Our clients came to us once their planning permission had been granted. The proposed space was quite large, and they wanted to get a kitchen, utility, pantry, seating area for everyday dining and also a way of increasing the seating when the whole family came over, plus an easy seating area with TV and lastly a smart drinks/bar area – so quite a lot to fill in the space.

They have a young family and 2 cats and wanted something which is contemporary and comfortable but also needed to be practical for their children and two very inquisitive cats.

We worked with our clients on quite a few different ideas on how to break the space up and after a few options we ended up with a layout which is very functional and also knits the various areas together.

One of the many requests was for a working desk within the scheme and because we didn’t want to create a desking area, we hid the desk underneath the island so it could be pulled out when needed.

They were also very keen on us producing a lighting plan and due to the high ceilings, this was a particular challenge, so adding in a light strip on the walls and bouncing lights off the ceiling avoided any dark spots. To maintain task lighting, which couldn’t be achieved by just putting spots in the ceiling, we added in LED strips to the wall shelving to illuminate all the work surfaces.

The other challenge was the height of the furniture, also due to the high ceiling, which meant that very tall cupboards needed to be reached by a ladder, so we incorporated a rail on both the kitchen units, the drinks cabinet and also the utility and pantry. Meaning that one ladder could be used to reach all the areas. The furniture was intentionally high to maximise storage space.

Contemporary flat doors from our MeThD collection are painted in Cornflower Blue and Light Grey. The central island is in a stained wood grain finish, washed oak, with a 10% sheen.

Photography: Jonathan Bond Photography