Minimalist German Kitchen

Berkshire

Creating a kitchen that honours the aesthetic of its contemporary surroundings was the challenge when creating this kitchen, which featured within an award-winning new build project by Gregory Phillips Architects.

This new build home won the International Design & Architecture Award for Best Luxury Residence in Europe 2017 and was long-listed for RIBA House of the Year 2018.

The client was building their dream architect-designed home and wanted a minimalist kitchen featuring clean lines and concrete which was to work alongside the theme of their house.

They were keen to include a stunning centrepiece, such as a showstopping island, and wanted to include a bar area for entertaining. Appliances were to be high spec as the client was a professional food technician. As the kitchen was to sit within an open plan dining and living area, it was key that the kitchen blended into the space with minimal noise from extraction when cooking.

Michael closely followed the architect’s design theme for the house by recommending kitchen furniture from our German collection, which features super sleek lines and high build quality. He used a blend of concrete, steel and glass with 10mm shadow gaps, along with a flush ceiling mount extractor, to create the ultimate minimalist look.

Michael recommended using stowaway doors to hide a drinks bar and food preparation area. This created an easily accessible functional area in the kitchen which would retain a minimalist look when not in use, but would transform the space when entertaining. The floating concrete island was a showstopping focal point of the kitchen. It was designed in-house and constructed in the elements workshop using steel bars to take the weight off the concrete.

To minimise the impact of noise in the living space, a powerful extractor was required. The extraction rate needed was difficult to achieve; it had to fit flush to the ceiling and, being in the centre of the house, it had to be powerful enough to cope with the range cooker and be quiet enough for open plan living. Michael designed a Westin bespoke extraction system with a powerful inline motor, which was located in the hallway upstairs, sending the ducting up through the roof.