‘THE AIM WAS TO MAKE OUR KITCHEN SIMPLE AND LIGHT’ From dark and depressing to open and bright
A compact space has been transformed into a cheerful and inviting room
What were you aiming to achieve? We’d lived in the flat for five years and though the kitchen functioned, it felt depressing and dark. Our first priority was to tackle more urgent work elsewhere in the flat, but when it came to the kitchen, the aim was to open up the space and change the style of cabinetry, which jarred with the flat and felt tired.
How did you choose the new units?
Discouraged by the limited colour choices at some of the bigger suppliers, we found Pluck in Brixton, and immediately liked its simple, clutterfree offering. I told the designers we wanted to rework the L-shape layout and that wall cabinets weren’t an option as they swallow up all the space. The kitchen is accessed from the living room, which has a mahogany parquet floor, so the colour scheme had to work with that as well.
Where did you start?
We wanted to keep the look as easy and bright as possible, hence having just one run of lower cabinets with two plain open shelves at the top. Leaving the window clear also means more natural light is let in than before.
There were some challenges…
Yes, fitting all the basics into such a compact area was the real difficulty. The units had to be custom made as they were smaller than standard and we saved space by hollowing out a wall to build a full-height larder, which helped create storage.
Did you manage to achieve all you wanted? It was initially suggested we could knock through to the living room, but the structural walls made that impossible. In the end though, we love the original sliding door with its reeded glass, and it allows us to separate the two spaces.
What do you like most in the kitchen?
The Ruskin Blossom pink. When I walk into the room, that colour always makes me smile. It’s a much nicer room to be in, both visually and practically, and fits in with the rest of the flat.