ANYTHING BUT SIMPLE

This Shaker-inspired kitchen looks effortless, but it took serious thought and skill to put together

- Photography Kevin McCollum Words Miriam Methuen-Jones

This kitchen is proof that knowing what you want and working with a creative team can result in pure magic. On paper, this wasn’t an easy project for Cupar’s The Painted Kitchen. The property was a B-listed detached villa dating back to 1849, with a sandstone facade and a slate roof, so a traditional kitchen looked to be on the cards. Not quite. Instead, the kitchen needed to fit snugly into a brand new oak-framed extension which wasn’t even built yet.

“Working within the oak frame was like doing a 3D jigsaw,” recalls designer Louise Parr. “We had to constantly consider height and other clearances, and had to wait until the oak was installed and sand-blasted before we could take exact measurements for manufacture. The final fit could only have been achieved with a truly bespoke, handmade kitchen. The tops of the tall cabinets were expertly measured and installed, just skimming the underside of the oak beams.”