We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs.
Lucy Ward isn’t sure whether the 40% discrepancy between the initial quote for her kitchen extension and the itemized budget she received just weeks before the build came down to her builder miscalculating or inflation. Either way, it turned her remodel dreams to dust. “It was crazy. My partner, Chris, was like: ‘No way, we’re not doing it. We won’t be able to afford anything for the interior of the kitchen—we’ll just have a shell,’” she remembers. They couldn’t have that.
As the vice president of brand for Vinterior, a U.K.-based marketplace devoted to preowned furniture, Lucy is all about the finishing touches. Scrimping for an IKEA kitchen was never in her sights. “It’s not about things being expensive, but as I work day in and day out with vintage and antique pieces, it was really important to me where possible to source from that,” she explains.
Once she’d come to terms with working within their kitchen’s existing footprint, she tasked architect Mel Bax with fine-tuning the layout and sought the expertise of interior designer Laura Parkinson of Palmer & Stone. Here, they explain how by renovating instead of extending, they were still able to create the couple’s dream space.
Tailor Your Cabinetry to Your Height
“I know what colors I like, but I don’t know where to put the washing machine or sink,” jokes Lucy, who leaned on Parkinson for the finer details of the kitchen design. Lucy and Chris are both around 6 feet tall, so a bonus of enlisting millworker John Currie for bespoke cabinetry meant they could make the units a touch higher than the norm.
Parkinson also specified a shallower counter depth of 15 inches instead of the usual 23 to make the kitchen area not only feel more spacious, but grander, too. “If there was just one run of units and nothing on the other side, the space would actually feel smaller,” the designer reasons. She also steered Lucy toward a section of open undercounter units to show off her covetable collection of tableware. Sourcing taps and handles from premium kitchen maker DeVol “just elevates it all,” says Parkinson.
Shop for Old Worktops in Unlikely Places
When friends come over to check out the space, the first thing they ask is, “Is that the original floor?” Lucy, who sourced the rustic terracotta tiles for an intentionally lived-in look, takes it as a compliment. While she admits that a kitchen is the hardest space in a home to source vintage furniture for, she found the French frilly opaline pendant lights at Vinterior.
The dining table top is a reclaimed piece of iroko wood from a school science lab circa 1960—it even has inscriptions from bored teenage students to prove it. Parkinson worked with Currie to design a ribbed pedestal for it to rest on. “What’s cool about that is that your friends can spill wine on it and it doesn’t matter!” says Lucy, laughing.
Make Every Window a Moment
By adding a shelf underneath the new square window facing the courtyard, the couple can easily pass drinks out to friends while they soak up the sun on the comfy built-in bench.
Back in the kitchen, Ward put her love of preowned pieces to the test by sourcing a leaded pane for less than $100 at a reclamation yard. It brings some much-needed natural light into the space.
Squeeze Tall Storage Around Every Corner
Parkinson tucked the washing machine as close to the wall cabinets as possible, which made way for a stacked refrigerator-freezer (not pictured). However, this strategic move came with a sacrifice: The couple can’t open the washer door and pull-out trash can at the same time. Leading into the dining room, they added another large cupboard that hides the boiler up top and drawers for table linens and baking dishes below. Finally, just beyond the banquette, is a pantry for dried goods that they fashioned out of one of the kitchen’s existing cabinets. “We stripped the inside and painted it—it was always something I wanted to keep for its character,” says Lucy.
A year on, she has no regrets about scaling back the project: “We hang out in here all the time, to the point that our living room has become a bit neglected!”