Have you read ‘The Key Interior Trend for 2020’ by Kate Watson-Smyth, Mad About the House? She predicts 2020 is all about individuality. Being bespoke kitchen makers, you can imagine how we danced on our own kitchen table when we read it!

How you can you bring individuality to your own kitchen design?

Designing a home you’ll love, your own space, a place for family & friends to gather, is one of the finest feelings. When all the details are thought through carefully, your home can offer you a sanctuary, a place to relax & feel happy.

Childhood memories of home

A good place to start is by thinking of wonderful childhood memories of home. We learnt this from our friend & Interior Designer at Studio Cord. For example, if you remember suppers, Christmas dinners & Birthdays sitting around a gorgeously inviting Oak table, you might think about having an elegant bespoke Oak breakfast bar incorporated into your design. Or if you have fond memories of baking with Granny, you might include a special baking drawer for cookie cutters, cup-cake cases & cake tins for the children. What lovely memories have you got from growing up in your family kitchen?

Cabinetry style

Door & drawer styles, framing & mouldings can all be custom made to your preference. Considering the architecture of your property, particularly for Period & Listed homes can help you design the proportions of furniture & choose mouldings which just look right. For example, we’ve worked on a Grade 1 listed home which had originally been furnished by Sir Edwin Lutyens, so in this case the research stage was vital – looking into the history of the home, the detailing, the heritage of the household. With the research in hand, it enables you design & commission one-off cabinetry & joinery to restore your property.

Colour

Colours can be one of the most difficult choices to make as they can look different in a room throughout the day as the sun rises & sets, & also throughout the seasons. Choosing a colour palette may come easily to you, but if not, you may seek inspiration. One of our current clients has been inspired by one of her antique paintings of a coastline where she loves to holiday with her family. She is selecting colours from the painting to bring the feeling of that beautiful place into her kitchen, the nature, the freshness, the love.

Old & New

Mixing old & new is an effortless way to make your space distinctive as it’s unlikely that anyone else will have the ‘old’ pieces. Timeless handmade cabinetry pairs wonderfully with vintage & repurposed furniture, ultimately because they are both well made & built to last by craftsman. Our clients often source antiques to finish off their kitchens – for instance breakfast bar stools with cane backs, perfectly softened leather seats & fine wood framing, as well as traditional dressers, rugs & lighting. Each piece brings with it a story & so adds to the charm.

Worktops

There are so many materials on offer now for worktops. All marbles would of course be completely unique. Similarly, bespoke wood worktops with beautiful grains are all individual. Mixing materials here also helps to customise your space – for example using a quartz around the high traffic areas like the hob & sink, with perhaps wood or marble for the Island.

Some advice we love from Kate Watson-Smyth:

“The trend for individuality that we will see coming through as we continue to explore what makes us happy and what colours we love and stop being afraid to do what we want in our own homes….embrace whatever you fancy and put it together your way. It’s your house and you live there. Dress it to suit your individual style.”

To see more of this custom made kitchen, where our client mixed colours, as well as old & new furniture so beautifully, go to The Wild Wood Kitchen page.