What Does a Bespoke Kitchen Actually Mean?
Updated: Oct 5
The word bespoke is used quite widely when describing kitchens. It can refer to anything from choosing the colour and handles on a standard range to having every part of a kitchen designed and made specifically for a particular house.
For us, it means starting without a predetermined set of cabinet sizes or configurations. The layout, proportions, materials and construction can all be developed around the room and the requirements of the people who will use it.
That freedom doesn't necessarily result in a more complicated kitchen. Often it simply allows us to make more appropriate decisions.
Starting without standard cabinet sizes
Most manufactured kitchens are based around a range of predetermined cabinet widths and depths. There is nothing inherently wrong with that approach, but it inevitably influences how a kitchen can be arranged.
Making cabinetry to order removes many of those restrictions.
A run of cupboards can be divided according to what needs to be stored rather than the sizes available from a catalogue. An island can be made to suit the proportions of the room. Cabinet depths can change where additional storage is useful, and awkward corners or changes in the building can be dealt with individually.
Sometimes the difference might only be a few centimetres, but across an entire kitchen those decisions can have a considerable effect.
Designing around the house
The architecture is usually one of the first things we consider.
In an older property there may be chimney breasts, uneven walls, existing mouldings or unusually positioned windows and doors to work around. Contemporary extensions present different questions, particularly where the kitchen forms part of a larger living and dining space.
Rather than treating these as obstacles, they often help determine the layout.
The relationship between cabinetry and the building is important too. Full-height cupboards, cornices, plinths, scribes and end panels all affect how fitted furniture sits within a room.
The intention isn't necessarily for the kitchen to disappear into the architecture, but it should feel comfortable within it.
Storage that reflects what is actually needed
Storage requirements vary considerably from one household to another.
Some clients need substantial food storage, others want large drawers for pans and crockery. Small appliances may need to remain accessible without being permanently on display. Glassware, spices, trays, recycling and cleaning equipment all have their own practical requirements.
Designing the cabinetry from scratch allows those things to influence the internal arrangement.
Drawers can be made to particular widths and depths, dividers can be incorporated where useful and larger cupboards can be configured around specific items.
It means the inside of the kitchen receives much the same consideration as the outside.
Materials aren't limited to a range
A bespoke kitchen also gives us much greater freedom with materials.
We regularly work with painted cabinetry, solid timber and natural veneers, but projects can also incorporate materials such as birch plywood, Corian, stone, stainless steel and other metals.
The choice is partly visual and partly practical.
A timber might be selected for its grain and character, while another surface may be better suited to a worktop or heavily used area. Combining materials can also help distinguish different elements within a kitchen rather than applying one finish throughout.
We usually develop these choices through samples before manufacture begins.
Appliances can be considered from the outset
Appliances have a significant influence on kitchen design, particularly when they are integrated.
Rather than designing cabinetry first and finding somewhere for the appliances afterwards, their dimensions and positions can form part of the layout from the beginning.
The same applies to extraction, electrical requirements, plumbing and lighting.
Resolving these elements during the drawing stage helps keep the finished kitchen straightforward, with services and equipment incorporated into the cabinetry wherever possible.
Details that come from the project
Handles, drawer construction, shelving, internal fittings and junctions between different materials are all opportunities to develop details specifically for a kitchen.
That doesn't mean every component needs to be unusual.
A simple recessed handle may be appropriate for one project, while another might use solid timber pulls or metal hardware. Open shelving might require concealed reinforcement, while a large drawer could need a particular construction because of what it will contain.
These decisions are generally made because they solve something within the project, rather than simply to make the kitchen appear bespoke.
Made in the workshop
Once the design and drawings have been agreed, the kitchen moves into manufacture.
Making the cabinetry in our own North London workshop means the drawings, material samples and discussions that shaped the design remain available to the people making it.
It also gives us the ability to resolve details during manufacture rather than relying on standard components or predetermined construction methods.
Cabinetry is assembled and checked in the workshop before being taken to site for installation.
Does bespoke have a particular look?
Not really.
We've made traditional framed kitchens with painted cabinetry and dovetailed oak drawers, as well as much more contemporary kitchens using walnut, pippy oak, Fenix, Corian and stainless steel.
What makes them bespoke isn't a particular door style, material or type of handle.
It's the fact that the kitchen has been developed for a particular project rather than adapted from an existing range.
That can be expressed through something immediately noticeable, such as an unusual island or material, or through relatively modest decisions about dimensions, storage and construction.
A kitchen made for one house
The main advantage of working this way is flexibility.
It allows the kitchen to respond to the dimensions and character of the building, the amount and type of storage required, the materials the client wants to use and the way the room will function day to day.
Not every decision needs to announce itself.
Ideally, once the kitchen is installed, many of those decisions simply result in something that fits the room properly and works as intended.
You can see examples of these different approaches across our handmade kitchen projects.
Discuss a project
If you're considering a bespoke kitchen, fitted furniture or joinery project, please get in touch. We'd be happy to discuss the space, what you have in mind and how we might approach it.
