Maximising the view

When a client comes into Kitchens International with the original architectural plans, where there is a plan for a rather simple kitchen, our designers will look at it in a different way. They realised the client wanted an open plan, contemporary look and were keen cooks and entertainers, so our designer decided to design the kitchen to maximise the views, the open plan vibe and give the clients a kitchen that went beyond their expectations.

Part of a three bedroomed new-build passive house in Kinross, this house had been designed beautifully by Glasgow and Perthshire based architects practice Ewan Cameron architects. The kitchen was connected to the rest of the house with a sliding partition door that needed to be made to fit on the curved and sloped ceiling.

Since the sliding door on a curved ceiling caused a bit of a headache from an architectural and builder’s point of view, the designer developed a design together without the sliding door and instead wrapped the tall units round the concealed pantry and study spaces. Kitchen cabinetry passage doors hid these spaces away, so it all blended in seamlessly.

Huge windows allow lots of natural light into the space which the designer made the most of by having everything facing outwards. To allow the curved ceiling to house the lighting he designed secreted strip lighting in reveals at the top of the glass windows that also housed the electric blinds. He also had to give careful consideration for the visible ceiling pendants so that they didn’t dominate the line of sight and get in the way of any viewpoints.

Leicht cabinetry was selected in a sand grey finish, with accented dark walnut open shelving. Silestone Snowy Ibiza quartz worktops finished off the look while Zip gunmetal finish taps and drinks font with a Blanco resin tartufo sink contrasted the worktop, but also picked out the same tone as the sand grey coloured cabinetry.

One of the more unusual elements of the design was extending the unit fronts down to create a shadow gap on the tall units and on the reverse of the island. This then removed the usual plinth line from line of sight and made it look less like a functional kitchen from these viewpoints.

The designer said: “We created some special features that really makes this kitchen something unique. For example we created a drinks station tap with a font rather than a sink, which is used for boiling, chilled and sparkling water. and works very well as a whole water station. We also designed a single passage door which opens to reveal a bookcase – this type of hide and reveal gives the kitchen added design features.”

The double door passage into the pantry was difficult to overcome as the designer had to tailor a unique design for this to work. However, on opening the door it is like an Aladdin’s cave and it opens up into a large pantry.

The client thinks the whole kitchen is spectacular. The idea was to design something that wasn’t trying to be overly fussy and take away impact from the view. Instead it allows them to marvel at the views and the huge space with its wow factor which they love.