Celebrating the original character of this 17th-century cottage, Belle Daughtry’s kitchen comes into its own at Christmas
During the festive period, most home kitchens go into overdrive – from baking all the favourite sweet treats, to catering for family and friends and cooking the Christmas lunch.
When designing a new kitchen – no matter the time of year – spare a thought about how your space will work during this busiest season. Will the oven be large enough to fit a turkey? Do you have room to wash those big pans and serving dishes? When entertaining, will the kitchen be part of the action or serve as a peaceful retreat where you can lose yourself in the culinary task at hand?
For homeowner Belle Daughtry, her petite kitchen is the perfect example of country charm – exuding a warm and welcoming ambience in the depths of winter. ‘The kitchen was the one room in the cottage we wanted to make our own,’ she explains. ‘It is located at the back of the cottage, an extension of the catslide roof. It has brick floors, beautiful sloping beams and windows looking out to the fields behind. We inherited the previous owner’s cosy black Rayburn stove that heated the cottage, too,’ explains Belle.
Building upon the existing L-shaped layout, Belle turned to British Standard to update the cabinetry. ‘The brief was to create an inviting and light kitchen that complements the character of the property, while still offering a functional cooking space. With it being a smaller footprint, we had to be thoughtful with the layout to ensure that there was enough storage without cluttering the room,’ explains Will Eaves, international design and development coordinator at British Standard.
One of the main challenges of this kitchen was its compact size. In addition to the limited floor plan, the sloped ceiling made the space feel smaller, which made it all the more important that the kitchen felt as bright and light as possible.
Belle opted for a white colour scheme against which the wooden worktops, brick flooring, black Aga and festive greenery sing. Spotlights above the workspace provide ample ambient and task lighting without infringing on the already limited head height. Belle accents this during the festive period with flickering candles on the open shelves and window sills.
A saving grace in this compact kitchen is
