South Hams Lifestyle Dec 2021 - Jan 2022

KITCHEN DESIGN ADVICE
FROM AN EXPERT
We speak to Julia Kendell, interiors and
decorating expert from ITV’s ’60 Minute Makeover’
and ‘Rebuild Our Home’ and spokesperson for The
National Homebuilding & Renovating Show...
THE KITCHEN IS THE UNDISPUTED
HEART OF THE HOME - AS WELL
AS FEEDING EVERYONE, IT’S
BECOME THE SOCIAL HUB, HOME-
SCHOOLING AREA AND MUCH
MORE – HOW DO YOU START YOUR
DESIGN PROCESS WITH CLIENTS?
Yes absolutely, the kitchen has had
to really take the strain in the past 18
months and now more than ever my
clients are eager to find ways to ensure
their new kitchen spaces are flexible
enough to cope with whatever might be
round the corner.
The design process starts with
understanding my client’s functional
needs for the room, both now and as far
into the future as we can determine (after
all, a good quality kitchen should last
20-30 years). My design principles centre
on wellbeing in the home and creating
spaces that fully support the family to
ensure everyone can be organised and in
harmony with one another. This involves
spending time working out the each
individual’s daily movements around
the kitchen, their needs and what they
enjoy doing. If there’s a keen baker in
the household, I will suggest a dedicated
‘baking cabinet’ where everything
you need is in one place, stand-mixer
plugged in ready for use and no excuses
not to achieve ‘Star Baker!’ I believe
good design ensures we can be the best
versions of ourselves and take obstacles
out of the way of our daily successes.
MANY OF US ARE LOOKING TO
SAVE THE COST OF MOVING AND
INSTEAD IMPROVE OUR HOMES –
ARE THERE SIMPLE CHANGES WE
COULD MAKE TO IMPROVE THE
LOOK AND FLOW OF OUR HOMES?
It sounds obvious, but a total de-clutter,
removing as much as possible from a
room to be able to view the room with
‘fresh-eyes’ is a great start to make
meaningful changes. One of the simplest
yet most effective improvements is
to increase the levels of daylight into
the home. Texture, whether fabrics or
carpeting absorbs a huge amount of
daylight and it can be transformational to
swap out curtains for shutters/ blinds and
hard flooring such as engineered wood
to replace carpet. Instantly the rooms will
feel larger and brighter and any increase
in daylight in the home can only improve
your mood and wellbeing.
WHEN DESIGNING A KITCHEN,
WHERE SHOULD YOU SPLURGE
AND WHERE SHOULD YOU SAVE?
Areas that receive the most use should
be prioritised in the overall budget. Most
kitchen units are well constructed these
days so choosing an affordable unit with
a good quality worksurface is a good
option. It’s amazing the difference adding
expensive handles can make to uplifting
an otherwise ‘standard’ kitchen. I caution
my clients to think carefully about their
appliance choices too. It’s very easy to
get excited about the latest gadget, but
with appliances a large proportion of
the overall cost of a kitchen, be realistic
about how useful an appliance will be.
Do you really need an oven with 42
functions?!
WHAT HAVE BEEN THE KEY
LESSONS YOU’VE LEARNT ABOUT
INTERIOR DESIGN IN YOUR
EXPERIENCE IN THE INDUSTRY?
Without doubt, the most important lesson
is to design holistically and to engage
all of the senses. It’s not enough just to
create a pretty, ‘instagrammable’ room.
The way we experience our homes and
workplaces is crucial to our mental
health and performance and shouldn’t be
underestimated. From choosing a colour
palette to reflect your personality and
emotional needs to providing good air
quality, creating a harmonious space that
‘feels’ and functions as good as it looks is
key to good design.
SINCE THE PANDEMIC, HAVE YOU
NOTICED ANY CHANGES IN THE
WAY PEOPLE WANT THEIR HOMES
TO FUNCTION – A MOVE AWAY
FROM FULLY OPEN PLAN FOR
EXAMPLE?
There is still a strong appetite for openplan
living as it provides the space,
light and connection to one another we
all crave. That said, to mitigate some
of the issues with open-plan such as
noise, privacy issues and cooking-smell
transference from the kitchen, ‘brokenplan’
is becoming a useful design tool.
Broken-plan essentially incorporates
vertical divides within the open-plan
space using glazing, open-backed
shelving, or sliding doors to delineate
areas without closing off the visual impact
of the space. This is also a great way to
bring some architectural interest to an
otherwise ‘large box’ that can too often
feel like an airport lounge! I think anyone
with shares in garden offices will have a
good year ahead…
WHAT TRENDS FOR 2022 ARE YOU
EMBRACING THE MOST?
Houzz are reporting a huge increase in
interest in dedicated activity spaces such
as art rooms, home bars, home gyms and
cinema rooms. I am very excited to see
this as it shows that we are choosing to
design our interests and passions into our
homes. It’s refreshing to feel such a sense
of optimism when chatting with clients
and I am working with warmer colour
palettes and being asked to incorporate
planting and natural texture into room
schemes. There seems to be a continued
need to connect with nature after the past
18 months and I’m loving it!
Julia Kendell will be the design expert
at the Farnborough Homebuilding &
Renovating Show, 15-16 January 2022
farnborough.homebuildingshow.co.uk
20 | www.minervamagazines.co.uk