Chris Snook
Photo of a large classic kitchen/dining room in London with white walls and no fireplace.

View of the whole kitchen. The island is painted in Valspar Merlin and has an oak worktop with an antiqued brass inlay. The stools are also oak. The base cabinetry is painted in Farrow & Ball Ammonite. The splashback behind the Aga cooker is also antiqued brass. The hanging pendant lights are vintage clear glass, chrome and brass. The worktop on the sink run is Nero Asulto Antique Granite. The floating shelves are oak. Charlie O'Beirne

Luxuriously dark cabinetry, light worktops and walls with a spacious feel - this is a cool take on a classical kitchen design. Custom made for a couple with a keen eye for design, who work hard, know how to relax and absolutely adore their pups. Their kitchen renovation was part of a whole house restoration. With busy careers and two pups the brief highlighted two main aims. Firstly, to create space to enjoy the kitchen, for cooking and relaxing. Secondly, to provide customised storage so that everything has a place to help keep the space tidy. The main kitchen area is where the culinary magic happens with space to unwind. The home bar for gin and wine lovers, includes wine racks, antique mirror, glazed shelves for the gin collection and two fridge drawers for wine and mixers. Designed with pocket doors it can be left open to admire the beautiful bottles, or closed – maybe for Dry January?! It’s positioned cleverly next to their outdoor ‘lounge’ area complete with comfortable chairs and an outside rug. The larder cupboard has spice / oil racks, baskets and boxes at the bottom for treats. There are electrical points inside so the coffee machine is plugged in here and ready to serve that morning espresso. Being able to keep the kitchen tidy was important so we created a ‘home for everything’ using drawers within drawers, an Oak baking tray divider, pan drawers with lid holders and integrated chopping board and tray spaces. The ovens, warming drawer, induction hob and downdraft extractor are positioned together with the plenty of prep worktop space. The cooking section is aligned with the washing area including Fisher and Paykel dishwasher drawers, beautifully glossy white ceramic sink and boiling water tap. With a slim Oak shelf above for displaying favourite things. The Island serves as a breakfast bar as well as a sweet spot for a casual supper. There is a Zebrano wood knife block inset into the Island worktop so that their Global knife collection is on hand for food prep by the hob and oven. The table and chairs are painted in the same colour as the cabinets and upholstered in black and white, with bench seating by the window including drawers for dog toys conveniently by the doors to the garden. The second part of the design is the walk-in butler’s style pantry. This area was designed to keep the kitchen ‘clutter’ out of the main area. And it is a brilliant area to stack all the dirty dishes when entertaining as it’s completely out of sight. The cabinetry is an a classic ‘u’ shape and houses the fridge, freezer, cupboards for large appliances, oversized dishes and one for the mop and bucket. The tall cupboards with bi-fold doors are for food storage, and you can see from the photos that everything is beautifully kept – rice, pasta, popcorn, quinoa all in lovely named jars. It’s an organisers dream come true. There is also a sink for washing vegetables and oodles of prep surface. Colour pallet The cabinetry is hand painted in Farrow and Ball ‘Off-Black’. Dark and inky, it just lures you right in, timeless and deeply refined. With the cabinetry being grand in proportion too, with detailed cornicing it creates a really bold statement in this space. It can be daunting to go for a dark shade of black, blue or green, but you can see the drama of the cabinets is perfectly matched with plenty of natural light, the white walls and warm Oak floor tiles. The white patterned Domus ‘Biscuit’ tiles bring texture and playfulness. The worktop, Caesarstone Ocean Foam, is a white quartz with speckles of grey crystals. In a classic polished finish it lets the rest of the room do the ‘singing’ while providing a clean light reflecting practical surface for preparing and enjoying food and drinks. The floor tiles bring the warmth. No two tiles have the same pattern so they really do look like wood, but are better suited to the pups as they don’t scratch and are non-slip. Lighting Design The slim black framed windows with doors onto the garden flood the kitchen with natural light and warmth during the day. But atmospheric lighting into the evening was important too, so we incorporated custom lighting in the glass cabinet, gin cabinet and pantry. “It is so well integrated and was a really important thing for me, along with all the smart lighting in the room, and Mike did a great job with it all.” It was such a pleasure to make this kitchen. They wanted to work with a local company and we feel so lucky they picked us.

Chris Snook
Inspiration for a medium sized scandi l-shaped kitchen/diner in London with a double-bowl sink, flat-panel cabinets, blue cabinets, light hardwood flooring, no island, beige floors, wood worktops, blue splashback and beige worktops.

Anita Fraser
This is an example of a large classic single-wall open plan kitchen in London with grey cabinets, quartz worktops, an island and shaker cabinets.

Bespoke cabinetry has been designed for this kitchen using highly reflective materials bouncing light around the room. The stainless steel worktop incorporates a sink and gas hob, keeping the look minimal with a subtle industrial feel. The cabinet doors and draws were made from Parapan acrylic in a light grey high gloss finish, keeping the entire look, fresh and bright. We supplied bespoke shelving in a walnut veneer finish, providing a great contrast to the bright walls. David Giles

Peter Landers Photography www.peterlanders.net
Inspiration for a medium sized scandi galley open plan kitchen in London with flat-panel cabinets, white cabinets and an island.

Larder cupboard designed by Giles Slater for Figura. A large Pantry cupboard within the wall with generous bi-fold doors revealing marble and oak shelving. A workstation and ample storage area for food and appliances

Design ideas for a medium sized classic galley kitchen/diner in London with a double-bowl sink, glass sheet splashback, stainless steel appliances, an island, white floors, white worktops, shaker cabinets and white cabinets.

This former garment factory in Bethnal Green had previously been used as a commercial office before being converted into a large open plan live/work unit nearly ten years ago. The challenge: how to retain an open plan arrangement whilst creating defined spaces and adding a second bedroom. By opening up the enclosed stairwell and incorporating the vertical circulation into the central atrium, we were able to add space, light and volume to the main living areas. Glazing is used throughout to bring natural light deeper into the floor plan, with obscured glass panels creating privacy for the fully refurbished bathrooms and bedrooms. The glazed atrium visually connects both floors whilst separating public and private spaces. The industrial aesthetic of the original building has been preserved with a bespoke stainless steel kitchen, open metal staircase and exposed steel columns, complemented by the new metal-framed atrium glazing, and poured concrete resin floor. Photographer: Rory Gardiner

(c) Brett Boardman
This is an example of a medium sized contemporary galley open plan kitchen in Sydney with flat-panel cabinets, white cabinets, white appliances, a submerged sink, medium hardwood flooring and an island.

Guillaume Dupuy
Photo of a medium sized contemporary galley kitchen/diner in Paris with a submerged sink, flat-panel cabinets, white cabinets, integrated appliances, medium hardwood flooring and an island.

Roundhouse bespoke kitchen in a mix of Urbo, Metro and Classic ranges in white matt lacguer with composite stone worksurface, Fisher & Paykel appliances and white Aga.

Matt Clayton
Medium sized modern kitchen/dining room in London with white walls.

Medium sized scandinavian single-wall kitchen/diner in Oxfordshire with flat-panel cabinets, white cabinets, wood worktops, light hardwood flooring, a submerged sink, beige floors and beige worktops.

Dion Robeson
This is an example of a medium sized contemporary l-shaped kitchen/diner in Perth with white cabinets, white splashback, stone slab splashback, concrete flooring, an island, a submerged sink, engineered stone countertops and stainless steel appliances.

This is an example of a medium sized scandinavian kitchen/diner in Other with flat-panel cabinets, white cabinets, medium hardwood flooring and a breakfast bar.

Design ideas for a large scandinavian l-shaped open plan kitchen in Sydney with a submerged sink, flat-panel cabinets, white cabinets, engineered stone countertops, white splashback, glass sheet splashback, stainless steel appliances, medium hardwood flooring, an island, white worktops and brown floors.

Medium sized traditional kitchen in Essex with mirror splashback, stainless steel appliances, an island, white worktops, a single-bowl sink, beaded cabinets, beige floors, travertine flooring and white cabinets.