A Kitchen in Ealing full of Character and Curiosities

This soulful kitchen is the vision of a creative couple who have spent years collecting antiques, curiosities and other furniture from flea markets, online auction sites and even the odd skip. Kate Benton, make-up designer for film and TV, and her husband Jim, founder of Graticule Antiques, asked us to create a kitchen for their Edwardian home that didn’t feel too fitted or kitchen-y. We designed a room where our cabinetry does not dominate,  leaving space for other furniture, with soft materials and colours that harmonise with the whole scheme. Working with the shape of the room, we used an L-shaped layout, says Kate ‘The pluck kitchen is so well crafted and so simple and their plan was by far the best one that I was instantly sold.’ The different door finishes – Elm wood and Brockwell Moss – add to the sense of this not feeling like a traditional fitted kitchen and the green brings an earthy warmth to the darkest corner of the room.⁠ Elsewhere Kate introduced warm textures with a Corian worktop and splashback that has hazelnut swirls running through it. The walls are a chalk wash from Craig and Rose and have a delicious raw plaster look. A vintage typesetting table serves as an island. This kitchen is a celebration of old and new, uniting antiques with modern design and materials. When interviewed by Livingetc magazine Kate explained “Old pieces can complement current styles…It’s easy to mix the wonderful products made in the past with the new, tipping our hat to our history while sustaining the future” – a mantra we adore.
Photographer: Rachael Smith