Turning up the heat: north London kitchen designers raise the bar

Day True was awarded Kitchen Designer of the Year by the Kbb Review Retail & Design Awards 2017. (Image: Archant)

Local designers have won multiple awards for their work on everyone’s favourite room in the house this spring. Whether you eat, drink, dance, work or play in your kitchen, there’s no denying that the secret blend is a mix of functionality and form, allowing you to get the most out of your living space. Now, north London kitchen designers are being recognised for their work creating a vision of beauty and utility in the heart of the home.

A prestigious kitchen design award has been awarded to Maida Vale studio Day True, whilst Grand Designs’ Kevin McCloud has selected Kings Cross based retailer The Used Kitchen Company as one of its Green Heroes of 2017.

The Used Kitchen Company has been selected as one of Kevin McCloud's Green Heroes for 2017 (Image: Archant)

‘Kitchen Designer of the Year’ was awarded to Day True in the Kbb Review Retail & Design Awards 2017. The Marylebone kitchen was designed in conjunction with German bespoke kitchen manufacturers Rotpunkt. The project, which cost £52,000, was celebrated for its ergonomic sense of style and pioneering design.

An urban home in Marylebone was transformed by Day True’s design, which blended several design styles to suit the property. “By knocking through three rooms and using a continuous herringbone floor throughout, we created a practical, bright integrated living space in this unique first floor Georgian townhouse,” explained Tony Robson, director at Day True.

Rotpunkt’s cabinets were placed at worktop height to maximise the available space and harmonise the relationship between the furniture and adjacent wall of storage. Marble and grey matt lacquer furniture compliments the island, which centralises the feel of the kitchen. The result is a light-flooded, sleek space designed with ease of organisation and a seamless transition between kitchen and living space in mind.

On-trend brass is used throughout the kitchen as a motif, with long-arm brassware, linear extractor hood, retro pendant lights and tripod bar stools all featuring the metallic finish. Allowed to take centre stage, the appliances and furniture are illuminated against the matt lacquer furniture. “Rotpunkt, together with partnering design studios across the UK like Day True, continue to deliver a high degree of individualism and characteristic beauty for customers,” says Matt Philips, head of UK operations at Rotpunkt.

Elsewhere in north London, kitchen recycler The Used Kitchen Company has been selected as one of Kevin McCloud’s 10 Green Heroes of 2017 for Grand Designs. They also recently won The Best of Houzz 2017 award for Customer Service. The company acts as a marketplace for used and ex-display kitchens. Selling designer kitchens at reduced prices, TUKC provides significant ecological benefits through its unique recycling service that allows customers to get the design of an interior-designed mansion in their own home for a fraction of the price. “When I created the concept of recycling kitchens it was very much with the idea of avoiding often fabulous kitchens ending up in landfill,” says founder and CEO Looeeze Grossman. “We are so delighted to be recognised as being one of 2017s most important innovative eco companies by Grand Designs’ Kevin McLoud.”

The kitchen is the heart of the home. It’s the room where we eat, drink, have a natter, celebrate our birthdays, or cry over broken hearts with a tub of Ben and Jerry’s, and spend time with our friends and families when they pop round to visit. It’s no wonder that the work of local designers to make that space both functional and elegant, with a touch of the flamboyant from time to time, is being recognised at a national level for design innovation, beauty and ecology. You know what they say; if you can’t stand the heat, get out of, well, north London.