Oak Veneered Kitchen

With a carefully considered layout and clear cut lines, a family living in Sevenoaks, Kent, have created a calm and elegant space in the shape of this contemporary oak veneered kitchen by Edmondson Interiors.

After speaking to a number of kitchen designers and poring over endless layouts, our clients couldn t find anyone to bring their ideas to life. The problem wasn t so much about finding a contemporary design but creating a look that wasn t too clinical and a functionality that would work.

'Then we remembered the sign for the Edmondson Interiors showroom, just off the A262,' they recall. 'We had passed it so many times, but never took the plunge to drive down the track. We re so pleased we did!'.

'We met Richard and one of the designers, Cris Sega, and immediately struck up a rapport,' our client continues. 'For the first time, we really felt that someone was listening to us. He was the only one who asked us about how we use the kitchen and our family routines: where we put the shopping, what we cooked and so on. It s the most important room in the house, so it needed to be as efficient and calm as possible'.

Cris listened carefully and also studied the client's scrap album of photographs (we always find this really helpful in understanding a the vision).

He responded carefully with a bespoke design that captured clean flowing lines with the warmth from a careful blend of oak veneers in vertical and horizontal planes.

Where we like to think we excelled was in the execution of both the very visible exterior and the less visible but equally important interior to each cabinet.

The veneers are matched and continuous. This means that there are no breaks in the grain pattern across doors, drawer fronts, end panels and scribed fillers. Even the edges of the end panels are tied into this accuracy of planning, selection and making.

The internal elements were signed off to the enth degree. For example, a baking drawer contains everything the client required to be easily seen and perfectly accessible.

Spice jars are in a rack made so that all the labelling is seen and an unseen buffer prevents any rattling when the door is opened.
or).

Inspiration for the unusual shape of the island came to Cris whilst watching David Attenborough s Blue Planet. It is indeed a shark s fin!

The shape is about movement through a busy part of the kitchen. It gave some additional storage and enabled a bar to be introduced, whilst still keeping good access to the garden and linking the kitchen to the dining area.

The Granite is Virginia Mist, sometimes called Sea Wave which describes the free flowing nature of this remarkable Stone. There are sporadic flecks of gold in the granite, which causes lots of excitement when found!