Kitchen – Bhargavi

We end our tour of this beautiful home with a walk through the kitchen of Bhargavi. Like most of this home, this kitchen too is designed in simple lines and light, subtle colours. Here’s a neutral kitchen that is anything but dull and flat. Take a look.

Kitchen of Bhargavi

I have often seen neutral spaces, done in whites, beiges and greys, that are completely flat and soulless. It’s very easy to bring a space to life with colour. You can go wrong the other way… by having so much of it that it’s jarring. But a boring space is unlikely.

So when a client says to me they prefer neutrals, my first thought is, ‘I cannot make this lifeless!‘. So here is the Kitchen of Bhargavi – all neutral and so full of life!

The Plan

One look at the plan and you can see that this kitchen is unusually long.

It wasn’t always like this. The area marked ‘Utility’ was originally the staff room and staff bathroom. We kept the wall on the entrance side. The wall on the opposite side was roughly where the kitchen counter meets the breakfast table. We broke it down to include the staff room as the utility area of the kitchen.

Though extremely narrow, it’s been put to good use with a breakfast counter along one wall and additional storage along the other.

The main kitchen is in the centre, with the cooking counter taking centre stage. Opposite that, we have a small counter for the sink with a refrigerator alongside it.

On the extreme right is the small dry area. We added a counter to fit in the washing machine, with drying rods going on the ceiling. The half wall between the dry area and the main kitchen help separate the two areas.

The Door

This lovely fluted glass door makes the entrance to the kitchen. With it’s clean, chic character, you know what to expect right away, before you even enter the kitchen.

The Hob Wall

You open the door to first see this main cooking counter. The hob and chimney are right at the centre of this space, giving enough platform space on both sides of the hob for food prep.

The tall unit at the extreme right houses the built-in oven and microwave, and completes the cooking area.

The Breakfast Counter

To the left of the cooking counter we have this cosy breakfast nook. A small step up from the main counter helps to separate the breakfast space from the kitchen space even though the counter is continuous.

The raised height also allows the breakfast stools to slide under the counter when not in use. You’ve seen in the plan how narrow this space is. If the stools did not slide in, they would constantly be in the way of entering the utility and opening the storage shutters.

The Utility Area

At the far left of the kitchen we had the staff room and bathroom. Since the client did not require these, we broke them down to include the area into the kitchen. We realised the space is quite narrow and would be difficult to use on a regular basis, and so designed this as a utility area. Sort of like an open store room.

The floor to ceiling cabinets on the left are great for storing all extras. They include one full length shutter to put away bigger items like the ladder.

The Sink

Opposite the tall unit, to the right of the entrance door, we have a smaller cleaning counter. This holds the sink, with the dish racks and water purifier in the cabinets above it. To the right of this, we have space for the fridge.

The Dry Area

At the extreme right end of the kitchen, beyond the tall unit and the sink, we have the dry area. The space below the counter will hold the washing machine. Drying rods to dry the clothes are fixed into the ceiling above. A pull out cabinet to the side of the washing machine holds the washing detergents etc. There are cabinets above the counter too, for additional storage.

Look and Feel

The client wanted a light kitchen. They liked this white quartz for the counter and these white patterned tiles for the walls.

The best way to add some warmth and life to a space, without really adding any ‘colour’, is by using a wood finish. We picked this light wood ceramic tile for the floor to help us with that.

Next, we picked the light coffee-brown for the below counter cabinets to go with our light wood tone floor.

Finally, we picked this wallpaper. Using a print or pattern would make it a little flashy for a light kitchen. A texture wouldn’t do much to add life to the space. So we picked this tropical mural. Plants are always my favourite decor accessory. They worked well in this wallpaper too.

Instead of going with deep green leaves and bright blue skies, we picked sepia tones to go with the white and beige cabinets and keep the overall vibe muted.

Before and Afters

Here are a few before and afters from the kitchen of Bhargavi.

The main wall of the kitchen…

With the hob and chimney in the centre and the oven and microwave on the side, this makes our main cooking counter.

The staff room, to the left of the kitchen door…

… was broken down to include the area into the kitchen as the utility area.

The corner of the staff entrance…

… where we placed the breakfast counter.

The space opposite the tall unit…

Where we placed the sink, with space for the refrigerator next to it.

Get The Look

And finally, some products that went into making this kitchen both beautiful and functional.

| – 1 – Kinara Hanging Lamp | – 2 – Kovalam Tropical Wallpaper | – 3 – Individual Drop-down Drying Rods | – 4 – Pull-down Kitchen Faucet | – 5 – Zeke Bar Stool |

By now, you know of my love for colour. I am always a little wary when I am asked to design a space that is mostly devoid of it. So it makes me really happy to see how this kitchen turned out. The warmth of the wooden flooring, the beige cabinets to match, the light patterned texture on the wall tiles and that gentle wallpaper have all come together beautifully.

Even though the kitchen is light and easy on the eye, it fills you with warmth as you walk in, and has you looking around for more as you take in all the details.

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This post completes our tour of Bhargavi. This home fills you with a warm, happy and welcome vibe as soon as you step in. It is gentle and sweet, very much like its owners. You can see all of this beautiful home by clicking here.

But my sentimental farewell to Bhargavi on the blog also has me excited about the next gorgeous home that I can’t wait to share already. Sign up here so I can send let you know when I do.

Until then,

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Photography: Biju Gopal of @bizou.photos

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