We thought it might be nice to talk through a few more details from our first project as team Shere Kitchens, a truely bespoke kitchen, made by hand by Andy & Mike at our workshop. We are so grateful that our clients were so encouraging of our design & craftsmanship as it was the start of something so special.
Andy & Mike grew up together in the 1980s, had many adventures (that’s for another post) and followed their own career paths. Fast forward to 2017, Andy & Ella had their own Joinery & Cabinetry workshop & Mike was managining extensions and renovations. Mike was working on a large extension in Guildford and asked Andy if he fancied making the kitchen together…
The brief was to create ‘organised heaven’ combining dry, refrigerated & frozen foods, cutlery, crockery & glassware all together in one user-friendly space. A place for everything was key. They wanted solid English cupboards with a classic, timeless Shaker style kitchen with something extra special.
Our clients, a young family, were extending to make their house a home, & they wanted the clutter of a working kitchen to disappear behind beautiful floor to ceiling doors, leaving an attractive room for living. As well as considering practicality, the cabinetry also needed to be artistically designed and high quality as this kitchen is versatile space being part of an open plan living area for a growing family’s wide-ranging daytime activities. Everything happens in the kitchen living space from food prep, family meals, crafts, working from home, dinner parties, relaxing in the evening with music and a glass of wine.
So we designed ceiling to floor, wall-to-wall cabinetry to maximise the space. Behind the patterned doors the cabinets house a fridge, freezer, larder cupboard with spice racks, wine storage, microwave, space for small appliances such as food processors, hand held blenders, & adjustable shelving for crockery, glasswear and even space for seasonal items like Christmas crockey and special Birthday party pieces.
The inspiration behind the patterned doors is the work of English artist Peter Lowe. The doors are finished with handmade geometric detailing, highlighting our craftsmanship and creating an artistic flourish usually saved for a grand dining or living room. Lowe experimented with Cubism and used simple geometric shapes to create compositions that give a satisfying sense of completeness. We hope our cabinetry design echoes this, it is so personal to our clients, looks so smart and it brings them joy every day.
Kitchens are at the heart of family life, and we believe they should be unique to each home, both in function and expression. Our intent is to be grounded in traditional, strong, woodworking skills, while pushing the boundaries of kitchen cabinetry design, adding originality and personality.
To see more details from our first project, click here The Abinger Kitchen