design et al are delighted to announce that Eggersmann Design has been shortlisted for Kitchen Design Over £150,000 Award in The International Design & Architecture Awards 2019.
The client, a young family of five plus their dog, had inherited an old and outdated Mark Wilkinson kitchen when they moved into the property. Having lived with it for over 15 years they initially approached Eggersmann Design to replace it with a like for like layout however, after much consultation, the client decided to opt for a total reconfiguration of the space.
A key part of the brief was that the client wanted a large stone-clad island with as many clever storage solutions as possible. The client wanted a sleek and elegant kitchen that didn’t compromise on functionality. As the kitchen is situated in a large open-plan dining / living space it was important to consider this brief with a wider, holistic approach. It was essential that Eggersmann Design took these surrounding zones into consideration when designing the new kitchen.
It was important that the kitchen met the various needs of the family yet did not dominate the room. Balance was achieved by enclosing a pantry / utility space behind the large integrated refrigeration appliances. Eggersmann Design had a bulky structural pillar which was fixed and due to its position limited us somewhat on layout options. The solution was to repeat a similar detail to the right of the refrigerators and connect them with a timber structure cladded in plaster board and decorated to match – therefore creating an illusion of the kitchen joinery and doorway into the pantry area perfectly fitting within an existing structure.
The 14 ft stone-clad island provides most of the storage space and is the focal-point of the room, yet remains elegant and unobtrusive. By slicing the pale stone to a just 12mm thick, a process unique to Eggersmann design, they were able to apply natural stone to the entire island, including the moving drawer elements, recessed grip areas and plinth.
The design had to ensure that the kitchen worked in harmony with the surrounding spaces. The bespoke curved velvet bench in the corner of the kitchen was a crucial element of the design, serving to balance the hard lines and meticulous geometry of the kitchen cabinetry and to blur the boundaries between the three zones. Ambient lighting was added within the open cabinetry as well as underneath them in order to soften the overall look of the kitchen zone.