Table manners

Kitchen island or table? It's a little distinction that makes a big difference to the appearance and function of a kitchen or utility room

- finds Arabella Youens

WHEN Charlie Smallbone, Graham Clark and Mark Wilkinson established Smallbone of Devizes, Wiltshire, in the 1970s, they set out to champion the idea that a kitchen should be a sociable living space, rather than a place of drudgery. It was considered an unusual approach: in large country houses, kitchens were used primarily for the preparation of food that was served in a dining room and organised in a way that would meet the approval of Downton Abbey's Mrs Patmore, with acres of scrubbed pine surfaces and gleaming copper pans alongside separate larders, sculleries, pantries and still rooms.

WHEN Charlie Smallbone, Graham Clark and Mark Wilkinson established Smallbone of Devizes, Wiltshire, in the 1970s, they set out to champion the idea that a kitchen should be a sociable living space, rather than a place of drudgery. It was considered an unusual approach: in large country houses, kitchens were used primarily for the preparation of food that was served in a dining room and organised in a way that would meet the approval of Downton Abbey's Mrs Patmore, with acres of scrubbed pine surfaces and gleaming copper pans alongside separate larders, sculleries, pantries and still rooms.