HEART OF THE HOME

All of life plays out in the kitchen, for this is truly the beating heart and social hub of the contemporary home. Here we fill our bellies as well as chill and chat – ‘earthing’ ourselves, our family and our friends, before embarking on the theatre of our everyday lives.

COMMUNICATION

The kitchen is nearly always the first room you go to as soon as you arrive home and it’s the room that everyone naturally gravitates to. As the central hub – for cooking, eating, chatting, family life and so much more besides – its successful design is crucial to a happy home. Being clear and realistic about your requirements is the first step to achieving this. Are you a great cook and love entertaining or do you just need somewhere to throw easy suppers together? Do you require any special equipment – a coffee machine, juicer, boiling-water tap or audio-visual system? Do you need to accommodate small children, a quiet corner for homework or pets? Is there space for a dining table, breakfast bar, sofa, separate utility area, or all of the above?

Practicality is everything in a kitchen, so ensure that there is a good ergonomic flow between your key areas for fridge, sink and hob. Make sure there is sufficient free work surface for preparing food, loading and unloading the dishwasher, taking hot things out of the oven and so on, and think about your route to and from the table.

Consider the suitability and maintenance of materials carefully – work surfaces, sinks and floors should all be easy to clean and able to withstand a certain amount of wear and tear without becoming scratched or stained.

Designing a kitchen is a bit like doing a very complicated jigsaw puzzle and I always work with a specialist kitchen designer to ensure that my clients get exactly the right layout and combination of storage, display, gadgets and furniture to fit their particular requirements.

This kitchen, in one of my previous homes, was situated at one end of the large open-plan living area, so its design needed to be sympathetic to the space as a whole. The dark wood cabinets echo the wood used elsewhere in the space, and the black parquet flooring extends throughout, although softened with a silk rug in the living area. Chainmail curtains were hung in all the windows to help create a positive flow of energy. The hob is set into a stainless-steel counter at right angles to the main work surface, creating a working area on one side and a breakfast bar on the other (see also here).

This family dining or homework area in the corner of a kitchen has a wonderfully cocooning feel, thanks to the semicircular seating that envelops people around the table. The artwork by Jean Baptiste Huynh is the focal point, while the Kevin Reilly light echoes the Modénature table below it.

A refreshing mix of materials has been juxtaposed in this monochrome kitchen. The linear elements – the white-lacquered units and island, white-painted oak table from St Paul Home, Kevin Reilly Altar light, dark oak door and floor – are offset by Andrew Martin’s acrylic Saturn chairs, which seem to float, the round glass vases, Hive task lights and playful mirrors.

This is one of my favourite kitchens I’ve ever had (see also here). When I bought the apartment, I relocated the kitchen from another room, which then became my gym, because I wanted to incorporate it into the main living space as it’s such a pivotal part of the modern home. People would always gather there and I could never get rid of them.

The adjoining dining area was a great space for conversation, for informal meals and working on the computer. The dark wood table and white leather chairs, both from Modénature, fit with the theme of the room as a whole and offset the lines and angles of the kitchen design. I had the circular chainmail light specially made by OCHRE to tie in with the chainmail hanging at the windows.

The informal eating area in a corner of the kitchen in my new home has built-in banquette seating and chairs around a taupe-lacquered table, with backlit shelves behind displaying an array of ceramic vases, coral and other objects. It is located at one end of the working part of the kitchen, so people can sit, chat or watch television while I prepare the food. It’s also a lovely, cosy space in which to eat.

The design of the wall-mounted kitchen units echoes the structural columns that frame the space and emphasize the grid. The marble breakfast bar ensures that the space feels both inclusive and partially enclosed, while also reflecting the horizontal lines of the extensive formal dining table in front and the dramatic pendant light suspended over it. The use of Cararra marble for the splashback and counter gives a luxurious feel that suits the tone of the room as a whole.

The simply furnished dining area (below) is at one end of the large, teak-style resin and quartz Poggenpohl kitchen (above), which has three walls of built-in cupboards and wall-mounted units, as well as two large islands, with a hob in one and one of two sinks in the other. The family that live here have lots of children, so the round table and eight tub chairs, upholstered in glazed linen, encourage everyone to gather together. The overscaled Avico light by Fontana Arte gives the seating area prominence, creating the feeling that this is a space where you sit and enjoy yourself. The collection of ceramic vessels is from Absolute Flowers.

How you set the table evokes the type of evening you’re going to have. Neutral shades of taupe, stone and pearly grey with milky blue glass on a calico cloth create a cool, relaxed vibe, with pleated napkins and organic spheres offsetting the order of the place settings. Coral and twigs on the mantelpiece play against the silver wallpaper runner.

This chic dining area is separated from the kitchen on the right by a counter (not seen) and from the living area on the left by an open partition that beautifully frames two huge DK Home vases. The bronze-based wood table and velvet and leather chairs from Promemoria give a luxe, glamorous feel to the space, along with the Mark Brazier-Jones Libertine chandelier and the end wall of marble, with wooden shelves displaying glassware and vases.

ABOVE AND BELOW This linear SieMatic kitchen is made light, bright and fresh by the predominant use of white, stainless steel, chrome and glass, but with blackened oak floorboards to ground the space and create drama. White is one of the happiest colours you can use, but mixing it with something darker and creating contrast makes it even more effective. Runners of white poured resin inset into the flooring define the grid and help to line everything up, including the row of Danetti bar stools, giving a sense of flow between the kitchen and dining zone in front of the window. Low-level lighting at the base of the units enhances this effect, while downlights under the wall-mounted cupboards provide task lighting for the work surface.

A big fridge is essential in my view. Here, I had my Sub-Zero fridge and oven built into bespoke dark wood cupboards to tie in with the blackened parquet flooring and other low-level kitchen units (see also here and here).

This island unit with cupboards on one side and bar stools on the other is part of a range I designed for Smallbone. In this bright, airy corner, and with two pendant lights hanging over the shiny marble surface, it makes a great alternative place to chat, eat or work on the computer.

In a space where hard materials reign, a cream leather bar stool with cool chrome edging adds a touch of luxe softness, especially when juxtaposed with the shiny surface of a milk-glass worktop.

The taps, furniture and lighting you choose are your pieces of kitchen sculpture. This kitchen bar is a welcoming and attractive place to sit on comfortable cream leather chairs facing the working area of the Boffi kitchen. There is also a conventional table and chairs behind for a more formal dining experience in this large, inclusive family kitchen (see also here).

Located at one end of a kitchen, this chic dining space – a favourite of mine – is the main dining area in the house and is given due prominence by the choice of luxury material for the table and the nickel-framed fireplace set high into the wall like a piece of art. The design of the table, made from beautiful slabs of marble, was based on a simple console table. Cream leather and nickel chairs and the row of slim, cylindrical glass pendants complete the understated glamour of the space.

CONVERSATION

The place where you fill your belly should be a happy one, whether you can cook or not. Dining spaces need to be inviting and comfortable, encouraging people to linger and savour the company and conversation as much as the food and wine you serve. Whether you have a large open-plan kitchen with an inclusive, informal eating area, or a separate formal dining room – these days, frequently considered a luxury and overlooked in favour of a study, playroom or extra bedroom – the dining area is somewhere to gather friends and family, celebrate special occasions and make lasting memories.

In terms of style, if your kitchen and dining area open onto other spaces, the colours and materials you choose should reflect those in the adjoining areas so there is a sense of continuity. If the dining area is in a separate room, you can feel free to create a different, more opulent mood with a palette of materials, textures and colours that come into their own by candlelight.

Flexible lighting is key for kitchens and dining spaces and should combine task, mood and statement lights, controlled, as always, by dimmer switches. Lights above dining tables need to be positioned carefully so that the light they cast is practical, flattering and comfortable for the eyes. Again, if the dining space and kitchen areas read as one, ensure that the lighting styles in the working and dining zones are sympathetic to one another in terms of materials, and balance each other in terms of shape and proportions. It’s a great opportunity to create arresting plays of textures and scale.

Perfect for entertaining, this imposing bar area was designed for clients in Shenzhen, using a palette of luxury materials including Calacatta marble, polished brass, rose-gold mirror and taupe wood. Brass inlays have been used in the timber floor, marble bar and mirrored panel on the wall behind. These runners wrap over onto the ceiling, giving a feeling of enclosure to the area. White silk and brass pendant lights are suspended over the marble bar top, where a selection of brass and marble accessories is displayed to complete the glamorous effect.

ABOVE AND BELOW The inviting dining area in this fantastic family kitchen has its own identity but is sympathetic to the style of the Boffi units behind, with their sleek configuration echoed by the strong lines of the oak table, which was stained on site to match the floorboards precisely. The sculptural curves and contrasting scale of the classic Wishbone chairs by Hans Wegner and the all-engulfing, velvet-upholstered Tom Dixon Wing chairs create a playful sense of balance. This almost comical contrast of scale is continued by the three enormous lacquered-steel Caravaggio pendant lights, with three circular containers of moss and succulents placed directly beneath them.

This light-filled dining room in the south of France is decorated in a calm palette of cream and white tones, with sand-coloured matting anchoring the table on the terrazzo floor that was the starting point for the scheme. The contemporary white resin-plaster table is complemented by white leather chairs, whose dark wood legs, along with the sideboard, ground the scheme. The white rectangular pendant light defines the grid but seems to float ethereally over the tabletop. The only colours in the room are the moody blue and green tones in the artworks.

The strict alignment of furniture using the grid is essential so that everything appears comfortable in its position and seems to belong there. In this open-plan, double-height space, the circular dining table has been placed directly in front of a specialist plaster wall that runs all the way to the ceiling between two windows. One of the spectacular Arteinmotion lights – a chandelier within a metal gimbal – that hang throughout the space at different heights is suspended directly above the centre of the table.

This view, like a cross section cut through a 3-D plan of the property, with little pockets of the upstairs visible, shows how important it is that all the materials and furnishings work together so that the vista is harmonious from any direction. The furniture, upholstery, cushions and tables in the formal living space in the foreground, the dining area beyond it and the television corner to the left of the space are all different, but the shapes, tones and textures work together and are unified by the flooring and joinery.

Different views of my dining space show how everything relates to something else and there is always another surprise for the eye – the mark of a good design is that you see something new every time you look. The dining space is defined by the long stone table that I designed for the space and which seats up to 30 people on a mix of Velin chairs and banquettes by Christian Liaigre, benches by Guillaume Alan and stools by Tom Dixon.

This view down the length of the table, through the pivoting lacquered doors into the television room, with the kitchen on the left (see also here and here), clearly shows the grid lines. The framework that I created between the structural columns is evident, and the spectacular pendant light cuts through the mid-height.

Seen from upstairs, the dining table takes centre stage in the space to the left of the support columns that zone off the living area (see also here and here).

Views of the dining area are framed by the open pivoting doors of the television room, with its informal seating; the room can be closed off for watching movies in seclusion.

The table aligns with the black specialist plaster runner, while the sharp diagonal of the staircase seems to cut through the Japanese-inspired slatted panel on the wall behind it. The gold plinth displaying the sculpture by Paul Vanstone and the stone pots under the stairs create balance.

Looking from the kitchen through to the conservatory and balcony, the black poured-resin floor of the chic, high-spec kitchen gives way to black narrow wooden floorboards. The furniture is a mix of custom-made designs and classic pieces, such as the Christian Liaigre stool and Warren Platner Knoll chair with purple leather upholstery.

Drama is brought to the glossy white Boffi kitchen cabinets by the black granite worktops and splashbacks. The crisp black doorway frames the view into the dining room, where the narrow black floorboards resume again and black shutters filter the light.

In this Georgian townhouse with a contemporary twist, the dining space leads into the kitchen, which in turn leads into the conservatory; all the spaces have different purposes but need to have a visual link so that one flows seamlessly into the next. The simple monochrome palette, with accents of pale pink, purple and bronze, including the hare sculpture by Barry Flanagan, works perfectly. The dark wood B&B Italia dining table is surrounded by dark wood and white leather Christian Liaigre chairs. The decorative glass-panelled doors were custom-made for the space, and the antique chandelier is the client’s own.