Kitchen of the Week: A Shoreditch Kitchen With a French Flavour

Kitchen of the Week: A Shoreditch Kitchen With a French Flavour- When it came to her kitchen revamp, the owner of this industrial-style warehouse conversion in Shoreditch wanted something a little bit different – a vintage-style French theme. ‘She was inspired by old French brasseries and café culture, but it still needed to be a functional kitchen with modern appliances,’ says Tom Long from Increation.

Tom’s initial brainwave was to scour reclamation yards for old shop fronts to use in the construction, but, after a fruitless search, he decided they would have to build a new kitchen from scratch and make it look like an authentic vintage-style brasserie.

‘Because we decided to do something completely new using materials we hadn’t worked with before, it was a leap of faith for the owner,’ says Tom, ‘but it was worth it, as she’s delighted with the results.’

The finished kitchen is a charming space with a nod to the past that’s bursting with authentic French flavour.

Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here A married couple and their baby daughter
Location Shoreditch, London
Designer Increation
Size 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom

Increation

‘Everything in the kitchen has been built bespoke to look like a vintage-style French brasserie,’ says Tom. ‘The warehouse itself has an industrial vibe, but the owner has used a mixture of styles for the décor, so the kitchen fits in really well.’

Increation

The island is the main feature in the kitchen and required some outside-the-box thinking to create an authentic-looking piece. Tom used walnut for the cabinetry, but he turned to a sign writer in Cornwall to create the gilded glass panels at the front. He then added a strip of LED lights so the owner could display her collection of glassware and crockery.

Check out some more kitchen islands

Increation

Tom gave the inner side of the island a more contemporary feel with a bank of roomy drawers that showcase the walnut grain.

Increation

‘Because we used solid walnut in the construction of the drawers, we were able to carve out a finger pull detail at the top,’ says Tom. ‘If we’d put handles on all the drawers, it would have been too busy. This way the island looks really sleek, and it fits in with the blend of modern and traditional styles in the rest of the flat.’

Increation

The exposed brickwork is original to the flat, but some of the bricks in the kitchen area needed replacing. ‘The owner didn’t like the colour of the new bricks, so she had them whitewashed to make them look more authentic and create a warmer look,’ says Tom.

Increation

The island is covered in a single slab of Calacatta Oro marble that reflects the light from the large windows. It was made off-site at the Increation workshops and getting it into the flat posed a challenge of its own. ‘We didn’t want the island to have any ugly joins, so it’s one piece,’ says Tom. ‘But it was just too big to get up the stairs and there’s no lift, so we hired a crane to winch it up through the large double doors in the wall of the flat. There were a few hairy moments!’ he laughs.

Increation

In keeping with the vintage-style French brasserie theme, Tom inlaid the marble island worktop with a 3mm sheet of brass. ‘Brass is a popular material in France and we were determined to use it in the kitchen somewhere. This seemed like the perfect solution,’ says Tom.

Get tips on how to warm up marble surfaces

Increation

The worktop on the other side of the kitchen, which houses the hob and sink, needed to be more durable, so Tom used composite stone inlaid with brass. ‘Marble can be quite soft and stains very easily, so it made sense to use a more practical material here,’ he explains.

Increation

‘As there’s a lot going on in the rest of the kitchen, we decided to keep the tap simple,’ says Tom. He settled on an Abode single lever in a matt finish. In another nod to the French café theme, the splashback is mirrored antiqued glass, the foxed finish adding just the right vintage note.

Increation

The ceilings of the warehouse are high and the owner wanted to utilise this space for storage. ‘We decided to use simple white cupboards above the sink,’ says Tom. ‘It’s quite a large block and we didn’t want this part of the kitchen to look too imposing, so we kept them light so as not to make a feature of them.’

What do you think of this kitchen's brasserie-style? Would you like to incorporate some of its elements into your own kitchen? Let us know in the comments.

http://www.houzz.co.uk/photos/kitchen

Tweet