A period-style family kitchen

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Nina and Darren Harrison-Guess created a kitchen to suit their family as well as their period home.

Having always wanted to live in a period property, Nina and Darren Harrison- Guess, and their teenage children Callum and Claudia, moved into a 16th-century home in Leicestershire and began to plan a new kitchen to complement its rich character. In order to ensure that their vision for the room blended in with the rest of the house, they wanted to highlight the attractive original features, including thick walls, a large ceiling beam and an old bread oven. With a carefully considered design they aimed to create a light, individual space for relaxed family meals, as well as more formal dinner parties.

Darren’s work as a lead roofer has given him plenty of experience with historic properties and, after living in a 1930s semi-detached house and a new-build, he and Nina relished the chance to tackle their own project. ‘The main problem with the existing layout of the kitchen was a wall, which partially divided the room, meaning separate spaces for cooking and dining’, says Darren. As a keen cook and enthusiastic host, Nina wanted to create a functional, spacious room, which would make entertaining large numbers of guests as easy as midweek family suppers. She says: ‘My priorities included an island with an integrated dishwasher and a sink that looked out over the garden; and a seating area with table, chairs and a built-in window seat, that would make the most of the deep walls and large windowsill.’

From the start, Nina and Darren were keen to create the kitchen they had dreamed of since a chance visit to a deVOL showroom several years before. Nina worked closely with head designer Helen Parker who helped bring her vision to life. Helen recalls: ‘Nina had a very clear idea of how she wanted the kitchen to be, and between us we were able to come up with a plan that worked really well.’ Nina Campbell’s pretty Perroquet wallpaper was the inspiration for much of the design, and in particular the colour scheme. ‘Having a starting point for colours is a good thing as it helps narrow down the paint choices for cabinets, which can sometimes be the tricky part to settle on’, says Helen. ‘Together we came up with a pleasingly subtle combination of two paint colours – Oak Apple by Fired Earth and Blue Charm by Paint & Paper Library – which complemented the wallpaper, cherry wood island unit and granite worktops.’

The wooden worktop chosen for the island gives the kitchen warmth and balances out the cool colour of the granite, pale painted cabinets and natural stone floor. A cherry wood coffee table they already owned meant Nina knew the colour of the timber would gradually change with time. ‘While I was initially worried about marking it or putting anything on it,’ she admits, ‘I’ve learned to use and enjoy it and know it will settle at the colour it is intended to’.

An additional task for Helen was to transform the old baker’s oven into a practical pantry. This now provides invaluable storage space with spice racks and shelving along with double doors on the front; the fretwork hearts in the doors are echoed in the bespoke splashback with its appealing pale blue heart pattern.

However, the window seat is one of the main focal points of the new room as it was designed with their existing dining table in mind; it provides an ideal place to catch up with the children. ‘The table has come with us everywhere we’ve lived,’ Nina says. ‘Family time around it is vital and adding the window seat has made it much less formal. The children can do their homework while I’m cooking and we make sure we all stop what we’re doing to spend time together over an evening meal.’

Nina is not the only one who is creative in the kitchen, as her daughter Claudia is a skilled baker and this prompted the choice of cooker. Nina says: ‘After much debate, we chose a Falcon as it is unmatched for precision – an essential feature when baking.’

Nina and Darren have adopted a sympathetic philosophy to their project, combining modern conveniences with period features. They took an inspired approach to the design, which began with pretty birds on a wallpaper, and ended with an elegant kitchen meeting all their family’s needs.

Find out how to design a kitchen for entertaining...

FEATURE KATHARINE CLEMOW PHOTOGRAPHS TIM COOPER
Featured in the January 2011 issue of Period Living