Kitchen of the Week: Colour and Creativity Combine in a Rural Cottage

Kitchen of the Week: Colour and Creativity Combine in a Rural Cottage- It’s not often a bright yellow range cooker is the starting point for a kitchen design, but Jo, an artist, and her partner, Dave, were determined to include one in their Somerset cottage. ‘The kitchen grew from Jo’s choice of range and her ideas for storage, much of which now contains her art and crafting materials,’ says Sam Shaw of Sustainable Kitchens, who designed the space. Additional colour was added with blue painted cabinets and Sam brought Jo’s sketches for a unique cabinet of drawers and cupboards to life using a mix of interesting woods.

Finished in August 2014, the kitchen is now both brilliantly functional and uniquely personal. And despite sitting within a 19th century cottage, it’s about as far from typical country kitchen style as it’s possible to imagine. ‘It’s colourful, playful and just so much fun,’ says Sam.

Sustainable Kitchens

Kitchen at a Glance
Who lives here Jo, Dave and their two children
Location Long Ashton, Somerset
Size 5.1m x 3.3m. The cottage has 3 bedrooms
Designer Sam Shaw of Sustainable Kitchens

The exposed stone walls of this cottage kitchen contribute heaps of character to the space, against which a mix of painted cabinets, a super-bright range and solid oak worktops stand out handsomely. All the cabinets have oak frontages and frames, with birch interiors.

‘The cabinets are sprayed first in our workshop to get a good base shade, then we install them and finish off by hand-painting them,’ says Sam. ‘The great thing about using oak is you can still see the grain through the paint.’

Cabinets painted in Stone Blue Estate Eggshell, Farrow & Ball.

Sustainable Kitchens

Owner Jo had this Bertazzoni range cooker in mind when she first chatted to Sam about the kitchen design. ‘She had it spray painted at the Ferrari factory in Italy,’ he says, ‘in bespoke Ferrari yellow!’ The pendant light over the island was also coloured in this way.

Jo’s partner, Dave, a metalworker, made the France-shaped splashback from stainless steel. ‘The couple love France and go there every year,’ says Sam. ‘It’s beautifully made, with the steel folded at the same height as the upstand so it fits perfectly.’

Range, Bertazzoni.

Read expert advice on choosing the perfect splashback

Sustainable Kitchens

The yellow range and pendant light create bright focal points in the space, complemented by the blue units. ‘It’s quite unusual for clients to suggest this much colour, but since we’ve had this kitchen on our website, it’s made a big impact,’ says Sam. ‘It’s just so much fun!’

To make use of vertical space, Sam created the pan rack over the range from metal bars with oak brackets, ‘rather like a clothes airer,’ he says.

Sustainable Kitchens

Fitting the solid oak worktops and upstands in against the uneven stone walls was a big challenge. ‘We scribed them in, which means cutting the wood by hand so it fits perfectly,’ says Sam. ‘It was a huge job for our installation team.’

Walls painted in All White Estate Emulsion, Farrow & Ball.

Sustainable Kitchens

Space was tight in this cottage kitchen, so Sam designed a small-scale island for the centre of the room. ‘There was a little table in the middle before, which Jo loved to work at, so she really wanted an island in the same spot, but it had to be small,’ says Sam. ‘Now she does a lot of food prep in this area.’

Sustainable Kitchens

The cabinet built into the alcove at the far end of the room was designed by Jo. ‘We all call it the bonkers cabinet!’ says Sam. ‘It’s a random mix of drawers and doors, and we built it exactly according to Jo’s sketch.’

It’s fitted with sliding doors at the base to make efficient use of space. ‘The dining table is right next to it and there wasn’t enough room to open doors outwards,’ explains Sam. ‘We wanted to cram as much storage into this small room as we could!’

Sustainable Kitchens

The drawers in the ‘bonkers cabinet’ are all made from different British hardwoods. ‘We have an agreement with a sawmill in Somerset called Interesting Timbers,’ says Sam. ‘They take down trees that are overhanging people’s homes and we buy the offcuts and make them into drawers.’

These drawers are made of, from left to right: ash, walnut, beech and yew. ‘This arrangement gives us access to all kinds of interesting hardwoods and it fits with our sustainable ethic, too,’ he adds.

Sustainable Kitchens

Jo found the mixer tap on a Swedish website and imported it. ‘It’s self-colour brass, so it looks quite muted,’ says Sam. ‘It can be hard to find brass that hasn’t been polished and made to look bling.’

The cupboard knobs are made from turned mild steel. ‘It has a nice dull colour,’ says Sam.

Explore how to pick the best metals for your taps and handles

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