As featured in Kitchens, Bedrooms and Bathrooms : Inside Homes

Aren DeVos and his wife Nichola have breathed newlife into this 1930s property inBuckinghamshire with anambitious extension programme. The work took the house froma modest three bedrooms to six,and increased the floor area from190 to 293 square metres.Having had experience of developing properties, thecouple were exacting specifying everything in the home down to the hinges.

“The things we chose werevery specific,” says Aren. “We’ve been doing it for four or five years for various properties, so you slowly start to refine your selection, because you know where to go for things. Even the front door handle was based onone we’d seen elsewhere.”The couple had a big task ontheir hands, and moved in to rented accommodation for a year and a half while work was completed. “The house was gutted. The electrics had never been updated and were shot, and the kitchen was a seventies one with pine furniture,” says Aren.

Despite the inconvenience, the wait was worth it to get the superior finish they wanted. “We took the opportunity to have the house developed as we wanted, instead of having the scheme compromised in order to just get it done.”

Aren and Nichola wanted an open and contemporary scheme, and on the ground floor it was all about the kitchen. “The kitchen was our priority,” Aren confirms. “In all the properties we’ve had before the kitchen has always turned out to be the hub. I won’t say we’re cordon bleu chefs but we enjoy the kitchen.” Extra space was stolen from the dining area to create a very generous space, in which a c-shaped collection of units was installed with a wide clearance area around the peninsular unit-cum-breakfast bar.

 

“Attention to detail and an understanding of what
they wanted were key in choosing the kitchen appliances.”
Floyd Russell - Russell Interiors

The arrangement of units was partly dictated by the intention to make the space part of an inside-out living zone. Glass doors from the kitchen, living and dining rooms fold back to allow free access to the garden. “On sunnydays the doors will all be open,”says Aren. “It’s easy to wander from one space to the other.” To make this even more effective, wall units have been kept to aminimum, meaning the cook has a clear line of sight through to activities in the garden even while hard at work.

Attention to detail and an understanding of what they wanted were key in choosing the kitchen appliances. Most of the major appliances are located on the back wall. Set into the Corian worktop next to this bank is the extra-wide hob, the subject of much deliberation. “We looked at how we cook from an ergonomic perspective, and at our previous appliances. We’d found square hobs in the past to be a bind, so we decided on this model,” says Aren.

 

 

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