Firstly, there are the larger appliances: fridge/freezer, oven, dishwasher. But don’t forget all the smaller appliances such as toaster, mixer, juicer. It’s surprising how much room these kitchen implements take up.
Then the worktop space needs to be generous enough to cook and prepare with ease.
Storage space is also essential. Fresh food and dried goods need separate storage solutions.

A popular and useful way of addressing these practical problems is to include an island in your kitchen design. There are a few benefits of this approach:

• More storage space, particularly if you use drawers.
• You can site the sink or the hob in the island It’s a good way to zone your kitchen if it’s open plan.
• It is an opportunity to bring another material or colour into the room contrasting with the main kitchen unit run.

The island unit can be large or more of a peninsular. It can be just a cooking station or a substitute table and social area.
The thing to consider is how much room the island will take up. You need to remember that you will walk around it and have cupboards or drawers opening out or have seating that people need to move out.
A good addition to the kitchen design. Look at the sense of having one and plan accordingly.

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David Hall Kitchens work mainly in the East of England and they produce a wide range of options for their clients from sleek modern to traditional wooden.

A more well known company that has a bespoke tradition is Plain English. They can do the shaker style we are all so familiar with but they also do a more contemporary range that looks great in a country house setting as well as a London apartment.

A smaller company who are up and coming are Naked Kitchens. They produce an excellent standard of workmanship as well as an interesting approach to design with gives them a more individual edge.

All three of these companies do fabulous work. You just need an equally fabulous designer to pull these ideas together !!!

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The shelves themselves can be made from contrasting materials to the main units. You can have glass, metal, wood or marble. They can be lit for ambience at night, floating or fixed. There is so much choice that you can see how this brings entirely new elements into your kitchen design fairly economically.

If you have a spare wall in the kitchen, shelving can be used as a display area for ceramics that you use, such as salad dishes or more decorative glass or plants to brighten up your working space. It is possible to mix up all these elements in a display on the shelves and change it whenever you feel the mood take you. Open shelves are for the imaginative and artistic to fill and arrange with pride.

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These hard surfaces though are cold and unsympathetic to anything dropped on them. Stone is an attractive floor but this often gets very messy especially in the grouting. A flagstone irregular floor does look nice and the imperfections and a bit of wear and tear gives the room a sense of timelessness. These solid hard floors mainly work best with underfloor heating – either electric mats or wet plumbed heating. I have had plenty of success with actual wood flooring, both weathered planks and parquet. If they are laid well they function very effectively and give a nice ambience to the room as generally this can be continued into other parts of the house. However you may need to sand them down every four years and re varnish as they will be scratched and dirty over time.

Another option is good vinyl flooring. Once this was a very limited type of flooring but now Karndean and Amtico do pretty good imitation wood and stone flooring that will surprise you. Not cheap, they are very washable and almost indestructible so you will get a lifetime of wear from them. Again they do many different colours and textures with a wide variety of textures.

Keep things simple as regards the floor as you may change the units and you probably will re decorate but the floor – well thats just not going away.

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We are particularly taken with the range of dark green tones available both as paint and wallpaper as well as deep green velvets in upholstery and accessories.

Farrow and Ball have come to the Green Party by producing a new green called Bancha. This colour is a yellow toned green and works well as both a wall colour and on paintwork. We have used it in a vicarage kitchen where the units are wooden and the space is generally a cottage feel. This green adds depth and intensity to what was a cold room.

Mylands’ Brompton Road is a much more modern take on green. It is a flatter more racing green feel. This works well with a lot of styling using golds and neutrals to bring the colour to life. It works best by contrast rather than standing alone.

Another way of introducing green would be through wallpaper. There are many to choose from. The contemporary stylings of The House of Hackney and Mind the Gap will give you the feel of the greenhouse or of being immersed in fernery. One we particularly like is the trees of Cole and Sons paper called Forest.

Finally if this is all too much greenery, just introduce a touch of the world of leaves and trees in the covering of an occasional chair or a dark green velvet curtain.

This is a flexible look and can be adapted to many interiors. Green can be seen in the kitchen, bathroom or living room try it and see how you can bring a fresh spring new look to your home.

Visit or Gallery for more inspiration and modern interior design ideas or go back to the homepage and contact us on 01223 360797.

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Traditionally to be seen in kitchens gingham has been upgraded and moved into the sitting room and bedroom.

In a children’s bedroom this cheery fabric comes in lots of pastel shades to add interest in both curtains and blinds as well as cushions . We have moved on from the polarisation of blues / pinks being exclusively boy or girls and the aqua or yellow provide a fun option for colour.

It works best as a Roman blind with accompanying accessories such as lampshades and cushions.

You can use this cheeky check as a neutral in biscuit or oatmeal to contrast with more sumptuous fabrics in a sitting room. Gingham with a metallic thread can hold its own next to a silk or velvet. By putting this fabric on an occasional chair you will bring freshness and stability to your design.

Coming in such a variety of colours it’s simple and adaptable.

Less John Wayne cowboy : more country chic.

Visit or Gallery for more inspiration and modern interior design ideas or go back to the homepage and contact us on 01223 360797.

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This was particularly commonly seen in kitchens and proved to bring a sense of crisp naval chic to this area. Dark blue cabinets were used in our project here in Cambridge where we designed a funky kitchen for a young family.

We contrasted dark blue lower cabinets with the stark white of Corian worktops. The contrast was further offset by using metallics in stainless steel tiles and a stainless steel drawer unit. This flash of silver brought light and reflective glamour into the room.

Continuing this colour palette into the sitting space we kept the walls white but used the blue in a sofa and Ikat cushions. Building on the theme of interesting materials we used soft sheepskin rugs and wooden tables to bring warmth and character.

This monochrome look of navy and white looks clean and stylish. You don’t have to wear the naval uniform to look smart.

Visit or Gallery for more inspiration and modern interior design ideas or go back to the homepage and contact us on 01223 360797.

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