Southampton Kitchen

We recently completed this project for a family in Southampton and we are in love with the final results! Our clients requested an L shape run of cabinetry, a kitchen island in a contrasting colour, as well as a bespoke office area off the kitchen.

When we asked our clients what was something they knew the wanted / needed from the get-go, they said: “When we decided we needed a new kitchen, we already had quite a few ideas. We're all for a house looking great, but it HAS to be practical too. With 3 teenagers in the house, it's pretty busy, so we wanted something that was able to be super organised, functional and above all an efficient use of the space, that would provide us with a sociable, easy going and welcoming heart to our home.”

This open plan kitchen features bespoke cabinetry from our Westgate range, named after the Westgate Towers of Canterbury. This modern shaker style kitchen is unique in that it has a thinner frame and T-bars between the units. The main run of cabinetry is painted in Mylands ‘Sloane Square’, a beautiful off-white and ‘Downing Street’ for the island a chalky black, again by Mylands.

One of the most exciting parts of being completely bespoke, is that we are able to create wonderful pieces tailor made to each client and their spaces. Here our clients requested an office area at the end of the kitchen, so William designed a floating desk big enough for two with two drawers for office storage and two floating shelves overhead, all made from gorgeous solid oak.

“We wanted our kitchen to bring everyone in the family together. We have our own business, so have to work from home at times, and that combined with homework and how integral IT and 'home admin' has become into our lives, wanted an area that could be used for this type of work within the kitchen space. It works so well. If one of the kids needs help with homework, you can be pottering in the kitchen or cooking dinner and are on hand, it's just as we envisaged!

The worktops are a beautiful light quartz in the colour ‘Calacatta Gold’. The client chose to have the quartz carry on all the way up the extractor unit over their range cooker, not only making any cooking splashing very easy to clean but also adds a certain grandness to the space.

A lovely little nook of open shelving is nestled in the corner, making it easier to access, but also a great way to break up the cabinetry and display cookbooks and beautiful containers.

We are able to make any style of cabinetry in our workshop, from kitchen, utilities and bespoke wardrobes by our talented carpenters and painters. Each unit is made with care and everyone takes great pride in what they create. If you would like to visit the workshop, you can call us or book an appointment.

The large double larder painted in ‘Sloane Square’ and houses 3 oak shelves and 3 deep oak drawers as well as a cold shelf matching the kitchen worktops. This is a great way to create continuity and harmony in the kitchen and makes cleaning any spillages extra easy. Two painted spice racks with the lovely detail of the brass rods sit inside each door making finding herbs and spices easy and organised.

The hardware of a space is just as important as everything else; different finishes and style can dramatically change the overall look of your kitchen whether it’s adding a more angular pull on a traditional shaker door or a more traditional burnished brass cup pull on a flat door.

Our clients described the process of choosing colours and hardware: “The kitchen is a huge investment, so we wanted something pretty neutral, that would stand the test of time (we're not brave enough for bright, bold colours!). We did a lot of research online and liked the communication of a different colour island to wall units. Will showed us Downing Street at our design consultation and we instantly fell in love. The pale grey just worked perfectly. As soon as we saw that combination of colours with the brushed brass it was an easy decision to make. The brass looks fantastic and we love the gnarled detail on the handles and knobs.”

For this kitchen, our clients chose a mixture of our Sparkbrook Pull handle and Sparkbrook knob, both in a satin brass finish. The colour of these handles brings some warmth to the otherwise cool tone kitchen, while the knurled detailing on them adds texture and design complexity.

Our clients paired their handles with matching brass sockets, a satin brass finish Perrin & Rowe tap over the double undermounted sink as well as the hardware on their simple pendant lights over the kitchen island.

You don’t always have to match your handles to your taps etc, mixing metals is very common and can add a lot of interest to your kitchen. Read the blogpost we wrote about Mixing Metals if you’re interested in learning more about this.

On the other side of the kitchen is another tall larder unit with a whopping 7 oak shelves, perfect to house all of the family’s tableware and crockery.

We love finding room for any additional storage our clients might need, here we added an extra bit of storage above the American fridge / freezer unit for little bits and bobs.

When asked what their favourite part of their new kitchen was, our clients said: “Aside from the fact it looks amazing and makes us smile every day, we love the fact that in reality it has surpassed our expectations. It's really hard designing a space that doesn't exist (it was part of an extension), so seeing and experiencing it come to life and knowing the design and choices work so well is incredible. We couldn't pick a favourite part - the quality, the look, the practicality, the small details that make it extra special, it has it all! If we had to pick, the tall storage cupboard for all the crockery and incorporating 2 dishwashers would be the winners!”

Our lovely clients had this to say about the experience:

“From the moment we came across Herringbone online, we knew there was no other option for our new kitchen! Visiting the studio in Canterbury was so exciting. The team are obviously extremely knowledgeable about all things kitchen design! Their values, focus on quality and attention to detail really stood out throughout the whole process. The fitters were all brilliant and clearly take immense pride in their work. Any minor issues we experienced along the journey were dealt with quickly and professionally, with the utmost care and attention. We couldn't be happier with our Herringbone experience and look forward to many years enjoying our wonderful kitchen space. Thank you to William, Elly and all the Herringbone team.

- Fiona & Paul, Southampton

This was such a fun project to work on and we are so happy with how it turned out! We wish our clients many happy memories in their brand new kitchen.