Kitchens Maldon: In-Frame and Shaker Designs for a Historic Town

Around the High Street and down towards the quay, many houses are Georgian, Victorian or older, some of them timber framed. Kitchens in these homes were often added on at the back, so they can be long and narrow, step down a level, or sit under a sloping roof. Walls are rarely true, and floors are rarely flat.

In Heybridge and on the estates around the edge of town, the houses are newer, and the brief changes: a kitchen-diner opening onto the garden, a utility room, room for an island. An island can carry seating, storage, a sink or a hob, and we plan the electrics, extraction and floor loads before a single cabinet is ordered. These newer homes often suit our Handleless or Modern ranges, finished in matt lacquer, laminate, woodgrain or real wood veneer, with layered task, ambient and feature lighting on separate circuits. Where the room is awkward, a walk-in pantry, a boot room for wet sailing kit or a hidden door into the utility can be made to the millimetre by our own workshop.

Both kinds of home benefit from the same discipline. Your designer checks the services and structure during the first visit, and our own time-served fitters level and scribe every cabinet to the room, so tall furniture meets an old ceiling or a sloping floor without unsightly gaps. Flooring is laid before the cabinets so it runs under everything, and worktops are templated by laser only after the cabinets are in.