the heart of the room. This kitchen includes a lot of fun design aspects and details like the ultra modern square necked Quooker tap, reeded glass cabinetry and open oak shelving under the kitchen island for easy access of serving plates, pots and pans.
“We had a good idea of what we wanted, Luke was very helpful and receptive when designing and had no problems with out constant questions and tweaks. I would recommend doing your research ahead of time and then leaning on the designer to help you make the tweaks that elevate the design to the next level.”
The Wine & Gin Bar
On the tail end of the L-shape cabinetry run, sits the show stoping wine and gin bar. This unit features two reeded glass doors, three glass shelves displaying the clients impressive gin collection with an antiqued mirror back creating a cool depth trick. A thin oak drawer sits under the shelves perfect for cocktail spoons, straws and coasters. Another truly impressive feature of this unit is the 54 (yes you read that correct) wine bottle slots!
The Details: Colours, Hardware, Worktops Etc
For their colour scheme, our clients chose a deep black colour adding depth to the otherwise white space. (We absolutely love the bright orange sofa as well!) Satin chrome handles from Armac Martin were chosen, keeping the look on the modern side, with a knurled edge detail. The beautiful worktops and splashbacks that were carried up to the wall units are a Silestone quartz in the colour Verona; a lightly mottled patterned stone.
“The quartz worktop is a favourite part of the kitchen and also the pantry which hides away appliances and the wine rack / gin bar. Selecting the colour was simple - we chose a dark grey as it’s neutral-ish and matches our bi-fold doors, plus if we ever came to selling the house we have chosen something that goes with many combinations.”
The Pantry
The kitchens double door pantry differs slightly from our usual pantry units with the top and bottom sections appearing as two separate cupboards when closed. Inside, seven oak shelves can be found, providing a plethora of storage space.
What Our Clients Learned Along The Way…
“1.) Research, research, research! Very easy to do this on Instagram and Pinterest.
2.) Have a vision and view (roughly) on what you want, so there is something to work with.
3.) Think about each section of the kitchen and how you think your use it functionally - i.e .we decided not to install a sink or cooker on our 2.4m island as we didn't want washing up stacked on the side or cooking 'splatters' everywhere and we would not look back on that decision at all.
4.) Select the best quality appliances you can afford
5.) Finally, get your type measure out and visualize where everything is going to go”
What Our Clients Said…
“We had a fantastic experience. I follow the company on Pinterest and Instagram and had looked at all the website pictures so had a good sense of what to expect. What we got was better than we could have hoped for. Why bespoke? - so we could get exactly what we wanted and we appreciate the craftmanship.”
-Adam & Karen, East Sheen
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