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Kitchen Tour: A Flat’s Tiny Galley Gains Glamour on a Budget
This designer’s theatrical past provided the inspiration for her ‘jewel box’ of a kitchen
When Amy Shirlaw redesigned the small kitchen in her Edinburgh flat, she wanted enough storage, but not for the space to look too practical. “Endless wall cupboards or top shelves aren’t useful for me,” Amy says, “especially when they’re not easily accessible. The less space you have, the more you use what you’ve got. So I don’t have stacks of kidney bean tins!”
She also drew on experience from her former career as a theatre designer to create the aesthetic. “It’s an open-plan kitchen on show to the living room,” she says, “so I wanted it almost to look like a little jewel box or a set design, with a connection to the living room, but not matching it. I like the idea of contrast. I was aiming more for ‘distant cousins’ than ‘twins’.”
She also drew on experience from her former career as a theatre designer to create the aesthetic. “It’s an open-plan kitchen on show to the living room,” she says, “so I wanted it almost to look like a little jewel box or a set design, with a connection to the living room, but not matching it. I like the idea of contrast. I was aiming more for ‘distant cousins’ than ‘twins’.”
This is Amy’s kitchen as seen from the living room. The ‘set design’ look she wanted to create is helped by the painted architrave around the arch, which frames the view, while the palette of colours, especially the golden wallpaper glimmering at the top of the kitchen, do give a jewel box effect. “I wanted it almost to be like a standalone box, beautiful and twinkly,” Amy says.
Look closely and you’ll see the arch is painted in the same pink as the kitchen ceiling, with the skirting board in white. It’s a satin finish, so, as well as being hardwearing, it has a slight reflectiveness to it. “I wanted it to be almost fake neo-classical,” she says.
To further link the two rooms, Amy custom-mixed the cabinet colour to complement, but not match, the living room wall colour. “The two blues and the pink connect very harmoniously.”
However, the two floor finishes are less carefully coordinated. “They have zero connection. I just loved the pink terrazzo-print vinyl we used in the kitchen [see close-ups below], though it has blues and oranges in it, too, and there are lots of each in the living room, so it ties in with the view of the kitchen.”
It’s really practical, too. “It comes in at 1.4m width so there were only two strips, which took about 40 minutes to fit,” Amy says.
Ceiling and archway painted in Ballet Slippers (now discontinued), Homebase. Custom kitchen cabinet colour created by mixing Dix Blue and Green Smoke; living room walls painted in Inchyra Blue, all Farrow & Ball. Venice vinyl floor (in kitchen), Atrafloor.
Look closely and you’ll see the arch is painted in the same pink as the kitchen ceiling, with the skirting board in white. It’s a satin finish, so, as well as being hardwearing, it has a slight reflectiveness to it. “I wanted it to be almost fake neo-classical,” she says.
To further link the two rooms, Amy custom-mixed the cabinet colour to complement, but not match, the living room wall colour. “The two blues and the pink connect very harmoniously.”
However, the two floor finishes are less carefully coordinated. “They have zero connection. I just loved the pink terrazzo-print vinyl we used in the kitchen [see close-ups below], though it has blues and oranges in it, too, and there are lots of each in the living room, so it ties in with the view of the kitchen.”
It’s really practical, too. “It comes in at 1.4m width so there were only two strips, which took about 40 minutes to fit,” Amy says.
Ceiling and archway painted in Ballet Slippers (now discontinued), Homebase. Custom kitchen cabinet colour created by mixing Dix Blue and Green Smoke; living room walls painted in Inchyra Blue, all Farrow & Ball. Venice vinyl floor (in kitchen), Atrafloor.
Click into this closer view of the room, which shows the palette – and that floor – more clearly.
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Ready to refresh your home? Start the conversation with an interior designer in your area – many are now offering remote design services.
The L-shaped layout didn’t lend itself to too much change and Amy kept the sink, cooker, gas hob and washing machine in the same positions. “Because of the way the building is, to move pipes you’d be affecting what amounts to four properties in a neighbouring building.”
Amy says people thought she was mad removing the wall cabinets, but that the internal configuration of the new units is quite different. “They’re vastly changed to make them much more practical and to utilise every bit of space,” she says.
There’s a double-height, kidney-shaped pull-out corner rack behind the left-hand door under the sink, which Amy uses as her pantry. Since it’s on the draining board side, it won’t get wet in case of any leaks. The right-hand door conceals two pull-out shelves for pots and pans. There are two more slim pull-outs flanking the cooker for oils and spices.
The tall unit in the foreground is the fridge-freezer. Amy was careful to position the line between the doors at the same height as the worktop. Look at the before photo (next image) and you’ll see the fridge was much higher. Visually, this wasn’t as pleasing; the lines are now continuous. “In a small space, this is especially important,” Amy explains.
Amy says people thought she was mad removing the wall cabinets, but that the internal configuration of the new units is quite different. “They’re vastly changed to make them much more practical and to utilise every bit of space,” she says.
There’s a double-height, kidney-shaped pull-out corner rack behind the left-hand door under the sink, which Amy uses as her pantry. Since it’s on the draining board side, it won’t get wet in case of any leaks. The right-hand door conceals two pull-out shelves for pots and pans. There are two more slim pull-outs flanking the cooker for oils and spices.
The tall unit in the foreground is the fridge-freezer. Amy was careful to position the line between the doors at the same height as the worktop. Look at the before photo (next image) and you’ll see the fridge was much higher. Visually, this wasn’t as pleasing; the lines are now continuous. “In a small space, this is especially important,” Amy explains.
This is how the kitchen looked before the renovation. “It was a rental and had a peeling laminate worktop, as there was no draining board, and the cupboards were in a terrible state,” Amy says. “Unfortunately, there was no salvaging to be done.”
She wishes she’d had the radiator beneath the breakfast bar removed. “It’s never turned on,” she says. “It’s my only regret.”
She wishes she’d had the radiator beneath the breakfast bar removed. “It’s never turned on,” she says. “It’s my only regret.”
Amy opted for a very slightly shallower worktop on the left of the kitchen, because it was the only way she could fit in a decent-width cabinet on the back wall.
“The difference is only around five centimetres,” she says, “but if I’d had it standard size, I couldn’t have fitted in that double cupboard under the sink.”
It posed no problem for the oven, hob and fridge, but the washing machine juts out. That’s why it has a curtain hiding it, as there wasn’t the space for an integrated design.
“But I love my curtain,” Amy says. “It adds a bit of softness. It’s teal velvet and matches the second sofa in the living room, and so it really works.” It’s on a dowelling rod fixed with Command hooks, so it can easily be taken off for frequent washing.
Shaker-style kitchen, Howdens. Handles, The Handle Studio.
“The difference is only around five centimetres,” she says, “but if I’d had it standard size, I couldn’t have fitted in that double cupboard under the sink.”
It posed no problem for the oven, hob and fridge, but the washing machine juts out. That’s why it has a curtain hiding it, as there wasn’t the space for an integrated design.
“But I love my curtain,” Amy says. “It adds a bit of softness. It’s teal velvet and matches the second sofa in the living room, and so it really works.” It’s on a dowelling rod fixed with Command hooks, so it can easily be taken off for frequent washing.
Shaker-style kitchen, Howdens. Handles, The Handle Studio.
Instead of the breakfast bar, Amy found a mango wood, glass-fronted cabinet to sit in the same spot. She didn’t need the space to eat, as there’s a dining table in the bay window in the living room.
“It adds warmth to the kitchen and houses all the crockery and glassware. It also has a large drawer for big utensils,” Amy says. “Underneath, I can put recycling and Angus’s food. On top, I put my kettle and stuff, which means I can keep the work surface clearer. And it’s all hidden from the living room by the big plant.”
Amy picked up the slim artwork on the papered wall from a local reuse and recycle facility for £4.
Cabinet, Swoon.
“It adds warmth to the kitchen and houses all the crockery and glassware. It also has a large drawer for big utensils,” Amy says. “Underneath, I can put recycling and Angus’s food. On top, I put my kettle and stuff, which means I can keep the work surface clearer. And it’s all hidden from the living room by the big plant.”
Amy picked up the slim artwork on the papered wall from a local reuse and recycle facility for £4.
Cabinet, Swoon.
There is no dishwasher. “I’ve never had one and it’s not a busy household, so I don’t need one,” Amy says.
The Canaletto prints (one seen here and the other in the previous photo), which depict scenes in Venice, were both gifts. This one was a present to Amy’s parents on their engagement. “It has a lovely inscription for their wedding in June 1980 on the back,” she says. The other came from a friend who was clearing out her flat and passed it on to Amy.
“I chose to place the engagement present one on the back wall shelf facing the [living room] window, as it’s glazed and so bounces light back into the kitchen,” she says.
The Canaletto prints (one seen here and the other in the previous photo), which depict scenes in Venice, were both gifts. This one was a present to Amy’s parents on their engagement. “It has a lovely inscription for their wedding in June 1980 on the back,” she says. The other came from a friend who was clearing out her flat and passed it on to Amy.
“I chose to place the engagement present one on the back wall shelf facing the [living room] window, as it’s glazed and so bounces light back into the kitchen,” she says.
“The wallpaper was the starting point for the whole kitchen,” Amy explains. It’s from a Brooklyn-based company that has the rights to Andy Warhol’s imagery. “It’s based on a Warhol image,” she says. “From afar, it looks like a shiny mottled gold, but it’s actually an abstraction of a crowd scene that features Warhol. If you look for long enough, you can find him…”
The paper is heavy and the design intricate. “The decorator hated it, but he was used to expensive finishings and did a great job,” Amy says.
The globe wall lights add another layer of glamour. There are also LEDs in the ceiling, though Amy removed two from the original kitchen, as she didn’t want the space ever to feel too brightly lit.
Amy wanted a natural material to help ground the opulent wallpaper, so chose oak for this shelf. She admits it’s more decorative than practical and houses cups as well as the artwork. “I was going to use it for utensils, but ended up having enough space to put everything away.”
She also had ‘secret’ sockets installed above it for phone charging and the like. She disguises these with decorative picture magnets. “They’re nice sockets,” she says, “but I still don’t want to look at one.”
Crowd (Where’s Warhol) wallpaper in Sepia, Flavor Paper. Pearl nickel sockets, Wickes.
The paper is heavy and the design intricate. “The decorator hated it, but he was used to expensive finishings and did a great job,” Amy says.
The globe wall lights add another layer of glamour. There are also LEDs in the ceiling, though Amy removed two from the original kitchen, as she didn’t want the space ever to feel too brightly lit.
Amy wanted a natural material to help ground the opulent wallpaper, so chose oak for this shelf. She admits it’s more decorative than practical and houses cups as well as the artwork. “I was going to use it for utensils, but ended up having enough space to put everything away.”
She also had ‘secret’ sockets installed above it for phone charging and the like. She disguises these with decorative picture magnets. “They’re nice sockets,” she says, “but I still don’t want to look at one.”
Crowd (Where’s Warhol) wallpaper in Sepia, Flavor Paper. Pearl nickel sockets, Wickes.
To pay for the pricey wallpaper, Amy compromised on not having the built-in extractor she would have preferred and on having laminate worktops.
“The splashback was meant to match the counter,” Amy explains, “but the delivery failed and I just wanted it done. Luckily, I came across these at the same time.”
She chose a large-format tile with scores in it that make it look like a smaller design. “It’s cheaper and quicker than using smaller tiles,” she says.
This view from the kitchen back out to the living room shows the gleaming golden panel Amy chose for the side of the fridge to add a splash more glamour.
Tiles, Topps Tiles.
Tell us…
Which small kitchen ideas would you steal from this space? Let us know in the Comments.
She chose a large-format tile with scores in it that make it look like a smaller design. “It’s cheaper and quicker than using smaller tiles,” she says.
This view from the kitchen back out to the living room shows the gleaming golden panel Amy chose for the side of the fridge to add a splash more glamour.
Tiles, Topps Tiles.
Tell us…
Which small kitchen ideas would you steal from this space? Let us know in the Comments.
Who lives here? Interior designer Amy Shirlaw and her cat, Angustora Bitters (previously called Angus until Amy realised ‘he’ was a ‘she’)
Location Haymarket, Edinburgh
Property An 1850s Victorian ground floor conversion flat
Room dimensions 2.1 x 3.1m
Designer Amy Shirlaw of Amy Shirlaw Interiors
Budget £7,500
Photos by Alix McIntosh of Alix McIntosh Photography