Having acquired a new home in the UK following a period living overseas, the owners of this East London property were at the beginning of an extension project with Bradley van der Straeten Architects when they commissioned Uncommon Projects to develop their kitchen. The family were keen entertainers, and the kitchen was to be the heart of their home. They had the proposed layout in hand, care of the architects, but asked Uncommon Projects to finalise and install the design, advise on lighting and flooring, and create shelving in the dining area with an integrated window seat and radiator covers.

The cooking area was designed to create a sense of openness and flow between the hallway and the dining space, eschewing the obstruction that a peninsula layout might create in favour of extra-deep worktops in white Hi-Macs on both sides. The units on the sink side are ended with an open wine-rack facing the dining table, helping ‘turn the corner’ from one room into another.

Housing the fridge, freezer and oven, a set of tall cabinets in oak-veneered birch plywood with spray-lacquered dark brown doors create a visual connection to the dining-room shelving. Mostly open, with some sliding cork doors, the two sets of shelves sit atop radiators concealed behind plywood slats, extending to an L-shaped window seat on one side of the room. The warm, woody tones create an ambiance of comfort and cosines throughout the space, while features such as the cork accents and slatted radiator covers lend a touch of mid-century modernism to the overall aesthetic.