I had been designing handmade cabinetry, mainly traditional hand painted bespoke kitchens along with all sorts of furniture for over twenty years when I woke up one morning and smelt the Exhale coffee.

I had a sudden urge to show the world I possessed the capability to be more than a one trick pony and could, with a passion, create designs for the contemporary lovers amongst you out there in the big wide world.

With the move of our showroom from Guildford town centre in Surrey to Alton in Hampshire, a space now existed that would allow me the privilege of showcasing a very special contemporary bespoke kitchen created from scratch with no agenda as the client would be me so no brief or instructions other than letting my imagination run riot in the hope it would result in the conception of a striking new conception built to inspire and please.

I wanted a starting point to drive this whole bespoke kitchen project and this was to be decided on with the choice of a colour dark colour palette. It was to be grey, a dark gunmetal graphite grey to be precise.

The trouble with colour is the possibilities from the mixing of hues and tones makes the availability of choice infinite and therefore, very difficult unless you have a determining factor, which in this case, I did.

That being my desired appliance brand was Gaggenau. Their signature collection and brand identity just happens to be that exact colour. What made the exact shade of grey a now easy choice was the singular tone they use just happened to sit very, very comfortably with my  favoured choice.

The fact that nearly every appliance manufacturer has the most limiting of colour palettes can make bespoke kitchen design a little restricting at times but a challenge I relish and always manage to conceive a desired aesthetic.

Now began the task of colour coordinating the remaining elements and materials to be used in this quite unique and personal signature bespoke kitchen collection which I had now decided to market under the the new title of ‘Studio CK’. I liked this moniker as I felt it had a nicely distinct contemporary timbre that resonated well with this fresh formulation.

First up (mainly as it was the easiest) was the main door colour as this could be matched to the Gaggenau signature colour without any problem. The joinery paint shop are very adept at this kind of colour ‘Mix & Match’ scenario so that meant one box ticked.

I managed to get very lucky on the next element which was the introduction of a natural wood detail that I felt would be needed to break up but still compliment the overall finished styling. For a delightfully elegant yet practical distinction, I chose Egger. They have the most amazing product in an array of beautiful finishes that makes my life easy and yours a joy.

The luck seemed to be holding when it came to the internal hardware choice for the extension larders and draws along with the pull out bins. The Italian ‘Fusion’ range came in Anthracite which just happened (luckily) to match the exact colour palette being used so far.

Choosing to go ‘handleless’ with this project helped immensely as the difficult options on handles now evaporated whilst keeping a clean and minimal look so desired in the contemporary bespoke kitchen arena.

Last but not least by a country mile was the preferred worktop material. So many great substrates exist in the market place right now but I really believed that natural stone over quartz with it’s God created patterns would truly lift this design with their bold flare. The organic nature of the markings would grab the attention and elevate the simple expression overseeing this exclusive composition.

That’s the components nailed. Now for the features needed to ennoble this originative architecture. Difficult to know where to begin as I had to make this bespoke kitchen something very special so no holds barred approach was employed.

Let’s begin with probably the most important feature in any kitchen, the cooking arrangement. I had the opportunity to create a display of what I believed to be is the most effective and efficient oven set up giving you the greatest diversity and advanced cookery heating methods available to the market along with a capacity to cope with most domestic situations. This concoction consisted of the Gaggenau 45cm Steam oven, 45cm Microwave, 30cm warmer draw and 60cm main oven accompanied by a 90cm induction hob with built in extraction. I will be going into this in greater detail with full reasoning on our You Tube channel very soon so keep an eye out for this valuable insight.

Next up, refrigeration. The choice again was Gaggenau and the ubiquitous French door fridge freezer accompanied by the gorgeous dual zone under counter wine cooler fridge.

All details on every element of this bespoke kitchen along with links can be found in the footer of this journal post.

Following on from the above, is the wet area. Tap chosen was the Quooker Pro 3 Flex with CUBE option giving you chilled filtered sparkling water alongside the Hot, Cold and boiling water. Finished in Matt Black ( Gunmetal not available at the time) but we did have the choice of Anthracite in an 1810 sink to sit with the worktops and cabinetry. Sitting pretty next to this we went with the Gaggenau dishwasher and flanking that a soft close recycle bin collaboration.

Moving around the perimeter, we meet up with one of our signature and most desired ‘Tea & Toast’ breakfast cabinets housing all you need for the coffee machine and Dualit toaster along with soft close glass fronted anodised drawers and PIR switched internal lighting.

Skipping past the Ovens and fridge we find a cavernous but ergonomically designed extending larder. A great feature making a very useful and practical adaption to lost space on storage. Colour matched to the furniture, the racks attached to the doors give an easy access to all that this cabinet hides and also offers the same to the rear extending racks.

We have also made great use in the normally ‘dead’ corners with the addition of swing out kidney shelves making this area an extra bonus when it comes to storage solutions.

Above the back wall of the perimeter cabinets, we added a smoked glass frameless cabinet display with internal ambient back uplighting feature. This creates a stunning elevated and imposing presence to the whole aesthetic of the completed bespoke kitchen.

The final showcase centrepiece is the island. Attention seeking at it’s very best. On the south side, we have open ended bookcase displays with a glorious wood effect back wall kick plate stooled seating area for three (possibly four).

On the opposing north side, we have steered away from the sprayed door finish and opted to mirror the south sides wood effect fascia cleverly hiding half a dozen very large pan/storage drawers set on soft close Blum runners. Wrapping all this up very nicely in a Consentino 30mm Sensa Silver Grey granite with waterfall ends.

Oh, nearly forgot one last and luxurious feature with end flanking tambour sliding doored cabinets. These can be used fully open as display cabinets with glass shelves allowing the PIR switched LED lights to bath the full cabinet in a very seductive ambient light or neatly closed pff with the roller shutter doors especially powder coated in Gunmetal to match the chosen colour palette of this project.

Finally, finally. The illustrious drinks open wall display, our ‘G&T’ special. Again, powder coated colour matched anodised ironmongery sitting sweetly on the Egger wood effect board and given a floating appearance with a spaced fixing and LED back light surround. Temptation awaits.

All of the above is featured in a full length video below.

I think that’s it for now other than to say we do have the capacity to create furniture and room sets for the whole house including the pantry, larder, boot room,  wine cellar bedroom wardrobe and walk in dressing room and any further requirements you may have but not listed here.