The Cherry Wood Kitchen in Dulwich

This sophisticated space is not a typical domestic kitchen for it belongs to professional foodie Kate McIntosh, founder of Herbie’s Kitchen. This is a place where cooking classes are held, new recipes are dreamt up and creations are photographed. It is a kitchen that transitions from bustling family life with teenagers to a food lover’s classroom.

Our client fell for this mid-century modern house in verdant South East London and felt compelled to be the owners or guardians to reverse decades of work that had stripped out and obscured the mid-century bones of the building, part of a post-war development that won the Ministry of Housing Award for Good Design in 1967. Thus the renovation also became a restoration. 

The expertise of architectural practice Knox Bhavan was called upon and this open plan kitchen-dining-living room was created. Materials and finishes are all in keeping with the mid-century aesthetic, utilitarian, simple, with dark and rich woods contrasting against white walls. The Cherry wood of the Pluck cupboards looks perfect in this setting. It is a beguiling timber, reminiscent of teak used so prolifically in mid-century furniture design, with a fairly linear grain and dark auburn undertones.

Our cabinet makers expertly hand arrange the wood veneers and the Cherry is breathtaking in this kitchen, stealing the show; a testament to the craftsmanship involved in the delicate veneering process. Our belief is that human intervention, the setting out of the timber leaves, should work in tandem with nature’s beauty, harmonising with the organic rhythms of the grain.

The generous island is the focal point, inviting you to gather round, a magnet in the open plan layout and the spot from which all other kitchen activities will naturally flow. The hob, a rather special dual fuel model with integrated extraction by Gaggenau is located here, in part to facilitate the cooking lessons, of which says Kate ‘having this beautiful space to work in every day makes me so happy and I love sharing it with people who come for classes’. Of course, wonderful words for us to hear – thank you!