From Kate Feather's functional designs for family kitchens to Inglis Hall's signature band-sawn cabinetry and Pluck's range of sustainable material options, there's a bespoke kitchen brand to suit every customer. Whether you are short on space, keen to reduce your carbon footprint or looking for something that will stand the test of time, the below studios are able to tailor their offering to meet your need.
A trained photographer, Kasia Piorko has an eye for detail. 'I studied photography quite a long time ago, before digital cameras,' she explains. 'So I had to make sure that my frames were perfect.' The very same attention to detail led her to a cabinet-making company where she became a CAD technician, after which she specialised in kitchen design, finally setting up her own showroom in 2018.
Kate Feather - a translation of Kasia's name from Polish to English - now specialises in elegant kitchens for busy family homes. 'For me, kitchens are the most fascinating room in the house as they function on so many levels,' she says. 'They have to be beautiful , welcoming and practical. I'm a very practical person- it drives me crazy if something doesn't work.
My background of working with joiners gave me a huge advantage, as I learned very quickly about mechanisms, technical details and which spaces are useable or not. And I'm passionate about layouts. Even as a child I used to sketch them out and rearrange the spaces around me, figuring out the best way to make things perform.'
© BIRGIT MONSKate Feather
An understanding of how the client will use the space is at the heart of every design as is the balance between practicality and aesthetics. 'I want to connect with people and figure out the way they live - what they like or dislike about their existing kitchen, or even kitchens they may have lived in over the years,' says Kasia. 'We are designers providing a service. I'm not a salesperson, and we're not just selling a product. It's a very personal approach.'
Based in London's Teddington, the company has no big plans for expansion, although continual development is, of course, on the cards. 'We're in a beautiful location and we fit in perfectly with what we can offer our clients. Work comes via satisfied customers' friends, family and word of mouth,' she adds. 'However stressful the day has been, I want my clients to feel peace and harmony when they return to their space. A sense of calm is as important as beauty, for me, and a kitchen needs to feel like home.' katefeather.com
This Sussex-based kitchen company uses natural materials and techniques finessed over many years to create refined kitchens full of unique character
After what he describes as a 'feral' childhood growing up on his parents' vineyard, at 16 Toby Hall was bundled off to cabinet-making college. 'I found my vocation - or rather it was found on my behalf,' he says. 'And I've been lucky enough to be involved in woodwork ever since.'
Ten years later, in 2013 he founded bespoke- kitchen company Inglis Hall, and what started as just himself and joiner Sam Bromley has since expanded into a tight-knit team of 14 highly skilled designers, makers and fitters.
'One of our distinguishing features is our band-sawn cabinetry, which links to my passion for structural sawn timber in timber-framed buildings,' he explains. 'We use hand-selected oak with tight knots that create gnarly grain patterns. It's all about the texture and the natural beauty of wood.'
The timber is paired with contemporary materials including durable compressed paper and modern ultra-matte laminate, as well as natural stone and selected quartz worktops. 'Then the alchemy can really begin,' says Hall. 'It's the combination and balance that make Inglis Hall kitchens universally appealing. We also love to build future rituals into a design - the perfect spot to catch the morning sun while enjoying a coffee, a cosy nook to read the papers. Everyone needs a special place, so we factor it in.'
This labour-intensive process and attention to detail means they're a low-volume company. 'We build just 20 kitchens a year,' continues Hall. 'And, honestly, we like it that way. Every client and every kitchen is different, but we aim to make the whole process enjoyable and exciting. It's such a big commitment, so it's worth investing time and effort.'
A new Sussex-based, purpose-built workshop will be completed this summer, as well as the company's first high-street shop in Lewes. 'We encourage our customers to visit the workshop and meet the team. It is a different feeling when you know who will be building your kitchen, plus we love the interaction,' says Hall. 'And we're trying to not think of the shop as a showroom - it's more like an actual kitchen. There is nothing we like more than to chat about design, so do drop by for a coffee.' inglishall.com
Quality, functionality and sustainability are the values that underpin this British kitchen brand, whose pared-back aesthetic appeals right across the board.
In 2007, the team behind Pluck began designing and making residential and commercial furniture at their studio and workshop in Brixton, south London. It wasn't until 2016, however, that they narrowed their remit to focus on contemporary kitchens.
'We simultaneously bought properties and were designing our own kitchen spaces,' explains Leila Touwen, a former BBC news journalist who founded the company with her husband Lloyd and the couple's friend, George Glasier, both of whom worked in the design industry.
'It made us think about our combined knowledge bases and what was missing from the market. We sat in our local coffee shop thrashing out ideas about what a kitchen brand would mean for us; at the time, everything felt quite earnest in kitchen design and I think we offered a certain freshness. And it wasn't just about sticking nice doors on MDF cupboards - there had to be 100% good design throughout.'
The result is a core collection of cabinetry and freestanding pieces made using FSC-certified veneers on plywood and durable, high-pressure laminate in a palette of 16 versatile colours. Manufactured on site in a pair of converted Victorian warehouses, the designs have a broad appeal and can be tweaked to suit individual projects.
'Our customer base is wide, but the thing that unites them is that they all think seriously about what goes into their house,' says Touwen. 'We were in the right place at the right time combining woods with colour and inadvertently we did something that other people weren't, which customers loved. At that point people were also really starting to marry old and new, and because our kitchens have a certain integrity thanks to the materials and processes we use, they sit just as well in period homes as they do in newer builds.'
Sustainable production is high on the company's list of priorities, as is providing a pleasant working environment for its team, which now numbers around 20. 'Part of our ethos is that we want it to be a nice place to work and when people come here, what they see is an authentic, busy workshop,' says Touwen. 'We also run an internship programme with Nottingham Trent University, and four of our current employees have come from placements, which is amazing.'
Going forward, plans include building a dedicated show-kitchen space, as well as new colours, new pieces of furniture and even more ways to improve sustainability. 'It's also about how to grow without diluting what we already offer,' says Touwen. 'That, and maintaining a good status quo, is always top of our list.' pluck.co.uk