The clients had an absolutely lovely home. Everything was perfect except for the kitchen and dining space. The Hawkins’ had unsuccessful meetings with other companies and never heard back from anyone until they called FOUND. After an initial consultation with Jesse, a meeting was scheduled with FOUND’s designer Reuben.
Our initial observation was that the room needing attention was not straight-forward to work with and we could understand how perhaps this created obstacles for other
companies.
For a cabinet maker or kitchen company without proper design training, an easy response would be to just redo the entire layout. Simply installing new cabinetry will not result in an amazing kitchen, nor is it a productive use of ourclient’s finances.
A considered and creative response was required. We listened carefully to the client’s requirements for the space in order to understand that they wanted the kitchen to be functional
(with lots of storage and preparation space)
and beautiful (using quality materials that would last).
We came up with an initial floor plan for the kitchen and provided a fully annotated plan to the client so they could understand how we had addressed their functionality and
storage requirements.
After a bit of back and forth, we agreed upon a final plan. We managed to reduce the number of cabinets but increase the storage space and our client was delighted. We then moved onto building the kitchen model using our CAD software. From this point in the project, we were all able to get excited about what we wanted to see in the space.
The kitchen was long and a little narrow, so some unconventional thinking and discussions were required. A modern kitchen wouldn’t be complete without an island bench and there was just enough room to run an island along the length of the room, but it actually didn’t provide enough functionality and might have made the room feel even more narrow.
We decided to remove the tall cabinetry from either side of the fireplace and use each long side of the room to build the kitchen on. This way, we were able to provide a lot of uninterrupted bench space which would be perfect for appliances and food preparation. This adjustment made the room feel more spacious as we could appreciate the full expanse of the room. It also revealed the form and character of the fireplace again
The extra bench space provided an opportunity for lots of extra under-bench storage and the client chose to go with the Blum drawer. We even managed to fit three extra drawers in some of the kickboard space. We chose granite for the benchtops and oak timber veneer for the cabinetry in our
bespoke design. These natural materials provided a calm and inviting space for our clients to enjoy day to day.
