Traditional Kitchen Design

Traditional Kitchen Design - Norwich

The Brief

To entirely renovate the existing kitchen, utility, cloakroom and downstairs shower room. The overall effect must be light and bright but also classic to tie in with the traditional elements of this older property.

About The Project

‘The existing kitchen diner was already a lovely sized room to start with, but it was rather dark in the kitchen area which was quite far away from the large bay window in the breakfast/dining area.

This was not helped by the dark kitchen units, tiles and flooring. The entire space needed to work for a large, extended family and to have a real social, relaxed feel. Additional storage was also a key requirement.

There was an existing chimney, but it was a very awkward and uneven chimney space, so I designed a new large chimney breast to be built out of studwork over the top to even it out and create a central design feature to the whole room.

My design included a large breakfast bar area. As this space was open plan and there are often a lot of people all together in the space at once, a breakfast bar helps to divide the working kitchen from the more social area, but the bar stools allow people to still be connected to whoever is working in the kitchen. Whilst I don’t normally put bar seating with backs to a view, in this instance I was able to include a dining table and space for a new sofa at the other end of the room, so there was already plenty of available seating able to take full advantage of the beautiful views. The breakfast bar also added further storage on the kitchen side and much more usable work surface – perfect for serving food to a hungry family. I also designed a large dresser cabinet with an oak worktop and lit glass cabinets on top to help tie in the kitchen area with the breakfast/dayroom side. This provided additional storage and a place where more delicate glassware could be kept dust free.

My clients really wanted the kitchen to be practical and easy to clean so requested tiles all around the cooking area and tough, waterproof flooring, but they wanted the kitchen to have a homely, warm feel as well. They like grey tones, so I designed the kitchen with a grey textured, hard-wearing flooring, and warm light grey kitchen doors, and a softly textured off-white quartz worksurface. I chose a porcelain hand-made style off-white wall tile to add some character and depth.

Bespoke oak shelving meant that my clients could add their own sense of style and personality to the room with cook books and mugs easy to hand. The wicker bar stones, wooden light pendants and vintage leather sofa with bright cushions also created beautiful and colourful elements to the space.'

Rebecca Coulby

What Our Client Says

'We were very pleased with the service that we had from Coulby Interiors. Rebecca designed us a light and airy new kitchen, taking into account our suggestions, and then turning them into something very personal and different. All the different skilled workmen who came to complete the project were polite, helpful and efficient - we could never have organised such a stream of professionals for ourselves.

Given that the work also included completely re-modelling and refitting a separate toilet and a toilet / shower room, as well as the utility and pantry, the time scale was very reasonable. We are now back in our brand new, very special kitchen and would not hesitate to recommend Rebecca and her team to anyone. Either she or Thomas visited the project regularly to ensure good progress, and make sure we were completely satisfied with the results. We certainly are!.'

Mr & Mr Beardsworth

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