The kitchen.. the heart of the home. This one is truly swoon worthy. Let’s take a walk through the soothing, sage green kitchen of Sylver, and you can see for yourself.
The Plan
Originally this kitchen was more than double the size of what you see in the plan below. The lower, hob wall, was not there. The kitchen opened out into a hall which was used as the dining area.
So though the kitchen was open and massive, it had only one counter, along the existing sink wall. (You can see some before pics if you scroll down to the ‘Befores and Afters’ section at the end.)
We started off by replanning this entire space. We split the large hall into this kitchen, a study-cum-guest room and a small bathroom to go with it. As you can see, even after carving out so many different spaces from the area, we still have a good sized kitchen.
A sliding door leads into the kitchen from entrance passage of this home. The hob and fridge are on one side, with the sink and breakfast table on the other. On the far end, another set of sliding doors opens into the dry balcony, which houses the main, large sink.
Entrance Door
We wanted a glass door to the kitchen so that there is enough light in here even when the door is shut. Yet we didn’t want a delicate feel to it, because of the more rustic feel of the passageway of this home. We designed the door in black metal and fluted glass for a more industrial look.
We’ve used glass of different fluting widths and placed it both horizontally and vertically, in different sized frames. The door slides into a pocket wall behind the fridge, so that when open it doesn’t stand in the way in the passage or in the kitchen.
The Breakfast Table
As you enter the kitchen, your first view is of this breakfast table. It comfortably sits two people
We finished the breakfast table in a black wood grain laminate to match the black kitchen counter. A hint of gold in the pendants and a dash of colour in the artwork help make this kitchen look as curated as the rest of the home. That large piece of art also conceals the main electrical box of the home behind it!
The wicker on the backs of the barstools is my favourite detail. Just that little bit of wicker adds such a dollop of warmth to this kitchen.
The Sink Counter
Further down this counter we have a small vegetable sink. The large one for utensils is in the dry balcony outside. This one is perfect for a quick was of the veggies while cooking or rinsing smaller dishes before putting them into the dishwasher.
The rolling shutter is against the wall. This houses kitchen gadgets like the mixer, toaster etc.
Below that is the built in dishwasher.
The Cooking Counter
On the opposite side we have the entire cooking counter, with the tall unit on one end, fridge on the other and the hob in the middle.
The tall unit houses the built in oven and microwave. The perforated drawers you see at the bottom are the onion and potato baskets. The small holes allow for circulation of fresh air into them.
The hob and chimney fit right into the centre of this counter, with the fridge fitting in neatly on the other end.
Sage Green Kitchen Of Sylver
The colour scheme of this sage green kitchen started with the beautiful, patterned floor tile. The client had shared just one pic with me as kitchen inspiration when we started out. Usually I use inspiration pics as a loose starting point for designing the space.
Here, however, when we went to look for tiles, she saw this floor tile in the showroom which was almost exactly like the one in her pic. We knew right there and then that our kitchen would be designed around this tile.
Since we had a pattern on the floor we decided to go with plain tiles on the walls. These sage green kitchen tiles were just perfect. I love the gentle shade variations in each tile and how they aren’t a flat plain colour. They also go so beautifully with the floor tile.
The black counter ties in everything together well. We went with a shade of grey on the cabinets below so that they blend in well with the floor tiles beside them. The cabinets above are an off-white to go with the paint above and keep the kitchen looking light.
And though we hadn’t planned the grey textured walls and ceiling just outside the kitchen when we picked the colours here, I love how it all fell into place. This sage green texture goes beautifully with the grey and the spaces flow into each other even when the door is open.
We went with black accents because of the black counter, and all of this fits in with the rough greys outside too.
Befores and Afters
Let me show you how we took a huge space and made it smaller.. and yet so much more functionally useful.
This was the only counter in the original kitchen.
We replanned the wall to include a breakfast table on the left.
Earlier, the wall adjoining the door was too narrow to fit in a breakfast table in front of it.
We made the wall wider and created a door in the opening.
The sink was placed in the corner near the entrance to the dry balcony.
We shifted it inwards to fit in a rolling shutter in the corner.
A straight view of the dry balcony door would earlier show you no wall on the right side.
We built the right hand wall which enclosed the kitchen and gave us our cooking counter.
As you can see, bigger is not always better. I am really proud of how well we planned this kitchen. We’ve managed to fit in almost every bit of the clients’ requirements. Yet, with the open spaces, colours and textures we’ve given it a bit of charm so it doesn’t look purely functional.
We have so many practical and aesthetic elements in this space. Which single one would be your favourite? Write in with your thoughts and comments below.
You can also click here to see the rest of Sylver.
Until next time,
.
Photography: Biju Gopal of @bizou.photos