DIVINE INSPIRATION
ooking for inspiration for the most important room of their house, the kitchen, Emma and Matt were off to a good start. ‘I already had a clear image in my mind, of the theme, the layout and the colour,’ says Emma. ‘And when I looked at Devol’s website, I was so pleased to find a kitchen that was exactly what we were looking for.’ A visit to the showroom sealed the deal. ‘We loved the style and quality, and we loved the feel,’ she adds, and a range of sample designs and colours were exchanged before the couple placed their order.
Although the kitchen update was the job Emma and Matt were most excited about, there was a lot of preparation to do before they were ready for Devol’s fitters. First the plumbing and electrics were replaced, and the walls were stripped of plaster and lime rendered, to give a breathable finish far more in keeping with the age of the property.
‘We were very lucky that the house had been well cared for, as the previous owner renovated old buildings for a living,’ says Matt. ‘The roof and outside walls were all in excellent condition, but inside the décor was a bit too traditional for our taste.’ They were fortunate too that, while the existing kitchen plan wasn’t ideal, there was sufficient space and no need for an extension to achieve the look they had in mind. ‘We wanted to preserve things where we could, but modernise in areas where it made sense to do that. This was particularly true in the kitchen,’ adds Matt.
The old layout was inefficient and there was very little workspace. Having decided that the cabinets weren’t suitable for updating, Matt and Emma took everything out of the kitchen and prepared to start from scratch. As the couple chipped away at the 1980s floor tiles they realised they had been laid directly on top of the original flooring and had done irreparable damage to the old terracotta tiles. Emma was disappointed not to be able to salvage the originals, but sourced similar handmade replacement tiles, which were laid before the kitchen was fitted.
The couple had also planned to make use of the existing Aga, but it turned out to be beyond repair and a new six-oven replacement was installed.
Devol’s team of fitters could then set to work fitting the new cabinets and marble worktops and Emma was soon able to add the finishing touches that give the room its unique style and character. Salvaged chapel chairs and a church pew reference the property’s former life as the village rectory. A pretty chandelier adds Victorian flavour, along with the fun jelly mould design wallpaper.
Some of these were details that Matt admits he wasn’t convinced about at first. ‘Emma would suggest a particular accessory, and there were times when I wasn’t 100 per cent sure I was with her,’ he says. ‘But once I’d seen it coming together, I could see how well it was all going to work.’
The dining table was a joint decision made after the couple saw and fell in love with some copper worksurfaces in the Devol showroom and thought copper would make an interesting and hardwearing tabletop. ‘We were a bit precious about it when it was new, but it’s designed to develop more of a patina the more we use it,’ says Emma. ‘And now we’re much more relaxed about it and it’s rather a nice thought that every mark adds to its story.
‘We knew from our previous houses that the kitchen works super hard - with the children and all the dogs coming in and out all the time,’ says Emma. ‘We love it to be pretty but it’s also got to work hard.’ Striking the right balance between good looks and practicality is not always easy, but with their traditionally styled rectory kitchen Emma and Matt appear to have got the formula exactly right.