Kitchen of the Week: A Contemporary Kitchen Extension for Family Living

Kitchen of the Week: A Contemporary Kitchen Extension for Family Living- When the clients purchased this home, it had already been extended at the back, but very poorly. ‘A sort of outhouse had been incorporated into the building,’ explains Trevor of Trevor Brown Architect, whom the clients enlisted to rectify the situation. Although the owners entered the process with quite a rigid idea of what they wanted – remedial works to make good what was already there – after a few discussions with Trevor, it became clear that much more potential could be unlocked with an exciting new extension.

Trevor Brown Architect

Kitchen at a Glance
Who lives here A family with two children
Location Northeast London
Size 25 sq m; part of a home with 3 bedrooms and 1 bathroom
Architect Trevor Brown of Trevor Brown Architect

Brown went for a monochrome palette in the kitchen extension to contrast with the rest of the home. The client had chosen fairly bold, rich greens and blues for the reception room. ‘The front of the house is quite dark,’ he explains, ‘so we used dark colours to engage with this cosiness. But at the back of the house, with so much light here, we felt it suited being white.’

Trevor Brown Architect

The building is listed, so Brown had to discuss his plans carefully with the conservation officer. It became clear that his design for the extension would give the period property a new lease of life.

Brown mirrored the slope of the existing roofline of the properties on the right-hand side to create a butterfly roof for the extension, which is characteristic of homes in the area.

Trevor Brown Architect

Given the listed status of the property, Brown was restricted somewhat when it came to glazing. ‘I would typically suggest something flat, with minimal joints, but this orangery-style pyramid roof light is much more in keeping with the period of the property,’ he explains.

Trevor Brown Architect

To fit in the necessary kitchen storage and worktop space, the architect went for a long bank of units along one wall. ‘We played with different layouts, but there wouldn’t really have been space for another island. Plus, the client wanted to be sure to separate the cooking space clearly for her children,’ Brown says. The kitchen carcass is from Ikea, with cabinetry from Homestyle.

Hob, John Lewis. Oven, Neff. Utensil rail, Ikea.

Trevor Brown Architect

Rather than installing wall units, Brown wanted to create a feature of the area above the worktop. ‘Because of the height of the room, you’d always have space above the top cupboards that would accumulate clutter,’ he explains, ‘and the units would have to be broken above the sink. Rather than installing a couple of isolated cupboards here, I fitted an extra one elsewhere,’ he explains. Two full-height cupboards flank the steps up to the living room; one providing that extra storage, the other for the fridge.

To make a feature of this space, Brown went for kite-shaped tiles that tessellate across the wall, creating a stunning and unusual hexagonal pattern. ‘Fitting it took a little magic from the tiler,’ says Brown.

Diamond tiles, Solus Ceramics.

See 9 ways to work patterned tiles into your kitchen

Trevor Brown Architect

Brown opted for a sealed concrete worktop with dark grey units to offset the white walls and give the client something robust that would stand up to family life. ‘I find it quite tricky when you have stainless steel with white finishes – it can look a bit stark and bland – so I wanted to do something to offset that,’ he explains.

The concrete creates a lovely variety of texture. ‘It’s simple and you can’t be too fussy with it. You never know quite what finish you’re going to get,’ says Brown.

Concrete worktop, Mortise Concrete. Sink and tap, Blanco.

Trevor Brown Architect

Bifold doors open out into the garden, which Brown redesigned. ‘It’s often the case that you need to redo a garden after renovation works because it tends to become a bit of a building site. The architect installed two steps up to a raised grassy area, with beds either side – one for flowers and the other for the children to play in.

At the end of the garden, Brown put in a rather unusual shed. ‘They often have an inconvenient recess next to them that tends to fill up with clutter,’ says Brown. To avoid this, he installed a long, shallow design that spans the width of the garden, with multiple doors for easy access. He also reversed the angle of the butterfly roof on the extension for the shed’s roof.

Trevor Brown Architect

The bifold doors are made from aluminium and Brown chose to have a white frame on the inside, with black on the exterior. ‘I didn’t want to use white on the outside as it can look a little like PVC,’ says Brown. ‘However, I felt that black on the inside might be a bit too stark against the white walls, so we went for a white frame on the interior side of the door.’

Trevor Brown Architect

The architect went for a simple lighting scheme. ‘I like minimalist lights without shades,’ he says. ‘The room felt quite pared back, and once we’d decided on the tessellating tiles we wanted the lights to be as simple as possible so as not to detract from the pattern,’ he adds.

Lighting, LightInTheBox.

Trevor Brown Architect

The island unit plays a crucial part in both zoning and storage in the room. On one side there’s open shelving painted in the same colour as the cupboards, which brings a bit of life and animation to the room. ‘The client owned some very nice pots and recipe books, so we wanted to have a space to store them,’ says Brown. On the other side are three sets of deep drawers for further storage.

There is a very small cloakroom just off the kitchen. ‘It’s really convenient for entertaining,’ says Brown, ‘and we tucked the boiler away in there, too. It really is very compact, but we didn’t want it to eat into the kitchen too much.’ A second door leads into the hallway.

Get expert tips on making the most of your cloakroom

Trevor Brown Architect

There’s a real sense of connection between the kitchen and the garden. The doors open wide, the worktop continues on top of the garden storage and the same floor material is used for the patio to give the sense that the room is much bigger than it is. The cabinets are weatherproofed and painted in the same dark grey, and the floor – porcelain tiles with a slight wood effect – had sufficient grip to be used both inside and out.

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