Margaret Thatcher’s Dulwich house was fitted with a handmade Smallbone kitchen, which had won the Prime Minister’s heart at first sight and in 1985 was one of the most widely reported features about her home.

As a Smallbone Kitchen owner, she joined the ranks of celebrity fans of the company, which included Rowan Atkinson, Nigel Mansell and Dustin Hoffman. Today, the company is still known for its international star following.

As a direct result of this media coverage, Mrs. Thatcher’s Dulwich kitchen was carefully recreated at Pinewood Studios for the set of The Iron Lady film, now released.

When approached by the Production team to provide a kitchen for the film, Smallbone pulled out all the stops, dismantling a complete showroom display and rapidly re-built it at Pinewood to recreate the character of the Iron Lady’s traditional kitchen.

Pictured here is Smallbone’s Pilaster kitchen as depicted in The Iron Lady:

• Inspired by the grand architecture of the 18th century the design focus of this kitchen is the pilaster, a gently tapering half column, which is based on an original from 1743.

• Other details like the dentil cornice mouldings plus raised and fielded panels, also have their origins in the Georgian period.

• The Pilaster collection can either be made from oak, or can be hand painted in many different colours.

Smallbone’s Design Director, Steven de Munnich commented, “Smallbone is an iconic British brand and Margaret Thatcher’s kitchen is definitely in our Hall of Fame. We were so pleased to be asked to play a role in this film - and proud to be part of her story.”

For further information about the smart Smallbone Pilaster Kitchen, please visit the website.

Barnes of Ashburton are celebrated for their designs in hand-crafted bespoke kitchens, but in response to the increasing numbers of people choosing to work from home, they have entered the market for home offices.

If space is at a premium and converting a box room or garage isn’t an option, then a home office space can easily be created within your living room.

A cleverly planned bespoke workspace should cover essential storage whether fitted or freestanding and will include:

• Permanent or Hideaway Desk.

• Storage and Bespoke Cabinets.

• Book Shelves and Display Cabinets.

Featured is the Barnes of Ashburton home office painted in ‘All White’ from Farrow & Ball, with a 40mm solid oak block -top. The prices for a similar design start at £5K.

Barnes of Ashburton will design and install an office for you that precisely matches the style of your existing room and will make the most efficient use of the space available. That’s the beauty of bespoke!

Barnes of Ashburton was established by furniture designer Patrick Gunning over 35 years ago. Since that time the business has built an enviable reputation, for supplying the very finest bespoke kitchens and handmade freestanding furniture to clients across the UK.

To view further examples of bespoke home offices created by Barnes of Ashburton, please visit the website.

Here are some great tips on how to maximize the space in a small kitchen, courtesy of Debbie Bowden, designer Barnes of Ashburton.

Bespoke is best! The beauty of commissioning a bespoke kitchen is that the cabinetry is made with your kitchen size in mind.

• Every centimetre is resourcefully utilised to create efficient work-space and storage.

• Worktops can be reduced in depth, cabinets scaled down in size. Everything is possible, as every component is made to measure. However, bespoke needn’t mean expensive with prices starting from £15000.

• Pull out “Magic Corners” with a soft close mechanism provide an ideal corner storage system. These prevent food items, or hard to reach crockery languishing at the back of cupboards.

• Recycling is still important in a small space. Discrete, pull out bins with compartments for sorting compost, glass and plastics, can be integrated into a kitchen, however small.

• Choose appliances to make the most of the space available – a ¾ size dishwasher for example, or a multifunction oven.

• Create the illusion of space by not fitting wall cabinets.

• The owner of the kitchen featured, requested a traditional, hand-painted kitchen, with a relaxed feel. But for more of a contemporary, sleek look, consider handle-less kitchens.

• Create the illusion of space with light-reflective paint, or hi-gloss finishes.

• And if you can accommodate a central island, scale it down and create a sociable place for guests to perch.

For more information about the Barnes of Ashburton’s bespoke kitchen solutions, please visit the website.
Tel: (01364) 653613

The elite kitchen furniture maker Mobalco has chosen luxury interiors specialist Intervari®, as the exclusive UK distributor of its award-winning designs and products.

Mobalco started manufacture in Spain and is now world-famous for its high-technology kitchen ideas in a modern style.

Intervari® will offer the entire Mobalco product range, officially launching the new collection in September, at its flagship showroom on London’s famous Wigmore Street:

• Among the products it will introduce is Mobalco’s Avantgarde kitchen, winner of the Feria Internacional de Mueble design prize, (in our picture) and the Aero kitchen, a highly durable steel structure with an elegant, sophisticated finish.

• Intervari® will also offer Mobalco’s exclusive Organica environmentally-friendly kitchen, featuring applications such as a water purifier to reduce plastic bottle use, separate bins to promote recycling and a bread machine for producing home-baked goods.

• Mobalco’s innovative UK product range will include the Orgamix, which provides three electrical plug sockets, vacuum packer, food mixer and precision kitchen scales for island kitchens, the chic Orgavital storage system and The Germinator, a vessel for cultivating organic seeds in the kitchen.

“We’re thrilled that Mobalco has chosen Intervari® as its sole distributor in the UK,” commented Stephen Boad, Managing Director of Intervari®. “Both companies are founded on the principles of passion for design, careful selection of materials, attention to detail and outstanding customer service, and this partnership reinforces Intervari’s position at the cutting edge of kitchen design.”

The Intervari® Wigmore Street W1 showroom is open six days a week Monday to Friday 9am-5pm and Saturday 9am-4pm.

Intervari® specialises in bespoke design and manufacture of beautiful handcrafted kitchens, bedrooms and bathrooms.

For further information about the Intervari bespoke handcrafted kitchen ranges, please visit the website.

Tel : +44 (0)1908 635300

Alternative Plans’ introduction of Strato’s new generation Strato 2011 Collection, expresses their supreme appreciation of the ‘one block’ kitchen design, flowing effortlessly between one material and another; combining Bolivar Wood with Strato-stone, steel and mirror glass:

• The working area is defined vertically by a glass wall and horizontally by a steel lighting raft illuminated with LEDs.

• The working island is balanced between sculpture and architecture, visualized as a monolith, utterly pure and sophisticated.

• Designed by Marco Gorini and built in his factory in the Lombardy region of Italy, only 300 Strato kitchens are produced each year. Each one is designed and built to order as a complete one off, combining advanced manufacturing techniques and long-established cabinet making skills, which are the Gorini family’s heritage.

Strato describe themselves as “for those who run away from the ordinary”.

For Alternative Plans - who have never been ordinary - it brings the prospect of offering haute-couture concept works, to clients seeking the ultimate kitchen.

About
Alternative Plans have pioneered the work of some of the world’s leading industrial designers for nearly 30 years and been in the front line of architectural design for kitchens and bathrooms.

You can see Strato kitchens in the UK, exclusively at Alternative Plans’ flagship showroom in Battersea.

Visit the website to view Alternative Plans’ contemporary collection of bespoke hand crafted kitchens.
Tel: (020) 72286460

Kütchenhaus, the leading German kitchen makers have launched their first eco-wood kitchen collection named ‘Elegance’.

Available in a choice of Walnut or Oak, the Elegance collection is already a great success with customers, since it is made of 100% sustainable forestry.

Kütchenhaus, were the first kitchen company in the world to be accredited by the PEFC (Programmes for the Endorsement of Forestry Certification Schemes) several years ago.

The company’s entire range now conforms to PEFC, so they are confident to introduce the range, knowing that the oak used, only comes from PEFC approved sources.

Customers purchasing the Elegance kitchen for its eco- certificate, don’t have to compromise on style or price either, in-fact the new kitchen has already been accepted as a trendy choice and is very reasonably priced at £10,000.

Furthermore, as with all Kütchenhaus kitchens, the Elegance door fronts can be mixed and matched with any other style from the company’s range, to create something unique and fresh for every home.

Featured here is the new Elegance mixed with a bright white, high gloss door front, to produce a wood kitchen with a contemporary twist. The designers at Kütchenhaus are highly trained to offer lots of style combinations, ensuring every kitchen is exclusive to each customer and at no extra cost.

They can also offer other style options such as a choice of worktop heights plus combination slim-line tops and all come as standard design choices at no extra cost.

Norman Parker Kütchenhaus Managing Director said: “We stopped making timber doors six years ago, due to the uncertainty as to the integrity of the wood, particularly oak. Now after years of hard-work, we can confidentially sell kitchens made of wood to our customers, knowing that they are 100% accredited.”

The Elegance kitchen is available in all the Kütchenhaus stores located across the UK.

For further information about the new Kütchenhaus Elegance kitchen, please visit the website.

Tel: (0161) 749 4110.

The popularity of clean lines achieved with sleek wide white slab doors, as featured on Betta Living’s new Dallas range (shown here), is showing no sign of slowing, as this key kitchen trend finds new ways to stay ahead in the fashion stakes.

Simple yet striking styling touches and use of colour, can turn a plain white kitchen into a design statement and make it extremely en-vogue for 2011:

Wide Drawer Base Units
Apart from being practical, the wide drawer base units deliver a designer look, enhanced by sleek curved stainless steel handles.

Statement Worktops
The 30mm thin profile of the granite worktop is a current trend, rather than chunkier worktops from a couple of years ago. The overhang provides a handy bar height seating area for casual dining and is a key new styling feature for kitchens.

Sapphire Blue Glass Splashback Teamed With Oak Flooring Creates a Calming Effect
Inject colour into a white kitchen with coloured glass splashbacks. Sapphire blue creates a calming effect when teamed with this light oak wood effect flooring.

Mood Lighting – a vital ingredient in kitchen design
The room is flooded with natural light from the large roof lights but plinth lights provide additional softer lighting - ideal mood lighting for entertaining.

What’s Cooking In Kitchens - Dual Ovens & Island Hobs
The two main appliances that are in high demand right now are the induction hob, frequently being designed into a central island unit rather than along wall worktops; and additional steam ovens alongside conventional ovens, to provide a choice of cooking facilities.

A Hot And Practical Solution
Vertical radiators are a good space saving solution in the kitchen.

Betta Living’s Dallas kitchen is priced at just £2,471 for an average sized kitchen (based on a guide layout and in Betta Living’s 70% sale), with a 600mm base unit from £262.50.

Betta Living has 20 showrooms, 25 pop up stores and offers free, no obligation design consultations in customer’s homes throughout the UK, to ensure its kitchens are designed to individual, exacting needs and budget.

For more information on Betta Living’s Dallas kitchen, please visit the website.

Tel:    0800 269 945 for a free home design consultation.

Buying a kitchen is a big investment and for many people it can be a daunting prospect. Some people like to take on the entire project themselves, while others require help through the whole process.

That’s why IKEA is making the process of buying a kitchen easy for all customers, by offering a choice of services, depending on the amount of help needed!

From in-home planning, installation to delivery, IKEA offers all the services you may require, to help you achieve that kitchen you’ve always dreamed of.

Featured here is the Faktum Aktum/Tidaholm oak kitchen, £2145; plus VAT.

Planning
When it comes to planning your kitchen, you can become your own interior designer, by either planning it yourself using the free online IKEA kitchen planning tool, or with assisted planning in-store, or pay for IKEA to plan your entire kitchen in the comfort of your home.

Installation
Professional kitchen installation can save you valuable time, especially when it comes to the trickier tasks like worktops, appliances, the sink and tap or even unit installation.

You can choose one or all of the items from the installation menu, depending on how much of the work you want to do yourself.

The Ikea installation service includes, a pre-installation visit to check measurements and the accuracy of your order, certified gas and electrical service providers and your order pre-checked and consolidated prior to delivery – plus a free three year guarantee on workmanship and installation.

You will get a fully coordinated service with a personal case handler, all at the usual IKEA low-price!

Delivery
Most of IKEA products are designed and packaged in such a way that you can easily get them home in your own car; that’s why there are 15 kitchen ranges that are available to take home straight from the IKEA store if you choose.
Alternatively, IKEA can arrange for your kitchen to be delivered straight to your home.

Visit IKEA’s specialist kitchen website, for some great tips and ideas to help you through the kitchen buying process.

Parlour Farm is expanding with a new showroom and the release of their new brochure.

Parlour Farm is a leading bespoke kitchen company, based in the heart of The Cotswolds in Cirencester.

Their brand new brochure is bursting with beautiful images of contemporary and traditional kitchens, designed to please and fit to a whole range of different styles and prices.

Even more exciting - there are big plans for expansion as the company’s third showroom is soon to be launched in Blackminster.

Founded as a family business in 1994, Nick and Naomi Grunfield have been designing kitchens for over a decade and pride themselves on providing the consumer with a bespoke, affordable alternative to the mass produced. Their style is timeless and one of classic simplicity.

With a successful and prestigious customer base, Parlour Farm’s kitchens are about function, individuality and a stunning aesthetic appeal.

Huge emphasis is placed on interpreting the customer’s requirements and way of life, to ensure that each kitchen is entirely unique.

To find out more about the Parlour Farm products, or to order the brochure, please visit the website.

Telephone: (01285) 885336.

John Lewis of Hungerford have done it! Their painted kitchen cabinetry is now officially the hardest wearing in the kitchen world, and the Gloss and Satin Eggshell finishes have been awarded the highest rating available, by SATRA Technology Centre, certifying the kitchens for ‘severe usage’.

All painted cabinetry is now resistant to wet and dry heat and marking by liquids, oils and solvents. As specialists in painted kitchens, this is one of the highest possible accolades

“We have worked extremely hard over the years to perfect our formula and thrilled that we’ve been able to achieve it” says Jon Rosby, MD of John Lewis of Hungerford.”

Each and every painted collection is now suitable for commercial, industrial and professional kitchen environments, each a worthwhile investment for even the busiest household.

For any bustling family who spend a lot of time in the kitchen, you can rest assured that a John Lewis of Hungerford kitchen will stand the test of time.

All items are painted by John Lewis of Hungerford’s experts at their Wantage workshop. Not only can they boast having the toughest painted cabinetry in the industry, but also combined with improved processes, and the application of an additional primer hardening agent, the specialist’s kitchens and furniture really are the best they have ever produced.

For further information about the John Lewis of Hungerford durable painted kitchens, please visit their website.

Tel: (0700) 278 4726