Charlie Smallbone: How to Design a Kitchen for a Light-Filled Space

The stunning Sevenoaks kitchen is the latest design from Charlie Smallbone, founder of Ledbury Studio. In creating it, though, he addressed the question of how to respond to and make the best of a room that is filled with natural light? As well as having large windows, this open-plan room merges seamlessly with an adjacent orangery, which houses the family’s dining and living areas. The result: a light and airy kitchen, which needed a design to match it.

Here, Charlie explains his choices of materials, finishes and textures, which all combined to achieve this highly successful and stylish final result.

Solution #1: Make a bold statement with dark cabinets

“The first big decision with this kitchen was to pair a light-filled room with dark cabinetry,” says Charlie. “This is a very large room with high ceilings, as well as being very bright, but it was an easy decision because I knew that it this dark oak wouldn’t make it feel smaller in any way. Even more importantly, it creates a dramatic visual impact, as the contrast with the pale walls and floors is all the greater.”

Solution #2: Lift the scheme with metallic accents

“Natural light picks out bright materials in any scheme, so we elevated this idea by breaking up the oak with metallic accents throughout the kitchen,” explains Charlie. “As well as the aged-brass handles, there’s a liquid metal finish framing all the cabinets to complement and highlight the timber. Plus, we have the spectacular aged Verdigris copper panels on the floor-to-ceiling cabinetry (see above), which creates a fabulous feature wall.”

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Solution #3: Choose textures that catch the light

“In rooms lacking in natural light, high-shine materials can help to bounce the available light around to make the most of the space,” Charlie continues. “Here, we had the opposite problem in that we wanted to capture the light but without also creating glare. The solution was to choose textures that catch the light without reflecting it back at you. Fluting on the wall cabinetry, as well as fluted glass and our hand-carved Choppy Water effect on the drinks and crockery cabinets achieves this beautifully. The cabinets also have mirrored backs to further highlight the contents.”