KBB l HOMES
B
ang in the middle of a 1920s end-of-terrace house is not where you’d expect to see a new open-plan kitchen – they’re usually placed in an extension – but for art teacher and ceramicist Sinead Pollard and her husband Phil Walberg, a dentist, it was the best place. “Did we plan to put it there? No,” laughs Sinead. “But our
builders discovered a manhole while laying the foundations for a single-storey rear extension, which impacted our initial plans so we had to go back to the drawing board.” Here, Sinead explains how the open-plan project came together…
What did your previous kitchen look like? When we bought the house, all the décor had a 1970s-80s style to it – the kitchen included. It was small and featured Formica walnut cabinet fronts along with a really bad layout. The units went up to the windows, it was very dark, and all the surfaces were facing a wall. I remember always feeling a bit claustrophobic, so we installed a temporary solution until we were ready to do a full renovation a few years later.
What did the renovation include? We knew we wanted a large open-plan kitchen-living-diner perfect for socialising – it had to be a space where we could host 20 to 30 people without feeling crowded. To achieve this, we applied for planning permission for a 4m single-storey rear extension to house our new kitchen and got the green light about three weeks later. We scoured the internet for a builder and found one through a local Facebook page. However, halfway through the works the builders discovered a manhole cover the architect hadn’t picked up on. This meant meant the extension had to be about 50cm narrower, which we felt made it too small to fit kitchen cabinets, an island and a dining table.
How did you solve this problem?
I drew out every configuration under the sun. What we ended up with was actually my last choice, because Phil and I never planned to have the kitchen in the middle of the house, but it was the one that worked. The front room is now more of an adult space, while the extension houses the big L-shaped sofa. That’s where I spend most evenings and where we have movie nights. In summer it’s lovely being in this spot, as you can open all the back doors and bring the outside in – or, as we have done on multiple occasions, you can move the sofa out of the way and, hey presto, you have a dance floor.
Tell us about the kitchen design…
With it being in the centre, it was really important to Phil and I that the cabinetry and colours we chose tied in with the rest of our home. Initially, I was leaning more towards a Shaker style because I’m a bit of a traditionalist – but we decided to go for something more modern that would look more like like furniture than a typical kitchen. We have lots of teak Mid-century pieces, so looked around for cabinets to match
124 KITCHENS BEDROOMS & BATHROOMS l APRIL 20
this aesthetic. As luck would have it, the owners of kitchen company Plykea are good friends of ours and once we saw the contemporary designs they create using Ikea carcasses with bespoke fronts, we decided to go ahead with this. We chose the brand’s Metod cabinet bases and sent our final plan to Plykea, who worked with us to figure out what door fronts we wanted as well as finishing touches such as the handles. It was a fun way to personalise the kitchen to be exactly what we wanted.
Why did you go for this layout?
The double galley layout includes a long run of cabinetry on one wall housing the fridge-freezer and range cooker, while opposite this are floor-to-ceiling cupboards with plenty of storage and the microwave, plus there’s an island. There were only so many ways to fit in everything we wanted without impacting on the living and dining areas. I had dreamed of having an island as I predicted, quite rightly, that we would live around it. Initially, Phil and I wanted to put the hob on there but then realised we would have to have a hanging hood disrupting sightlines or a very expensive pop-up model which we couldn’t afford. We also thought ahead to when Gruff would be be doing his homework on the island once he starts school, so really didn’t want to have a hot surface there. I kept reading about the working triangle, where key appliances are placed to makes cooking really smooth – so we did things like act out meal preparation to decide what we’d need where.
Did you want any specific appliances? Phil was keen on having a boiling-water tap, which I, at first, thought was ridiculous – but now that I have one, I’m a massive convert. We also wanted a large fridge-freezer where you could get water out the front, because I’ve always believed that when you own a drink-dispensing appliance, you’ve got everything you need in the world – right?
Can you tell us about the décor… Green and pink are my favourite colours to put together – they’re such calming shades. I could decorate the whole house in them, but instead we picked these hues for the island and splashback, the colour of which was inspired by the Dualit toaster Phil and I have lovingly owned for 20 years. Everything feels so much more open now. It’s nice to be able to be cooking and know where my son is and he knows where I am. I don’t feel like I’m tucked away in the back of the house like I used to be. This kitchen has changed everything for the better.
SOURCEBOOK
Kitchen doors Plykea 020 8064 0780
plykea.com Kitchen caracasses Ikea 020 3645 0000
ikea.com Worktops Capital Granite 020 8531 2963
capitalgranite.co.uk Appliances Oven and
microwave, Ikea, as before; Fridge-freezer, Fisher & Paykel 0800 088 6605
fisherpaykel.com/uk Sink Ikea, as before Tap Pronteau 01226 283434
pronteau.co.uk For full stockist information, see page 156
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