Bespoke Handmade Kitchens- A case study in design

So far i have waxed lyrical about our bespoke handmade kitchens service. I have also written at length about what the term ‘bespoke’ means to us, but what does it mean in practice to you, our customers?

I thought i would take you through the process of having your new bespoke handmade kitchen designed by David Head Furniture.

Step 1 – Meeting Up

Upon contacting David, the first step will always be a face to face meeting between yourself and David. Preferably this would take place in your home at a time of your choosing. This will give David an opportunity to look at the size and layout of your handmade kitchen.

He will discuss with you styles and finishes as well as any design ideas you have yourself to ensure that the end product is exactly how you imagined it.

Are there are any design aspects of the room itself that need to be incorporated into the design, or worked around? Are you looking for something more traditional or something sleek and modern with all the new unit inserts and mod-cons?

Step 2 – Initial design

After this initial meeting David will come back to the office, wheel around on his chair for a bit, drink a lot of tea and start your design (he still tries to convince me that the time spent doing this is to allow the ideas to formulate in his head, I’m not buying it).

He will speak to you on the phone or via email whilst doing this, asking several questions ranging from the exact positioning of the units right through to the make and model of hob you may be looking at.

He does this to ensure that the initial design that you receive gets as a close as possible to what you have in your head.

Recently, a customer from Haynes in Bedfordshire came to us looking for a more traditional handmade kitchen. They already had a beautiful Aga which had been lovingly restored and were now looking for the kitchen to go around it.

The design complications included the Aga itself, curved doorways in fairly inconvenient locations and the fact that the kitchen itself was far from square! After meeting with David and several phone calls David came up with the following design.

You can see from the designs that the handmade kitchen was split into three distinct sets of units. All of these units were to feature a curved open unit at the end of the run, allowing for a neat amount of open storage but also allowing for the kitchen to appear roomy and open, giving more room to get around and making the handmade kitchen feel bigger overall. A traditional ‘shaker’ kitchen was chosen.

All the units would feature front framework, inset doors, cornice and pelmet as well as curved plinths to match the open units. Solid Granite worktops were chosen. These were to mirror the curves of the units and to feature a traditional moulding to the front edge.

Within the units were a clever mix of shelving, Hafele move-it drawers and pull out baskets and larder systems. Above the Arga an overmantle was designed, to encompass the existing low ceiling and to encorporate much of the pipework leading to and from the Arga.

Articad – Handmade Kitchen Design

I still find it hard to believe that it is possible for David to produce such a real look design using his ArtiCad programme. Constant upgrades and improvements are made to the program to make it even more lifelike.

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Technical Handmade Kitchen Drawings

Along with the pretty pictures we will also provide working technical plans, showing the sizes of all the units and exactly how they will be positioned.

You can see the angles and dimensions of the room more clearly in the top elevation.

You can see how the units were placed to maximise the room available and also note how the open shelving unit wraps around the existing door frame, an idea from David to help open the room up into the lounge beyond, giving a much more open plan feel than would have been achieved by simply stopping the unit square against the edge of the door frame.

The plan view shows the detail on the doors and framework as well as giving all the relevant information about heights and sizes. You can also see the proposed panelling that was to sit between the top of the worktop and the underside of the wall units, cutting neatly underneath the window.

These technical drawings are just as invaluable as the earlier pictures as they make it much easier for any other trades that may be involved in your new handmade kitchen as well as making it very clear to me as Davids workshop manager exactly what is involved and expected from your handmade kitchen.

Handmade Kitchen Cutting Lists

From these plans several cutting lists are then prepared, splitting the job into smaller, more manageable chunks, ensuring that no mistakes are made throughout the manufacturing process.

These cutting lists will take in the units themselves and then all the painted parts of the handmade kitchen. All the doors will be broken down into their component sizes to ensure the right amount of materials are ordered and paid for!

Less Hassle – Organising Other Trades

David will also project manage the whole process from start to finish, contacting and organising any other trades that may need to work on your handmade kitchen.

From plumbers to gas fitters, electricians and even the flooring, David will organise it all to minimize the amount of disruption to you and to make sure your handmade kitchen is fitted as quickly and as smoothly as possible.

Handmade Kitchen Presentation

Once David has finished the designing and pricing of your handmade kitchen you will be given a full presentation packet with all of the plans, designs, pictures, specifications and price to have your kitchen made and fitted.

There are no hidden costs, unless you yourselves change something along the way the price you see is the price you pay.

Hopefully this blog has given you a small insight into how the design process works, and how much effort goes into ensuring all of our designs match perfectly with our customers imaginations.

All of this design process comes completely free of charge, allowing you to know precisely what your kitchen will look like before any work is undertaken.

Thank you for reading.