In recent months, we’ve seen the term “minimalism” increasingly diluted with each passing pin, social post, and tweet. One person’s minimal is clearly another’s cluttered nightmare, and plenty of self-proclaimed minimalists are maximalists in denial–leaving us to wonder: What does it all mean?
Then there’s an image of a kitchen–a really spare but healthy looking kitchen–that floats by in our busy online feed, stopping us in our tracks. The British kitchen, time and again, is a reminder that minimal need not be cold, and traditional need not be outdated. Merging the two contrasting styles is, if you ask us, what makes the latest British modernism so compelling. Here are 13 of our favorite kitchens, all quite minimal and thoroughly English.
Above: A stripped-down kitchen in a remodeled 1873 Victorian designed by Sevil Peach architects for a photographer. The kitchen cabinets provide storage, as does the long above-the-counter rail (with Alvar Aalto cookie cutters, among other things, on display). Explore the project in Sevil Peach Studio in Primrose Hill.
Above: This kitchen remodel by Feilden Fowles was designed to bring natural light into an apartment in a formerly unoccupied 1930s building in West London. For information on the industrial pendant lights, visit Design Sleuth: Gas Light Pendants from Ize.
Above: In an open kitchen in a surpassingly calm London townhouse, clutter is kept out of sight in flat-front cabinets above and below Corian countertops. Learn about the durable, adaptable material in Remodeling 101: Corian Countertops (and the New Corian Look-alikes).
Above: Set on the garden-level of a mews house in London, this kitchen was designed by Rundell Associates with natural light in mind (from carefully placed skylights, French doors, and windows).
Above: Consistency in the form of pink-hued wood cabinets and a ceiling-high backsplash in an Islington kitchen, complete with classic Aga. Learn about the stove in Object Lessons: The Great British Range Cooker. Photograph courtesy of Light Locations.
Above: Minimalism takes a traditional turn in a Shaker design from deVol Kitchens. See more in A Shaker-Inspired Kitchen in London.
Above: British designer du jour Jamie Blake of Blakes London mixes industrial modern with farmhouse details for a friend’s kitchen–see A Scandi Kitchen in a London Victorian.
Above: A pared-down Georgian kitchen in Hampshire is at once minimalist and rustic. Source the elements in Steal This Look: A Minimalist English Kitchen and 10 Easy Pieces: Brass Bin Pulls.
Above: A longstanding favorite kitchen in Battersea by UK cult kitchen design company Plain English. See more of the firm’s work in Kitchen Confidential: 10 Ways to Achieve the Plain English Look.
Above: A rustic kitchen in Queens Park, London, teams everyday appliances with a farmhouse sink. Photograph courtesy of Light Locations.
Above: A double-height, wood-paneled kitchen opens to a balcony in a house in Hackney designed by Laura Dewe Matthews. Photograph via Dezeen.
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