Our Projects / Brentwood / Handleless

Handleless Kitchen, Brentwood, Essex

Completed

March 2026

Duration

3 weeks on site

Property

1960s detached house, CM15

The brief

Open the kitchen to the garden and give a family of five somewhere to eat together

Sarah and Mark had a galley kitchen with a separate dining room and no view of the garden. They wanted a calm, uncluttered kitchen with a large island for homework and breakfast, and they wanted one company to run the whole job while they both worked full time.

We removed the wall between the kitchen and dining room, installed a steel, rewired the room, moved the plumbing to the island and laid a new porcelain floor throughout before the cabinets went in.

Challenges solved

A load-bearing wall in the way

Our structural engineer specified a steel and our builders installed it in two days with building control sign-off, before any kitchen work started.

Services in the wrong place for an island

Water, waste and power were routed under the new floor to the island. Planning this first meant no channels cut into a finished floor.

Both customers working full time

A written programme and daily WhatsApp updates from the project manager, with keys held securely and the site left tidy each evening.

Specification

Style

Handleless, true handleless with aluminium grip rail

Cabinet finish

Matt graphite lacquer with an oak breakfast bar and oak open shelving

Worktop

20mm Calacatta-effect quartz, waterfall end to island

Appliances

Neff ovens and warming drawer, Bora induction hob with downdraft extraction, Liebherr fridge freezer, Bosch dishwasher and wine cooler

Lighting

Three pendants over island, LED under-cabinet, plinth and in-cabinet lighting on separate circuits

Electrical alterations

Full kitchen rewire, 14 new sockets including pop-up in island, consumer unit upgrade, NAPIT certified

Building work

Load-bearing wall removed with steel beam, plastering, porcelain floor tiles throughout, decorating

All works designed, supplied and installed by Essex Home under one contract.

Dark kitchen with oak breakfast bar and pendant lighting

Dark handleless galley kitchen with marble worktops, Romford

Handleless dark kitchen with marble island and brass tap

Before and after

The same room, three weeks apart

Before

Dark handleless kitchen with island and garden view, Brentwood

After

★★★★★

"Everything was handled by Essex Home. The electrician, the plasterer and the tiler all turned up when we were told they would, and Dan managed it all. We never had to chase anyone, and the kitchen is exactly what the 3D showed us."

Sarah & Mark T.

Verified Google review, Brentwood