Project in focus: CAMBRIDGE GARDENS

If James Bond had a kitchen, I’m pretty sure this would be it.

Bursting with charisma, this bijou space is a workhorse of a kitchen dressed in a tux.

Situated on the upper ground floor of a grand Victorian villa, this flat had all the traditional features so beloved of the era. So when considering the design for this space, it felt appropriate to echo these features within the architecture of the kitchen.

Fortuitously, the client was particularly fond of our Blenheim and Sudbrooke kitchens, elements of which you will see echoed in this latest design.

The panelling detail on the cabinetry, while certainly a traditional style, was intentionally kept quite chunky to offer a contemporary twist to the joinery. Painting the timber a masculine blue-black known as Basalt from Little Green Paint Company added that extra touch of drama and elegance to the space.

For those that know us here at Blakes London well, you will probably have noticed that we like to incorporate a wow moment into our designs. In this kitchen, it could be argued that there are a few. For some, it’s the raw brass library ladder, which doesn’t just look the part but also serves a functional purpose allowing access to the very tall units at ceiling height.

Normally we like to keep a bit of space between the tops of the units and the ceiling to offer a sense of flow to an area. However, in this instance, where space was at a premium, we were able to work with the incredible ceiling heights within the property to make a feature out of this additional storage space.

For a designer, the wow moments tend to lie within the subtleties of design. Subtleties that the eye may not focus on, but details that offer a pavlovian response. In this case, it’s the brass inlay within the countertop of the whiskey bar. Acting as a visual divider between the kitchen and the living space, this little perching point adds a sense of maturity and decadence to the space.

The brass inlay in the bar countertop ties this little bar appendage to the rest of the kitchen. Somewhat reminiscent of the leather inlays one finds in traditional gentleman's' clubs in the Scottish Highlands, using a brass inlay on the counter oozes luxury while on a more practical level, helping stop scuff marks on what might normally be a high traffic painted surface.

The Sub Zero Wolfe range cooker, with its instantly recognisable red knobs, adds gravitas to the scheme adding a formidable focal point to the wall run. And while we may have chosen to use raw brass for the hot water tap and cabinetry hardware, we decided to keep the cooker hood stainless steel for a sense of zoning and cohesion in the choice of materiality.

We really do feel that these well-considered pairings really do bring a scheme together.

We do hope that you find this kitchen to be as striking as we do. It’s certainly one of our hero kitchens of 2020!

From London, with love!