Kitchen ideas, design and inspiration from the world’s best interior designers to spark ideas for anyone updating their own
Table Of Content
Table of Contents
Designing a kitchen can seem a daunting task; there’s so much to consider and so many moving parts to get right. Plus, as the hardest working room in the house, and one of the most permanent and expensive to decorate, getting your kitchen design right the first time is really worth doing. So what are the most important things to consider when designing a kitchen?
Start by working out how you use the kitchen, where you cook, when you cook, if you have space for a kitchen table and how often you shop to sort out how much storage you need and what layout to have. It’s also the most important way to work out where your kitchen lights will go. Think about how often you might want to entertain in the kitchen – including whether you want it set up to do so at all; you may prefer to chivvy guests into a dining or living room and keep the kitchen to yourself as a space where you can cook with more room to breathe.
What are the six types of kitchen layouts?
Of course, few kitchens are the same, but there are six kitchen layouts that nearly all will fall into.
- A single-wall kitchen is when the units run down just one side
- A galley kitchen is a narrow, long space with cabinets and units on either length of the kitchen.
- An L-shaped kitchen is just that, providing two sides of the work surface
- A U-shaped kitchen adds a third length to it.
- An island kitchen can be any of the above (except for a galley) with that all-important island in the middle, often used as a place for the cooker so that the space is more sociable.
- Finally, a peninsula kitchen incorporates an island of sorts, but one that juts out from a length of units and is attached to those.
Our columnist Rita Konig says number one is the kitchen’s layout. “Think hard about how you will move around it. I make sure that the dishwasher and kitchen bin are on either side of the kitchen sink. I like the cutlery drawer to be away from the main action (the stove and the sink) and ideally close to the dining area, so it is easy to access for laying the kitchen table without anyone getting in the way of the cook or the person washing up.
“I also like separating the hob and the oven. My hob is on a stand-alone counter with shelving underneath for the saucepans. I prefer to give an island a different treatment to the rest of the kitchen to save having acres of the same surface – mine is painted a different colour and has stainless-steel kitchen worktops instead of Corian. You might also choose to have a kitchen island higher than your counters to make using it more comfortable.”
Jane Taylor, on the other hand, emphasises the personality of the kitchen. “It is a sense of place and personality that I aim for when designing someone else’s kitchen. I often start the conversation in terms of how a client might like their kitchen to feel, rather than look. I’m very keen on hanging art in kitchens and cookbooks on display warm up a room. They are comforting, a record of one’s life – the restaurants you love, the holidays you enjoyed.” She also considers that the kitchen should be at the heart of the house, in contrast to more old-fashioned domestic set-ups. “In older houses, the kitchen tended to be in the basement, often miles away from rooms thought of as more important. I usually suggest they are moved into the middle of the general living space, so as to be part of the flow of the house.”
How much is a new kitchen?
This is one of the most frequently asked questions about kitchen design, and one of the hardest to answer, as so much is dependent on size and spec. At the very affordable end of the spectrum, a small IKEA kitchen installed by your builder can easily come in at under £10,000. High street merchants like Magnet and Wickes are somewhat more expensive, especially if you use their installation services. Once you start looking at bespoke kitchens, you may be able to do it affordably with a local joiner, but many bespoke companies have a lower spending limit of around £25,000, and this can obviously go much higher for a large kitchen. If you’re after a more affordable renovation, it’s perfectly possible to spruce things up by replacing your kitchen cabinet doors, painting your kitchen cupboards, or installing new kitchen tiles and a new worktop.
Below is an endlessly useful gallery, updated every week by our editors with fresh inspiration and pictures of favourite kitchen ideas from the House & Garden archive, designs executed by some of the world’s most revered decorators and taste-makers. If you can’t find what you’re looking for here take a look at our other features on small kitchens, modern kitchens and find case studies and even shoppable kitchens designed from scratch on our kitchen hub page.
Kitchen ideas from the House & Garden archive
Daniel Schäfer 1/95- In the kitchen of Victoria Krauss and Fernando Alcolea’s Menorcan farmhouse, locally sourced tiles, glassware and ceramics create a colourful and characterful backdrop for the industrial-style iron table, leather chairs and stools bought at UK auctions, and an elegant 19th-century chandelier.
Christopher Horwood 2/95 - The kitchen in interior designer Virginia White’s Hampstead mansion flat is a vision in pink, inspired by traditional Dutch interiors. The cabinets are painted in Edward Bulmer’s ‘Jonquil’ and the chequerboard floor tiles are from Fired Earth.WATCHInside Ben Pentreath’s fully-renovated parsonage nestled in the Dorset countryside
Christopher Horwood 3/95- Shelves display a cheerful mix of pottery and art in Tamsin Saunders’ charming London cottage. Tamsin designed all the joinery to make use of every inch of space.
Christopher Horwood 4/95- I based the wood panelling on a tiny outbuilding at a friend’s house that I just loved,’ Tamsin says, gesturing to the walls.
REBEKAH WESTOVER 5/95- There was no expense spared in creating this couple’s dream country kitchen in Provence, which still retains its original terracotta floor and thick ceiling beams. The kitchen is by DeVol, painted in the brand’s ‘Pantry Blue’. The cooker is by Lacanche, and the light fittings are also DeVol.The antique kitchen table was bought from the house’s previous owners. The off-white walls throughout the house are all painted in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Slipper Satin’.
6/95- The double-height Crittall windows in the kitchen of this Belgravia townhouse set the tone. The marble-topped island is lined with Beata Heuman’s ‘Dodo Egg’ lanterns and Merci Maison’s ‘Ce’cile’ stools, the latter borrowing their 1940s flourishes from Parisian designer Jean Royère
Mark Anthony Fox 7/95- The bespoke kitchen cabinets in this eccentric pair of Georgian follies were painted in Edward Bulmer’s ‘French Blue’. ‘You need a pop of colour to contrast the winter in England,’ reasons Cruz Wyndham. The curtains are made from vintage William Morris curtains found at Petworth House.
Will Slater 8/95- A kitchen, dining space and utility room needed to squeeze into the back portion of this historic Cornish cottage leaving little room for counter space. To address this HÁM designed a prep table-cum-island for the middle of the space. ‘Kate and I envisaged an old dairy table when we started to develop it. It needed to be light enough that you get a sense of the space through and around it but we added a bit of folky detail to the legs, and the brass trim on the top which makes it feel more substantial than it is.’The addition of the prep table made cupboard doors an impossibility, so shelves were set back within a decorative frame and fitted with pinch pleat curtains in ‘Little Stripe’ by Nicholas Herbert.
Dean Hearne 9/95- In designer Meta Coleman’s Utah house, the kitchen scheme epitomises the mix of European ideas that shapes her approach, combining Alpine-style alder cabinets with Portuguese-inspired tiled walls and a blue Gustavian/Biedermeier armoire designed by Meta. A Swedish pine trestle table is teamed with Tyrolean oak chairs and a 1960s pendant light. Rattan bar stools from Maison Louis Drucker, a runner from Tat London and blinds in ‘Drinks’ by Josef Frank (whose ‘Värklockor’ wallpaper is seen in the hall) enhance the eclectic look.
Jake Curtis 10/95- In this smart west London house, interior designer Jessica Summer had the idea of creating a black kitchen, but rather than painting it black, she used ebonised oak for the cabinet fronts. ‘What’s great about the fronts is that unlike painted ones, they don’t chip,’ explains Jessica. The kitchen walls are painted in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Cromarty’. Jessica has contrasted worktops made from Arabescato marble with an island topped in oak.
Christopher Horwood 11/95- It would be hard to find a house more meticulously designed for the needs of its owner than this west London bolt-hole designed by Artichoke for a client who split his time between the USA and London. The client, who had worked his whole life in tech, came to Artichoke founder and creative director Bruce Hodgson with a unique vision for his pied-à-terre, and the team at Artichoke tailored the flat accordingly.Bruce says that the kitchen was inspired by the US East Coast, where the client has a farmhouse – “We wanted to bring a degree of Americana into it for him.” Reeded glass on the cabinets and a planked ceiling add visual interest to the clean, fresh design of the space. Calacatta Oro marble was chosen for its neutral, pared-back colour and pronounced veining which complement the two-tone detail of the painted furniture and Nanz ironmongery.
DEAN HEARNE 12/95- In Holly Howe’s London house, the kitchen features waxed plaster walls and floorboards in ‘Tarragon Glory’ by Dulux, setting off Howe cabinets and a William Tillman Regency-style mahogany dining table, with Ernest Race’s ‘BA3’ chairs.
Chris Horwood 13/95- Yellow kitchens are all the rage at the moment, and this one from a Hampshire cottage decorated by Max Rollitt is a firm favourite. The joinery was designed by Artichoke Ltd and painted in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Sudbury Yellow’.
Ellen Christina Hancock 14/95- This Victorian house in London has been sensitively expanded with a beautiful new extension by Yard Architects, which designer Emma Shone-Sanders of Design & That has stylishly integrated with the rest of the house. Emma decided on an oak-stained kitchen by Roundhouse to knock back any overly contemporary lingerings in the extension. A Calacatta marble worktop and bamboo blinds add texture to the space.
Paul Massey 15/95- In this north London villa by Brandon Schubert, Plain English units in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Deep Reddish Brown’ and dining chairs in Gaston y Daniela’s ‘Peruyes’ are set off by yellow-sprayed Anders Person pendant lights over the island, the teak veneer splashback, walls in Altfield grasscloth and curtains in ‘Isabella’ from Jasper by Michael S Smith.
Dean Hearne 16/95- Leaving London for the Sussex countryside, Anna Phillips and her husband Jeff Kightly transformed this unremarkable Victorian cottage into a characterful family home, painting it in organic, earthy colours and adding texture with salvaged pieces. The kitchen is particularly charming. ‘We used standard Ikea carcasses and then Jeff made all the doors from old scaffold boards,’ explains Anna. Jeff also fashioned offcuts from these into shelves and plate and mug racks, which now play host to ceramics that Anna has collected over the years.
Michael Sinclair 17/95- If you ever find yourself wondering what to do with a kitchen that has 3.7-metre ceilings, the answer, it seems, is to create four finial-topped towers and place them in the corners of the room. These tall cabinets in Martin Brudnizki’s 17th-century Sussex flat disguise the fridge-freezer, the washer and dryer, and lots of storage, and add a sense of drama to a room that also features a veined white marble splashback creeping high up an orange wall. This is set off by a collection of pewter and porcelain plates, among them some once owned by Nancy Lancaster, and balanced by an antique tapestry on the adjacent wall.
Ursula Armstrong 18/95- Jennifer Pelzig, the interior designer behind Parsnip Design, has made clever use of space as she transformed her compact 18th-century house in the country into a beautiful and practical backdrop for family life. The kitchen walls are painted in Atelier Ellis’ ‘Khadi’, a gentle backdrop for the smart deVOL kitchen. A reclaimed teacher’s desk repurposed with a marble top makes for a practical kitchen table, while 1930s bronzed and mirrored wall lights by Strand of London, found at Cooling & Cooling, lend patina to the space. The chairs and artwork above the table were auction finds.
Mark Roper 19/95- In the yellow kitchen of this Georgian house in Islington, a broom cupboard was removed to make space for the sink and open shelving units. Harry’s spent many weekends trawling Kempton Market for practical pieces in this room, such as the kitchen table and black-woven chairs, which took months to find. The yellow kitchen is painted in glossy ‘Babouche’ by Farrow & Ball.
Christopher Horwood 20/95- It was in the kitchen that most of the reorganisation was required in this Wiltshire house refreshed by Robert Kime’s managing director. First, a large partition separating the kitchen and breakfast room was removed to create a more inclusive space. While the new limestone floor was being laid, a well was discovered in front of the Aga and research revealed that there had once been a brewhouse and pigsty here. It was decided the well would be underlit and covered with glass to make an interesting feature. A new kitchen design was devised by Orlando, featuring a central preparation table, and the beams were stripped to lighten the room.
Boz Gagovski 21/95- Stella Weatherall’s Notting Hill townhouse is packed with smart kitchen ideas, with smart and stylish storage solutions like a plate rack and floating shelves.
Christopher Horwood 22/95- Traditional-style cabinets were painted in ‘Dock Blue’ by Little Greene to match an electric Aga from the eR7 series in our editor Hatta Byng’s Yorkshire house. Delft tiles echo those on the chimney breast wall, with open shelves above displaying a collection of ceramics, including pieces by Astier de Villatte and Burleigh. On the right hangs a collaged etching Whippet & Drapery, 2010, by Carolyn Horton.
Christopher Horwood 23/95- This basement kitchen in an 18th-century Huguenot weavers’ house in Spitalfields is just heavenly, with its original flagstones and muted cabinetry. We particularly love the use of tongue and groove panelling as a splashback, which works well with the traditional aesthetic.
Dean Hearne 24/95- Designer Carolina Irving’s house on the Portuguese coast – a small whitewashed fisherman’s house emerging from the Melides rice fields – is designed to fit in with its surroundings. In the rustic kitchen – a clap-board appendage to the house heated only (even in winter) by a corner wood stove – marbleised tiles designed by Carolina create a dazzling splashback.
Boz Gagovski 25/95- We based the kitchen on the sort of details you see in service areas in country houses,” says Benedict Foley of the cleverly-designed flat in Hackney that he shares with Daniel Slowik. It is “simple but well drawn.” The shelving is based on the design of the base and feet of a provincial George III cabinet, the oven and hob was recycled from the previous kitchen as they both work well. The hanging hooks left are from Pinxton, the tole chandelier was once John Fowler’s, and the counter is reclaimed teak from Retrouvius. The counter curtains (and blind) are made of a digital print created by Viola Lanari.
Milo Brown26/95- Working with custom kitchen designers Apron Kitchens, Lonika Chande has crafted a clever little kitchen in this 19th-century Chelsea house – using her trademark flare for colour and pattern. The paint colour is custom by Papers & Paints, and is the “perfect sludgy colour to complement the banquette.” The roman blind is made from Flora Soames’s ‘Plain Stripe in Emerald’.
Dean Hearne 27/95- The kitchen in Daisy Sims-Hilditch’s Notting Hill flat is Neptune’s ‘Suffolk’ design, painted in Edward Bulmer’s ‘Verdigris’ and featuring Beata Heuman’s ‘Bow’ handles. The back wall has floor to ceiling cabinets to maximise space, with a ladder to help reach the top, and open shelving in the middle to give it a greater sense of openness.
Christopher Horwood 28/95- Despite its compact space, this south London flat is both pretty and practical thanks to the imaginative decoration of Carlos Garcia. In the kitchen, the original William Morris ‘Sussex’ rush armchairs and dining chairs are from Miles Griffiths Antiques. Units in ‘Chanterelle’ from Fenwick & Tilbrook are set off by a curtain in Ian Mankin’s small ‘Suffolk Check’, Delft tiles by Douglas Watson Studio and bistro curtains in Aleta’s ‘Iridee’ blue voile.
Christopher Horwood 29/95- The kitchen in this smart Chelsea townhouse is from Blakes London, with ironmongery from Devol. The table in the window is from Robert Kime.
30/95- Bespoke oak cabinets, fronted with raffia bound in resin, are set off by the splashback in Pyrolave volcanic stone in the kitchen of this flat overlooking Kensington Gardens.
Simon Brown 31/95- In a Notting Hill house designed by Studio Vero, three bar stools in leather and dark bronze from Rose Uniacke stand at the custom-made kitchen island. The island narrows towards the French doors, as do the walls of the room. The existing kitchen units were painted in ‘Middle Buff’ by Little Greene which offsets the colours of the Hanley Tube wall tiles by Balineum. The blue and white lino checkerboard floor is from Sinclair Till and the Roman blinds are in Open Sky from Woodnotes. A trio of Lucia Pendant lights by Hector Finch hang over the island.
Dean Hearne 32/95 - Alexandra Tolstoy’s Oxfordshire cottage is entered through the large kitchen, where cabinets designed by Emma Burns occupy one wall, and an antique farmhouse table sits in the middle. Emma Burns of Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler brought in joiner Chris Bell to create units an inch shallower than the existing ones, which helps the kitchen feel larger.
Astrid Templier 33/95- The kitchen is particularly successful in transporting you to the countryside in Pandora Taylor’s Herne Hill house. The coherent rural aesthetic feels “juicy and all-encompassing,” with lush ‘Beech Document Green’ wallpaper from Lewis and Wood bringing the leafy garden inside. This is reflected in the Edward Bulmer ‘Invisible Green’ cabinetry and cottage-y furniture, including the vintage dresser and ceramic wall lamps from The French House. Pandora chose The Cloth Shop’s ‘Washed Linen’ fabric for the curtains, which adds a tactile finish and creates a cocooning warmth in the evening. She converted a 1950s fireplace cover into a hood, which – along with the vintage chairs and bespoke Pandora Taylor table – creates a Victorian ‘scullery’ look.
Chris Horwood 34/95- The kitchen is perhaps the most striking part of this 18th-century workers’ cottage in historic Greenwich by Anna Rhodes. A brilliant blend of contemporary colours and traditional shapes. The worktop is reclaimed iroko and the floor is a limestone from Floors of Stone. ‘A shaker-style kitchen just seemed to be the most appropriate for the history of the building,’ says Anna, who commissioned The Shaker Workshop. In the corner of the kitchen, Anna has created extra seating and storage with a built-in bench. The bench cushions are upholstered in a simple ticking fabric from The Cloth Shop.
Michael Sinclair 35/95- Begun in 2019 and completed to budget in 2021 – and to Passivhaus standards (it even exports surplus energy in the summer) – this clever, energy-efficient newbuild rises from fields at the foot of the Mendips in Somerset. The kitchen is strikingly contemporary without being cold or stark. Designed around a stainless-steel sink found on Ebay by the house’s owner, Orlando, the birch-ply units by CM Pretlove Cabinet Maker are finished with stainless-steel worktops.
Michael Sinclair 36/95- In Catherine Chicester’s Cotswold kitchen, the colour on the walls and cabinetry is a mix of four shades from paint specialists Relics of Witney, which collaborated with Catherine on the grey used for the door and window frame. A Rosi de Ruig lampshade echoes the veined worktop from Middlesex Marble.
Mark Anthony Fox 37/95- Patrick Williams of Berdoulat was commissioned to plan the kitchen in this Bath project by Anna Haines and has used many pieces that he designed, including the plate rack and a stand for the sink, plus a drawer unit in ‘Berdoulat Green’ – a paint colour he created with Farrow & Ball. The antique housekeeper’s cupboard was sourced from Adam Lloyd Interiors.
Salva Lopez 38/95- With existing chequerboard tiles, pale painted units and marble worktops, the kitchen in this Art Nouveau flat overlooking Barcelona has a charming rustic feel. The straw bag is used for shopping at local markets.
Michael Sinclair 39/95- The original checkerboard terracotta floor at textile designer Natasha James’ Yorkshire house is absolutely beautiful, and said to have been inspired by Monet’s kitchen at Giverny. Plain English cabinets and preparation table in ‘Pale Powder’ and ‘Hague Blue’, both Farrow & Ball, set it off perfectly . The blind in Natasha’s ‘Pushkar’ linen for Tasha Textiles is complemented by a trio of Scottish spongeware plates on the wall. On the mantelshelf, Claudia Rankin plates are displayed with Katrin Moye cups. A watercolour of apples by Emma Tennant hangs below them.
Mark Anthony Fox 40/95- The cabinetry in this Herefordshire kitchen was made by a local joiner to owner Phoebe Clive’s design. It has an Eastern-European-style pediment and is painted in ‘Invisible Green’ from Edward Bulmer. The sink curtain is in an Indian block-print cotton sold at Tinsmiths, the shop owned by Phoebe.
41/95- The kitchen in this London apartment refreshed by Laura Stephens needed to feel distinct from the other living spaces, so Laura placed a bold blue lamp on the island as a ‘punctuation mark’ between the areas. The lampshade is bespoke with a Samuel and Sons bobble trim. The island was made bespoke to Laura’s design, with ‘Gustavian inspired diamond motifs’ that echo the bedroom wallpaper.
Dean Hearne 42/95- The kitchen units in this house by Field Day Studio in Putney were a bespoke design, with handles from Brascote & Co. The island was found at Pintor and customised with an extra shelf. The kitchen, formerly a squat and gloomy space, was opened up with a raised ceiling and a glazed wall to allow light to come in from the utility room. An old refectory table was deftly modified with extra shelving to make it work as an island with plenty of storage.
James McDonald 43/95- Reused Habitat cabinets in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Eating Room Red’ contrast with the original flagstones in Jack Laver Brister’s Somerset townhouse, revealed when he chiselled away the 1990s ceramic tiles covering them
Dean Hearne 44/95- In our Food Editor Blanche Vaughan’s kitchen, the blue Aga was a remnant from the previous owners. Above hangs Blanche’s collection of antique copper pans, some from Paris, some from Bailey’s Home Store in Ross-on-wye. Blanche’s kitchen is warm and unfussy. She isn’t the kind of cook who goes in for gadgets, her only concession being the KitchenAid and her bean-to-cup coffee machine. The most important part of the room is her larder; ‘I like food stored at larder rather than fridge temperature and space to put the juices, jams and preserves that we make from the garden.’
Paul Massey 45/95- For me, the kitchen is the most important room in the house,’ says interior designer Nicola Harding. In this riverside house, a spectrum of greens includes Paint & Paper Library’s subtle ‘Willow III’ on the walls, Pure & Original’s ‘Olive Drab’ on the Plain English cabinets and ‘Belgian Wilderness’ on the island. The Matthew Cox dining table is teamed with ‘Knot’ chairs by Normann Copenhagen and illuminated in the evenings by a ‘Plaster Cone’ pendant from Rose Uniacke. Three abstract paintings by Hormazd Narielwalla add eye-catching detail above the mid-century sideboard found on Vinterior.
Paul Massey 46/95- Plain English units painted in ‘Mash’ and an island in ‘Sauce’, with patterned Balineum tiles behind the cooker, create a modern country-house feel in this house by Rita Konig. The space under the island is used for dog beds.
Mark Anthony Fox 47/95- An antique table takes centre stage in this kitchen by Emma Burns, where she has paired it with chairs from OKA and chosen ‘Studio Green’ a moody dark green by Farrow & Ball for walls and units, which are from Devol. ‘I wanted this space to read as a dining room rather than a kitchen,’ she says. ‘Mottled’ tiles by Balineum.
DAVIDE LOVATTI 48/95- Another Country’s oak ‘Hardy’ chairs partner an old farmhouse table in this heavenly rustic kitchen in a 16th-century Italian house, restored to a glorious state by Maria Speake of Retrouvius.
Christopher Horwood 49/95- In the artist Natasha Mann’s house, Farrow & Ball’s ‘Palm Green’ compliments tiles from Milagros. The kitchen is by Pluck Kitchens. The copper sink is from The French House and Mullan pendant lights.
Art: Henri De Waroquier © 2023 ADAGP, Paris/ ARS, New York 50/95- To make the small kitchen in her small Parisian flat feel more spacious and bright, fashion designer Morgane Sézalory enlisted the help of an artisan to make a custom mirrored wall, complete with carved frames and cleverly designed ledges where she displays her various collections. The stacked ceramic coffee cups are from Les Composantes, the Braque exhibition poster is vintage, the painting is by Henry de Waroquier, and the stove is Lacanche.
Mark Fox 51/95- A portrait by Chica Seal dominates the far wall beyond the refectory table with its hand-painted decoration by Rosie Tatham in the open-plan kitchen and dining area in Katie Glaister’s London house. The oak and bronze island is a bespoke design by K&H Design, and its worktop is by Pyrolave, made from Volvic lava which is enamelled to provide a wonderful reflection. The pendant lights were handmade in London by Michael Ruh.
Mark Fox 52/95- In another part of the kitchen in the same London house, the pantry doors feature a reeded design with antique brass trim. Another reeded cabinet above the worktop houses the extractor and provides storage for roasting dishes and chopping boards.
Owen Gale 53/95- The kitchen is Alix Reynis’ favourite room in her Parisian house. The cement floor has been sealed with varnish. The small table and chairs were given to Alix by her grandparents, whose style she credits for forming her own. A large Medici urn which Alix found in a brocante in the north of France.
Chris Horwood 54/95- On the floor oak finger parquet flooring, adds an authentic organic contrast to the other manmade materials in the kitchen of James Shaw’s Shoreditch house.
Joachim Wichmann 55/95- Arabescato marble from Fontanili Marble UK is plated on the alcove wall and counter tops in the kitchen of this Victorian terrace designed by Pernille Lind.
Daniel Schäfer 56/95- The kitchen floor in this French country manor is tiled in reclaimed 18th century tomettes, but the wall tiles are modern and from Topps Tiles in the UK, chosen for their colours which are typical of the region. The door next to the sink leads into the back garden.
Rupert Peace 57/95 - In the kitchen of this Notting Hill house, owner Alice Crawley has chosen a lovely, feminine scheme of pink and green.
Michael Sinclair 58/95 - Designed by Patrick Williams of Berdoulat, this room in a sprawling English country manor provides easily accessible storage as well as housing the fridge – let’s call it a half kitchen. The half-glazed doors in Papers and Paints’ ‘H2106’ in a gloss finish lead into the kitchen, where the walls are lined in white ‘Harmony Field’ tiles from Francis Ceramics. The lantern below the skylight once hung in the stables at Buckingham Palace.
Paul Massey 59/95- In the kitchen of Marie-Louis Sjögren’s historic house on the Stockholm archipelago, an antique Swedish bockbord table from Svenska Rum in Stockholm stands on a vintage Swedish rug in the kitchen, which was designed by Marie-Louise and made from Öland limestone.
Mark Fox 60/95- In his Art Deco flat in Hackney, Alfred Bramsen designed and painted the kitchen cabinets himself, inspired by the colourful doorknobs from Nina Nørgaard. The kettle and toaster are from Hay and the black pot and yellow coffee pot are from Labour & Wait.
Paul Massey 61/95 - In the kitchen of an earl’s 19th-century country house, ‘Real Shaker’ cabinets from DeVol, painted in ‘Clerkenwell Blue’, and a terrazzotopped island in ‘Printer’s Black’ pick up on the colours in Christabel Blackburn’s painting Hay Barn. The ‘Hector Bibendum’ pendant lights are by Original BTC.
Owen Gale 62/95- The kitchen in a jewellery designer’s playful Victorian house is a kaleidoscopic room that best shows the Spanish influences in the house. “It’s the room we knew we’d spend most time in,” says Sandra, “so we spent the longest making sure we got the design right”. This involved staying up until 2am the night before the tiles were put up to ensure the pattern was correct for the mix of green, yellow and pale pink zellige tiles. The cabinet doors are painted in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Calke Green’, Paint & Paper Library’s ‘Geisha’ and ‘Rowan Berry’ from Sanderson, while the walls are an archive Farrow & Ball paint called ‘Orangery’.
Simon Bergström 63/95- The kitchen was the biggest project when Sebastian Bergström first moved into his tiny flat in Stockholm. “I often say that it is a working kitchen – every tool or whatever I need to use is just a one step away and I love that.”
James McDonald 64/95- The kitchen in a Kensington house by Kate Guinness, designed and made in collaboration with 202 Design, opens into the conservatory. Walls in ‘Plaster V’ contrast with cabinets in ‘Kigali’, both shades from Paint & Paper Library. The rug is from Tate & Darby.
Christopher Horwood 65/95- The kitchen in a former tannery-turned-stylish flat near London Bridge is painted in a bespoke shade of olive green. The pared-back panelling was designed to blend in with the industrial setting of the apartment.
Sarah Griggs 66/95- At a Chelsea house by Studio Duggan, the kitchen is at once calm and characterful. Zellige tiles on the chimney breast dazzle in the light-filled space. A mirror from Balineum adds a touch of fresh colour.
Michael Sinclair 67/95- A kitchen in a Cotswolds home restored by Catherine Chichester: cupboards drawn up by the artist John Simpson are teamed with an island designed with architect Stef Claes and topped with ‘Radianz’ quartz from Granite Planet. A wall unit from Vinterior displays ceramics by Robin Walden. The tumbled limestone floor is from Beswick Stone.
Owen Gale 68/95- The home of photographer Laura Muthesius and her wife, stylist Nora Eisermann, a former schoolhouse. The kitchen was designed using many elements from deVOL, including their ‘Real Shaker’ cabinet range and ‘Crackle’ metro tiles. A Bertazzoni cooker has pride of place. The space has an oak parquet floor from Floors of Stone.
Dean Hearne 69/95- At Nicola Mardas’s house in Deal, the kitchen was designed by the architectural studio Camu & Morrison, and Nicola chose the colours. The cabinets are painted in Little Greene’s ‘Woodland’, while the walls are in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Middleton Pink’.
Line Klein 70/95- With its red door and well harmonised curation of objects, the entrance and kitchen to Josephine Akvama Hoffmeyer’s Copenhagen flat offer a warm welcome: House of Finn Juhl chairs; Knoll Saarinen Tulip table; silver pendant light by Flos; handcrafted tap by TONI; glazed lava stone top, ‘Under My Skin’ wall paint and flooring by File Under Pop.
Mark Anthony Fox 71/95- At Charlotte Boundy’s Victorian London terrace, The British Standard kitchen is painted in two tones – Edward Bulmer’s ‘Brunswick Green’ and ‘Lilac Pink’, which is one of Charlotte’s favourite pinks.
Paul Massey 72/95- With an extraordinary, enigmatic gothic exterior to live up to, the interior of this north London house required special treatment. The owners called in visionary design studio Maddux Creative, the winners of our 2022 Interior Designer of the Year award. In the kitchen, a rug taken from a larger piece of William Morris carpet picks up on the DeVol cabinets in a custom blue.
Paul Massey 73/95- With her lampshade-making business starting to take over her west London family home, Rosi de Ruig moved operations to a nearby studio and took the chance to give the Victorian house a vibrant new look. Rosi bought the kitchen cabinets from Ikea and had new fronts made for them, adding brass handles from Peter Jones. Vibrant ‘Parrots Plume’ gloss from Dulux on the cupboards and island, and the door to the newly created larder, sets off the crocheted ‘Simple Shade 03’ pendant in lava from Naomi Paul above the island. The ‘Flora’ metal wall lamps are from Maisons du Monde.
Christopher Horwood 74/95- Pale blue and brown are a highly covetable colour combination in Lucy Williams’ London house. The bespoke kitchen was made by Browson Design and is painted in Paper and Paints Sky Blue with Beata Heuman hardware. The large brass handles were found by Lucy at Ardingly Market, whilst the brown marble countertops were sourced from Lapicida. Over head, Fritz Fryer pendants hang and plaster lights by Alexandra Robinson line the back wall.
Alexander James 75/95- This showstopper of a kitchen belongs to an equally spectacular house, a former Victorian civic building transformed into a family home by interior designer John McCall. A soft terracotta wash on the walls by decorative paint artist Hughie Turner brings out the specially mixed green and dark red on the cabinets. Above the oak table, which was made by I & JL Brown, is an oak-leaf chandelier from Richard Taylor Designs. The dining chairs are covered in Bennison Fabrics’ ‘Frondage’ and the Edwardian wingback chair is upholstered in Claremont’s ‘Kilim Stripe’ fabric.
Michael Sinclair 76/95 - Pandora Taylor designed the table in her kitchen herself, surrounding it with vintage chairs. The walls are painted in Farrow & Ball’s Palma Gray. An artwork by Thierry Genay hangs on the chimneybreast above the cooker, framed in Perspex to avoid damage.
Chris Horwood 77/95- Sophie Warburton, founder of Host Home, kept the existing kitchen in her London house, repainting the units from a pillar box red to the calm green of Benjamin Moore’s ‘Guacamole’. The tiles are zellige tiles in a colourway called ‘Pastel Sand’. A pop of colour comes from part of Sophie’s glassware and ceramics collection, with all the glasses from Host and mugs from Mud Australia.
Paul Massey 78/95- When designing the kitchen for novelist Andrew O’Hagan, Jane Ormsby Gore opted for floorboards painted in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Rectory Red’ with a neutral tone on the cabinets above.
Maree Homer 79/95- A 19th-century former whaler’s cottage in North Sydney has been transformed by Australian interior designer Lisa Burdus into a vibrant, comfortable home with a nod to classic English country style. The pink paint from the sitting room continues on the panelling and wall cupboards in the kitchen, part of the same open-plan space, while an island painted in Dulux’s ‘Green Gables’ offers a striking contrast. Emac and Lawton’s ‘Chelsea’ table lamp is paired with a pleated green silk shade from Samarkand Design.
Paul Massey 80/95- We love the cane-fronted units in Octavia Dickinson’s London house, designed by Octavia herself and made by Alfred Newall at The London Workshop. The units are painted in Little Greene’s ‘Stone-Mid-Warm’.
Owen Gale 81/95- Interior designer Angelica Squire’s Victorian terraced house in London is a youthful, exuberant space that combines smart artworks and fabrics with clever vintage finds and joyful colours. The walls in the kitchen are painted in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Setting Plaster’, and the cabinets in ‘Preference Red’. The blinds are in Guy Goodfellow’s ‘Pomegranate Print’ fabric, while cafe blinds on the bottom half of the windows allow for privacy while still letting in the light.
Lucas Allen 82/95- In this 17th-century house by Rose Uniacke, the rustic wooden table is complemented by rush-seated oak chairs designed by the Arts and Crafts furniture maker William Birch. Copper pans are suspended from a metal oval hanging rack overhead. Above the sink to the right of the Aga, a previously enclosed window has been restored.
Alexander James 83/95- The white kitchen of this Georgian townhouse in Ludlow has been decorated with a soft colour palette and elegant furnishings, creating a fresh country scheme. Large cabinets line the width of the space, complemented by a classic white Aga and blue tiling.
Paul Massey 84/95- Maria Speake of Retrouvius salvaged this Victorian shelving from the Patent Office and has used it to house glassware and cookery books here in a client’s Chiltern farmhouse. This proves than canny storage doesn’t necessarily have to be made-to-measure to be fit for purpose. This double-sided unit is perfect with glassware as it does not block the light. In this kitchen, the stylishly utilitarian scheme is finished with an eclectic mix of light fittings and a large butler sink.
85/95- In this London flat designed by Max Rollitt, there is an antique shelf above the kitchen sink. This holds a collection of pottery and glassware. The rich red cabinetry below is topped with pale carrera marble.
Yuki Sugiura 86/95- The designer Matilda Goad has spent the last two years turning a typical London house in to an imaginative, stylish home packed with clever and unexpected ideas. In the kitchen, the cupboard doors, painted in ‘Sage Green’ from Little Greene, are fitted with a mix of vintage brass handles, some from an old ship. The wall surrounding the cooker is picked out in red and white checkerboard tiles – ‘simply buy the cheapest tiles you can and alternate the colours’ – a homage to the Moroccan and southern European kitchens that were also the influence for the ‘raw plaster’ walls (‘actually a wonderful lime wash paint from a company by Bauwerk’).
Sharyn Cairns 87/95- In the warm, orange kitchen of Ben Pentreath’s Georgian Parsonage the Aga dates back to the Sixties. Ben added the wooden floor, painted in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Hardwick White’, and found the glazed wall cupboard in a junk shop. The kitchen floor needed replacing when he moved in. ‘As there was a patch of old stone flagging, I had hoped there would be more beneath the linoleum,’ Ben says. ‘Of course, there wasn’t, so we simply glued wooden boards on top of the existing floor and painted them dove grey’.
Michael Sinclair 88/95- The designer Jane Gowers discovered her London house by chance, but its restoration and decoration have been the result of good judgement and a sympathetic approach. The kitchen’s traditional cream units were made by Woodstock Furniture, with doors giving access to the garden terrace.
Paul Massey 89/95- A dresser by Plain English, painted in the company’s ‘Army Camp’ green, holds a sink from Howe paired with brass taps from Barber Wilsons & Co in the kitchen-cum-dining room of Rita Konig’s farmhouse. Rita’s collection of antique glassware is displayed on the top shelf.
Davide Lovatti 90/95- Known for their restoration of historic buildings in Scotland, conservation architects Nick Groves-Raines and Kristin Hannesdottir relished the challenge of saving Lamb’s House in Leith, where they now live and work.The wooden kitchen with original beams is decorated in the traditional country style.
Rachel Whiting 91/95- I haven’t used wall cupboards because I didn’t want the kitchen to read like a traditional kitchen or look too boxy,’ explains Beata Heuman, the interior desginer behind this vibrant home in London. The colour palette, which includes a Swedish green marble worktop and a bespoke copper cooker hood and island by Premier Building & Design, complements the garden beyond. It will acquire a greenish patina over time.
Paul Massey 92/95- This Arts & Crafts house was given a new lease of life by Ben Pentreath. Ben designed the cabinets, which were made by Symm and painted in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Hague Blue’.
Andrew Montgomery 93/95- Resisting the idea of moving or expanding into the basement, the owners of this London house gave architect Maria Speake the go-ahead to make some structural changes to give their family and business the space needed. The Plain English kitchen, with its cream Aga, was installed 12 years ago. Maria had it repainted in an Emery & Cie green to refresh the room.
Simon Brown 94/95 - This jaunty kitchen decorating idea comes from Joanna Wood in a Cotswold house she worked on. Antique leaf plates are displayed on the tall chimneybreast above the Aga. The ‘Vertigo’ pendant light was designed by Constance Guisset for Petite Friture.
Paul Massey 95/95- Farrow & Ball’s ‘Setting Plaster’ was used on the walls in the kitchen of this 18th-century house in Bath. Vintage wall lights from Felix Lighting Specialists are positioned above the Plain English kitchen units, which are painted in Pure & Original ‘Summerset Mauve’; the island is in ‘Post Modern Mauve’. Pendant light shades salvaged from a factory in Hungary hang over the island. They are sold by Skinflint, which finds, restores and repairs mid-century industrial and decorative lighting from all over Europe. The ‘Eastern Bloc Factory Shade’ measures 51 x 31cm diameter and costs £330.
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