To celebrate winning the Kitchen Design over £100,000 Award at The International Design & Architecture Awards 2017 as well as Kitchen Designer of the Year at the kbbreview Retail and Design Awards 2017, we take a look at the bespoke interior design brief and inspiration for this modern space that mixes old and new.
Our client wanted a home that they could really put their mark on. Specifically, for the kitchen, they wanted to adapt the existing reception room into a large kitchen and dining area to suit their lifestyle yet still allow the space to feel like a room and not specifically like a kitchen. They also wanted to incorporate their love of modern materials like metal, timber and marble into the space whilst still ensuring that it functioned efficiently.
The kitchen is the former reception room and benefits from impressively high ceilings of 3.8m and beautiful ornate cornicing and a ceiling rose, together with a fireplace as the central feature. The natural process for the contemporary kitchen design was to allow for a kitchen banquette seating area in the beautiful bay window. This would maximise the seating space and allow for a stunning oval marble table, which we set against a strong black and white striped fabric for the bespoke bench.
The remainder of the space was designed with a large contemporary kitchen island to accommodate the hobs and downdraft extractors. The sleek modular design of Kitchen Architecture’s Bulthaup B3 range creates a striking contrast against the period features of the room. We wanted the kitchen island to feel like blocks of freestanding furniture rather than fitted joinery. The cabinet doors are a mix of black brown oak veneer on the tall units and graphite laminate base units, with strips of bronze in the handle recesses.
The original cast iron fireplace in the kitchen has been treated to a new bespoke surround in honed Nero Marquina marble, centred on a dramatic feature wall painted in Marston & Langinger’s Graphite Grey. On the opposite wall, we installed a shelf that has been propped with abstract pieces to create an artistic feature above the sink. The sink run worktops and splashbacks are in crisp Carrara marble, while the wall behind is a pale grey, effectively balancing dark and light.
With such high ceilings, the task lighting had to be powerful and fully directional so that light could be targeted on the specific working areas around the sink and hobs. CTO Lighting’s Array pendant was the obvious choice. Its bronze and satin brass metalwork aligns with details on the cabinetry below, while its black cotton shades reference the feature wall and striped kitchen banquette.
We were delighted that our Belsize Park kitchen won the Kitchen Design Over £100,000 Award at The International Design & Architecture Awards 2017. We were also honoured to win Kitchen Designer of the Year – project cost over £50,000 at the kbbreview Retail & Design Awards 2017. To view more about our Belsize Park project and to find out what our client said, view our Portfolio. 
Photography by Richard Waite
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