Case Studies
We designed and built a stylish kitchen extension on a period property near Guildford, Surrey.
The brief
A galley kitchen is great …if you’re on a boat!
But if you have a family to feed, friends to entertain, Christmas, anniversaries, all requiring copious amounts of food preparation, a kitchen in which you can barely swing a skillet, let alone a cat, with roof beams so low that you are at permanent risk of concussion, just doesn’t cut it!
It was critical to the execution of the brief of extending the tiny kitchen of this period Surrey cottage into a family kitchen and entertaining hub, to create the internal space while maintaining the external aesthetic of a simple, semi-rural cottage.
The design
In preparation, we removed the redundant chimney in the corner and took out the whole of the existing kitchen wall, giving uninterrupted space from the back of the kitchen right through into the orangery
The high wall on the right was initially viewed as a problem, as it belonged to the neighbour. Luckily, a very sympathetic neighbour, who, after viewing drawings and with some guarantees from our Structural Engineer, was happy to agree to the orangery abutting directly on to the wall.
In fact, the height of the wall helped to reduce the effect of the height of the orangery against the low eaves of the cottage.
Whilst the fully glazed elevations of the orangery serve to minimise the impact of the bulk of the orangery against the cottage.
Completing the project
The real transformation of course is on the inside; not just the space but the décor, the colours, the blinds, the floor tiles, the furniture.
And, instead of peering through low, steamed up windows into the garden from the kitchen, you are virtually in the garden.
And, as you can see from the photos, the gardens really are a wonderful setting to be enjoyed. From inside in the wet and the winter or spilled out onto the patio, with French doors wide open in the summer.
Bravo!
Our guarantee
All works, even those carried out by our contractors, are covered by our 10 year warranty. And, 12 months after the installation has been completed, we return to check everything is in good working order and the orangery has settled in over the past year.
