After listening to the passionate pleas of their grown-up children who longed to see their grandparents’ home loved by a new generation, a couple embarked on a stunning home renovation.
Their cherished Arts and Crafts home near Skipton was already filled with period detail and a using traditional methods of classical joinery and cabinet making, coupled with a deep understanding of proportions, the designs, cabinetry and fitting was taken on by designer Richard Mason of The Secret Drawer, Skipton.
The design ensured that original features were retained, such as the oak panelling in the hallway, whilst the new cabinetry, handcrafted in Yorkshire, referenced the Arts and Crafts heritage of the family home. This included floor to ceiling furniture, in keeping with the scale of the open plan kitchen/ living space yet also echoed the homes’ origins with a glazed crockery cabinet and oversized ‘cat’s paw’ oak dressers.
With frequent visits from extended family, the huge kitchen has cooking, dining, comfort and entertainment at its heart with curved bar seating at one side of the central kitchen island, generous booth seating for 10 and a window seat – all creating a kitchen where family and friends are a priority. Modern appliances from Sub-Zero Wolf, Miele, Quooker Fisher & Paykel, and Everhot were seamlessly embedded into the design.
Creating balance through symmetry is a fundamental design principle and creates a feeling of that is wonderfully elegant in a large space.
Richard and his team created and used architectural focal points as the starting point. In this case, due to the enormous room size working with a quad-symmetrical layout approach to bind three distinct spaces, (kitchen, living room and games room) to the central axis of the kitchen island. This created a practical and gorgeous family entertaining space.
The first line runs from the centre of the window and window seat below, balanced with either side with a glass cabinet and double door wall cabinet. The line goes straight down the centre of the booth table and continues to the centre of the left side of the oversized dressers.
Here, the invisible line of symmetry goes from the centre of the mantelshelf (with double door cabinetry either side), through the centre of the middle oak bar stool and hits the exact centre-point of the triple floor to ceiling oak cabinetry to the other side of the room.
A third line runs from the centre point of the right-hand oak dresser, through the quooker tap of the champagne sink and then to the centre of the wall cabinet on the opposite side.
The symmetry used creates a sense of stability and order, which is anchored by the centre line straight down the large island from the wall edge of the integrated Sub-Zero Wolf fridge freezer through to the booth table at the other end, flanked by the full wall oak cabinetry to one side contrasting with the fresh white cabinetry, ultra-modern appliances and bold green of the Everhot on the other side.
A chandelier adds to the grandeur and atmosphere of the space. The choice of stylized and bold graphics on the booth seating and chairs are a nod towards the sophisticated earthy tones favoured the likes of William Morris for craftsman-style homes of era, but also adds a touch of asymmetry bringing visual interest and a sense of movement and energy. The overall result is one of elegant simplicity for an harmonious space that is on a grand scale and yet is comfortingly homely.
