THE JOURNAL
What also helps, she says, is taking the pressure off a
kitchen to gain more flexibility. “If you have a walk-in cupboard for tabletop appliances, like a microwave and the coffee machine, or your freezer, then it doesn’t have to work as hard in terms of storage. That leaves more room for a comfortable chair.” For those without space for a pantry, David Manning, showroom manager of Eggersmann Design in Design Centre North, suggests a pocket door system. “We put one in 50% of our kitchens. It’s a good way of being able to close off a section of an open-plan space easily, hiding away the oven and cooking mess while you’re eating.” Meanwhile, Nigel Palmer of Design Centre
showroom House of Rohl, which specialises in handcrafted kitchen and bathroom fixtures, names the island unit as one of the most flexible pieces of kitchen furniture. “It
feeds into today’s more personalised
spaces,” he says, citing Perrin & Rowe’s best-selling ‘Armstrong’ industrial-luxe tap as an example of a move towards more finely detailed, meant-to-be-seen
“PEOPLE USED TO THINK
THAT ANY SANITISED ROOM MUST BE LIGHT AND BRIGHT BUT NOW EVERYONE IS
MORE EXPERIMENTAL. USING
WALLPAPER ELEVATES A KITCHEN AND MAKES IT MORE FUN”
brassware. Just because a kitchen is small, doesn’t mean it should lack character either. “A vintage wall light, great cabinet colour or table lamp on the counter all bring in a punctuation of personality,” says Harding. Perhaps one of the boldest moves in terms of
decorative style in the kitchen, though, is wallpaper – such as the Lewis & Wood botanical print chosen by one of interior designer Pandora Taylor’s clients for their south-east London kitchen-diner. “People used to think that any sanitised room must be light and bright but now everyone is more experimental. Using wallpaper elevates a kitchen and makes it more fun; we’ve protected behind the hob area with a piece of glass,” says Taylor. Perhaps surprisingly, wallpaper is becoming a more
appealing option in haven-like bathrooms too. “For those with showers, waterproof wallpaper, made from fibreglass, is massive,” says Charlotte Waters, part of the third-generation family behind Design Centre East showroom West One Bathrooms. “It’s a more affordable alternative to mosaics, which are also popular. For one recent client, we custom-designed a plum blossom mural using tiles by New Ravenna that wrapped around the bathroom.” She highlights steam generators and panel lighting from Dutch brand Sunshower – which emits the minimum dose of UV light to top up vitamin D without damaging skin – as ways to tap into the trend for wellness at home.
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© Simon Brown
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