Room Tour: A Period House Gets a Dramatic Glass Kitchen Extension
A barely there addition enabled the open-plan kitchen-living-dining space of an 1860s house to be reworked
Originally built for an industrialist, the Italianate villa that architect Scott Donald was asked to extend and remodel is a striking period property. The homeowners had a glass box-style addition in mind to enlarge the combined living, dining and kitchen area, but, after that, everything was up for grabs.
Donald designed the kitchen to fulfil the homeowners’ desire for something completely bespoke, and it was built to his exacting brief by a furniture-maker. The layout includes a framed view of the stone wall at the boundary, which is around 500 years old, and which the owners wanted to see from the new addition. “It’s uplit at night and the warm glow of the stone through the window adds interest,” Donald says.
The kitchen design is minimalist, but it packs in “gallons of storage”, with cabinetry in a matt lacquered finish. “The big island needed to be a statement piece, hence the statuario marble top and tineo wood veneer,” Donald says. It creates contrast with the clarity of the white block on the wall run, but ties to it visually, too.
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The kitchen design is minimalist, but it packs in “gallons of storage”, with cabinetry in a matt lacquered finish. “The big island needed to be a statement piece, hence the statuario marble top and tineo wood veneer,” Donald says. It creates contrast with the clarity of the white block on the wall run, but ties to it visually, too.
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A pantry cupboard was incorporated into the run of wall cabinetry with space for items such as the toaster and cereal boxes. Its interior repeats the veneer and marble of the island unit to connect the two areas when the pocket sliding doors are open.
Closing the pantry doors creates a clean block of white.
Both the homeowners like to cook and they enjoy having guests round, so the work area of the island faces outwards, making for a sociable setup. “Not long after the project was finished, they had 50 or 60 people round for a party,” Donald says.
Both the homeowners like to cook and they enjoy having guests round, so the work area of the island faces outwards, making for a sociable setup. “Not long after the project was finished, they had 50 or 60 people round for a party,” Donald says.
A wall of storage was designed to define the dining space that’s alongside the kitchen. It provides somewhere to store a computer, files and practical things that used to be out on the table. The cupboards feature a grey timber veneer, while the display spaces are finished with pitted bronze panels that are lit to add subtle shine.
Copper pendant light, Tom Dixon. Wall (behind storage) painted in French Grey, Little Greene.
Copper pendant light, Tom Dixon. Wall (behind storage) painted in French Grey, Little Greene.
The extension “looks and feels light aesthetically. It had to respect the house and not challenge it,” Donald says. It was designed so the full vertical line of the house’s brickwork remains visible. The 3.2m-high sliding glass pocket doors at each end of the addition open the space to the garden.
The whole corner of the extension peels back and slides into the wall. “The way the space just spills from kitchen to garden has been a success,” Donald says.
The connection between indoors and out is also made with the limestone flooring, which was used for the kitchen extension and living and dining areas in the original house as well as outside. “It has a honed finished internally and it’s sandblasted externally,” he adds.
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The connection between indoors and out is also made with the limestone flooring, which was used for the kitchen extension and living and dining areas in the original house as well as outside. “It has a honed finished internally and it’s sandblasted externally,” he adds.
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The seating area at the end of the extension feels as if it’s part of the garden. “It’s not only a structureless corner, you also have glass above your head,” Donald says.
Metropolitan swivel chairs, B&B Italia.
Metropolitan swivel chairs, B&B Italia.
The glass doors of the extension have a slim mullion – the vertical element – and frame that gives them a minimal presence.
Glass doors, Sky-Frame.
Glass doors, Sky-Frame.
The basement of the house was converted as part of the project and the new staircase (seen right) leads to it from the kitchen. “It was put there so that everyone coming up arrives in the kitchen to promote social interaction,” Donald explains. The staircase on the left is the original “servants’ staircase” of the house.
A new entrance to the house was created at the back, which the owners now use daily. The brick lintel above replicates the original lintels of the building.
Identifying places to hang the owners’ art was an important consideration, and this large piece is visible immediately inside the new entrance at the back of the house. To its right is a hidden cupboard that tidies away coats and shoes, while on the other side is a door that opens into a cloakroom with a loo and basin against an oak wall. “It’s designed so it doesn’t feel like a room,” Donald says.
With the cloakroom door open, there’s a view of the garden, while shutters provide privacy but don’t extend to the full height of the tall window to maximise daylight. A coir doormat is inset in the entranceway so it’s flush with the limestone floor.
With the cloakroom door open, there’s a view of the garden, while shutters provide privacy but don’t extend to the full height of the tall window to maximise daylight. A coir doormat is inset in the entranceway so it’s flush with the limestone floor.
The stairs leading down to the basement are also in limestone, and every other tread is illuminated from the side. The staircase wall is made from the same oak as the cloakroom wall. “It just warms it up so it’s not all white,” says Donald.
The basement staircase’s mild steel handrail, powder-coated in black, echoes the slender black frames of the glazing. It’s supported invisibly and comes up from the floor at a tile joint, to avoid cutting a tile, and aligns with the glazing mullion.
Before the extension was built, this seating area was the dining space, and the kitchen was located where the dining table and chairs are now.
Dining table and chairs, Roche Bobois. Cassina 8 sofa, Chattels.
Dining table and chairs, Roche Bobois. Cassina 8 sofa, Chattels.
The garden is below the level of the ground floor, so the addition is raised up on a limestone plinth that ties it to the indoor and outdoor flooring.
The extension is open to the front garden, too, with the same 3.2m tall sliding wall of glass.
Tell us…
Did you choose a contemporary kitchen extension for a period home? Share details about it in the Comments section.
Tell us…
Did you choose a contemporary kitchen extension for a period home? Share details about it in the Comments section.
Who lives here A couple and their two teenage children
Location Alderley Edge, Cheshire
Property 1860s-built Italianate detached villa with 6 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms
Extension dimensions 4.5 x 13m
Architect and interior architect Scott Donald of Scott Donald Architecture
Photos by Daniel Hopkinson
Decisions aside from the glass box included whether to construct on the back or side elevation of the house, and what the function of the new section of the ground floor should be. “The original idea was to put a dining space in there, but it seemed a large area and a lot of expense just to have a dining space,” Donald says.
Reasoning that the kitchen is where the family congregate and spend most time, it was decided the extension should be home to the kitchen, with a seating area that’s right in the garden at one end.
At the side of the house was a courtyard space that wasn’t really used, which extended to the boundary of the adjacent property, and it was here the new kitchen extension was built. Although the space is heavily glazed, it’s not a pure glass box, as the roof is predominantly solid, with a large roof light illuminating the kitchen from above.
Walls painted in Shirting, Little Greene. Rio bar stools, Arighi Bianchi.