Jane and Mark Spears chose a bright, fresh colour scheme to lift the atmosphere in their dark kitchen.

Jane and Mark spears felt they had come home when, 10 years ago they found a spacious Victorian property in a Herfordshire market town. ‘We loved it’ says Jane. ‘Even the fact that it had recently been used as offices and had no kitchen didn’t deter us.

We stripped out the ladies’ and gents’ washrooms, knocked them together and filled the space with an ex-display kitchen we’d bought in a sale. The design was a compromise, but we got used to it’.

It was only when Jane asked interior designer Cate Burren of Angel + Blume to redesign her bedroom that she started to think about creating her dream kitchen. ‘We wanted a design more in keeping with the style of the house’, says Jane. ‘The room only has one window and its quarry tiling and dim lighting made it look like a tunnel’. Jane asked Cate to help her design the light and family-friendly space she envisaged. ‘I was also keen to get our children, Sophie, 18 and Luke 13 involved in cooking’ Jane explains. ‘With things as they were it just wasn’t going to happen.’

Differently sized cabinets have been designed to fit around the existing fridge freezer and wine cooler for a quirky, freestanding effect that suits the style of the house perfectly.

Cate and Jane enlisted the help of local bespoke kitchen company Silkwood Furniture, who designed a kitchen around Jane’s existing appliances. Cate organised for halogen downlighters to be installed in the ceiling and for the quarry tiles to be removed and replace with pale limestone flooring. To complement the brighter atmosphere, the walls and woodwork were then painted in soft cream shades.

The neutral colour scheme did the trick as the kitchen now looks twice as big as it did before the makeover.

‘It’s amazing’, Jane enthuses. For a start, there’s so much storage. I love the pantry cupboard in the corner and the drawers with customised interiors for plates and dishes. I’m also thrilled that there’s space for three of us to work in here at once. Luke and Sophie hardly ever used the kitchen before, but now they’re happy to come and help me cook.’ One of the most ingenious features of the design is the versatile island-cum- peninsula. Its folding beech top can be raised when more work surface or dining space as required and lowered when Jane needs free and easy access to the central workstation. The latter mode is especially useful when Jane want to lay out a buffet for her guest.

Original article appeared in 25 Beautiful Kitchens September 2007. Photography by Spike Powell