CLAREMONT KITCHEN DESIGN

This lovely client came to me after consulting with several other designers, she really wanted to open her poky kitchen up to the rear garden. But as this was a post war Bungalow built in the 50’s, where Hills Hoists and garages were ‘out the back’ and gained entrance to through the screen door of the lean to, there was originally a 30 cm brick wall in the way! This had been reduced to a pillar by a previous owner, which dictated the kitchen design and meant the main passage was right through the middle of the kitchen.

My design response to the project involved continuing the existing jarrah floorboards right through to the rear sliding doors to make the rear one flowing open plan space and improve sight lines to the garden. This requires some skill on the part of the floor layers, as 1950’s bungalows had leantos with concrete floors at the back. Considerable preparation to the foundations is involved, usually with the help of a builder. The green concrete floored laundry was where the original boiler would have stood, I designed a cupboard with a power point to replace this, great for charging up the stick vacuum. New tiles and as much cabinetry as we could fit makes this little room welcoming and so valuable to a busy family.

As the Design developed, it was challenging to fit the kitchen, practically and proportionally, between the two doorways of the original home. The final design brings the ‘work triangle’ away from the passage, with just a step to the fridge. I like to have this at the outer ends of the kitchen anyway, because, kids and snacks! Proportion is achieved by balancing the full height cabinetry of the fridge and pantries with a bookcase unit on the far wall.

After our trade day with the cabinet maker and builder and some intensive sessions at the computer, the final drawings were rendered in Encape. This helps to finalise the lighting, as it shows in real time how the kitchen will look during the day.

The rendering showed the kitchen as being quite dark in the morning, owing to it being placed pretty much in the middle of the house. This lead to a larger light fitting being place over the kitchen island. Placing the strip lighting, pendant and downlights on separate switches will allow for just enough lighting to be chosen according to the kitchen’s needs.