Contemporary Class

This Belfast home needed a contemporary kitchen scheme that was functional, durable and made best use of the existing space.

- CLAIRE CRAIG

When the owners of this kitchen retired and started spending more time at home it prompted them to start thinking about renovating their kitchen.

The couple have been in their three-storey, Victorian style house for 20 years and as keen cooks the kitchen was a much-used and very central part of the home.

As they explain, ‘About three years ago we started tentatively looking at kitchens but then Covid hit and we put it on the back burner. When things started opening up again we restarted the process and met with quite a few kitchen designers but became slightly disillusioned, with many simply suggesting a different version of what we already had.’

Visiting a friend’s new home re-inspired the couple and gave them a recommendation to try.

‘They had used Interior 360 and designer Paul Mason. They were incredibly impressed with everything and we really liked what we saw so we arranged a consultation.

‘When we met with Paul we were so impressed with his flair for design. He asked all the right questions and really tried to get a sense of us and how we would use the space. In the end he came up with three different design alternatives and we went with a little from each of them.’

One of Paul’s first suggestions for the space was moving the sink from the window to the new island, allowing for the two windows to be dropped to the floor. This made the space much brighter and brings the garden into view. It also meant the room could accommodate a larger island.