The Meon Shaker Kitchen

We focused on traditional carpentry and making the most of the available space for this beautiful barn conversion.

Traditional units which complement the environment

As this kitchen was in a barn conversion it needed to reflect its environment. We focused on the sink area and hob area, making a feature of them. Not only did we make them deeper by breaking the fronts, but we made them in aged pine to reflect the old beams throughout the house. The new units are paired with a worktop made from antiqued black granite. The granite around the sink has the added advantage of being a lot easier to maintain around the sink than the wood used everywhere else.

For the hob area, by breaking the fronts we were able to incorporate the step in the walls between the new and original part of the house along with the Nib. This also helped to absorb the RSJ into the extractor housing. The benefit of making bespoke kitchens is that we have the flexibility, willingness and ability to find innovative ways to make the best use of any space.

The units may be made as pieces of furniture with traditional carpentry (dovetails, mortice butt hinges, mortice and tenons) but they still have cushion-close drawers and cushion-close doors.

This kitchen is designed to use all available space and the character the property has to offer

Features of this kitchen

Soft end panels

With end panels, the easy option is just to use a standard panel. But not only does the end panel finish the kitchen, it starts the living space ... and it should reflect that. We use bookcases and shallow cupboards with open shelves to do just that.

Combining materials and textures

The old pine sits well with the oak. The break in the units and worktops works well. The pan drawers give good storage while the whole area creates a feature.

Making the sink and feature piece

The sink area creates a focal point in the kitchen while remaining practical and hard-wearing. A mix of old and new.

No kitchen is complete without good storage

Just because the kitchen is traditional doesn’t mean you can’t have modern forms of storage. You'll see an example in the image above.

Using angles for appeal

Angles not only help on corners, especially on a thoroughfare, but can also be useful to give you access to those corners which are always a problem.

Using angles elsewhere in the design

Introducing another angle here picks up the other angles as well as improving access to another corner. The pan drawers give the best available storage.

The antiqued worktop

The antiqued worktop was deliberately chosen because of the old pine and character of the building. The use of granite around the sink made the maintenance of the sink area easier than wood while the rest of the works were aesthetically soft and confirmed the effect the clients wanted to create.