The designer: Veronika Lovasova at Higham Furniture

Photos Paul Craig

The story: Higham Furniture has been designing, making and installing traditional and modern bespoke kitchens since 2004. With a design studio in Fulham, London, all cabinetry is handmade at its wholly-owned workshop in Denmead, Hampshire.

Specialising in classic and contemporary in-frame Shaker and Ply kitchens, utilities and boots rooms with complementary furniture, the company is also renowned for its exclusive Higham Inset Handle kitchen that bridges the gap between handled and handleless styles by featuring unique handles designed by founder Tim Higham and manufactured by Armac Martin.

Designer Q&A:

Q) What was your brief from the client?

Our brief was to design a capacious traditional bespoke in-frame Shaker kitchen in a newly-built five-bedroom classic-style country property in Hampshire, close to the location of the Higham Furniture workshop.

The 42 sq m kitchen needed to be truly multifunctional, as it would be used by the family during different times of the day, and would also be a social space with a large central island as the main hub.

Our clients wanted plenty of storage and lots of worktop area for food preparation as they are keen cooks, so the design needed to include cabinetry to house a range of ovens and cooling appliances. Our clients also wanted a separate preparation area specifically for baking, requiring a second sink and an undercounter integrated fridge in this part of the kitchen.

Q) How did you answer that brief?

Our first consideration was the layout of the space, which has beamed feature windows facing out to the garden at right angles along the back and side elevations of the property. Their positioning dictated the L-shaped location of the main sink run and most undercounter cabinetry in the room. We then designed tall cabinetry on either side of these windows, with a tall larder next to an integrated French door fridge freezer in the left-hand corner, with tall housings for a bank of ovens and warming drawers on the right-hand side, facing the kitchen island. Above are specially-designed cabinets for all baking trays.

Our clients wanted the 1.4 by 2.2 metre island to be the central hub, so we designed it with 55mm chunky legs on the facing side with an extended worktop that accommodates bar stool seating for informal dining and as a space to gather round the cook. On the facing side are symmetrical storage drawers. Within the Burnished Aged Copper worktop is an induction hob, with a ceiling hood above to extract all cooking vapours. Our clients matched this with two lantern-style pendant lights.

Q) Tell us about the separate baking run

Along the front elevation of the room, we designed the separate ‘baking run.’ The client wanted this to be part of, but set aside from the main kitchen, yet still close to the bank of ovens. It features undercounter cabinetry and storage drawers for baking items, a counter surface for small domestic appliances and open shelving above. Beneath the picture window is a second sink and tap, with an integrated built-under fridge and cupboard storage. The tall double-door cabinet to the right-hand side is the breakfast station, perfectly situated away from the main cooking area so that coffee, tea and snacks can be made at any time of the day without interrupting the cook.

Q) Which products did you use and why?

This traditional bespoke Shaker kitchen with 80mm rails and stiles and 70mm plinths was made using lacquered oak veneered ply carcases, painted tulipwood frames and maple door fronts, which are all painted in Slaked Lime Deep 150, while the island is painted in Pompeiian Ash 293, all by Little Greene. All cabinetry internals and dovetailed drawer boxes are made of oak. At Higham, we only use high grade timbers, ply and veneers for our Shaker kitchens, and we do not use MDF.

The 30mm thick worktops above all base cabinetry, within the breakfast station and as open shelving on brackets are made from polished Opal Quartz in Statuario Grey, which both complement the cabinetry colours and the Jaipur Limestone floor by Mandarin Stone. The Burnished Aged Copper worktop on the island works perfectly with the Anvil Pendant Lights by Harborne, with their shiny copper interiors.

The clients were keen to have built-in cooking appliances as opposed to a range cooker and, as keen cooks and bakers, they chose two 60cm Slide& Hide Ovens, with a 45cm Steam Oven, a Combination Microwave and two 29cm Warming Drawers. They matched these with an 80cm Combizone Induction hob, two 60cm integrated dishwashers and a built-under fridge, all by Neff. The ceiling extractor is a Stratus Compact by Westin and the integrated French Door fridge freezer is by Fisher & Paykel, a cooling appliance that we regularly recommend for our kitchens due to its large capacity and design.

Both the main Farmhouse sink and the undermount version for the baking run are by Villeroy & Boch, with a Quooker 3-in-1 boiling water tap in the main kitchen and a Perrin & Rowe aged brass Ionian tap for the prep space. All handles and knobs are in burnished brass, by Armac Martin, complementing the copper elements in the kitchen.

Q) Which design elements do you think make the scheme so successful?

This family kitchen has a primary focus on cooking, with a flow between the main cooking space, the prep area for baking and the breakfast station, conveniently allowing for multiple tasks to take place simultaneously.

The central island is the hub for family members to gather, eat and socialise, while the copious storage elements keep it free of clutter, even down to the specially-designed cupboard for baking trays above the oven.

Q) Any advice for anyone who may be planning their own kitchen?

Prior to talking to your kitchen designer, try and do as much research as possible, both online and in magazines to get an idea of the style of kitchen you are seeking, whether it is classic or contemporary and what storage aspects you require. Also, consider the types of appliances, worktops, sinks and taps you want, and what you do not, as this will enable your designer to start the design process with a firm vision of what you require. Always have an overall budget in mind so that your designer can keep within it.

The details

Kitchen by Higham Furniture

Appliances by Neff, Westin and Fisher & Paykel

Sinks and taps by Villeroy & Boch, Quooker and Perrin & Rowe

Handles by Armac Martin

Pendant lights by Harborne Pendants

Stools by Dunelm

Flooring by Mandarin Stone

Paint colours by Little Greene

Hayley loves: the immaculate attention to detail within this kitchen and the fact that every single aspect of the client’s lifestyle has been taken into account and designed for accordingly