Home to a pair of media professionals and their young children, this Victoria House was in the process of a major renovation and extension project when MW Architects contacted Uncommon Projects with a view to creating a bespoke kitchen for the expanded space. Attracted to the playful informality of the studio's designs, the owners were open-minded about the design, but determined to move away from the ubiquitous minimalist white kitchen, and keen to ensure that the new design both met the needs of a busy family and made a great space for entertaining.

With birch plywood cabinets veneered in resilient American white oak as building blocks, Uncommon Projects developed a design with three distinct elements. The first is a system of bespoke cupboards that ascends with the open staircase to form the main part of the kitchen. Finished with a dark veneer to create a monolithic feel, this is the foundation of the design, grounding the kitchen scheme visually and spatially.

The island is the social centre-point of the space. A series of deep and shallow drawers, open shelves and sliding doors provide a wide variety of versatile storage space, and create a different look on all four sides, which gives the island a strong 3D character.

The tallest base units hold an integrated oven and white goods and connect with the system of horizontal wall shelves that rise up through the double-height space to the study on the floor above. Fitted with bright sliding doors that deepen in colour as they ascend, the shelves create a common visual thread through the house – a sense of continuity and connection between the floors.