Tour this hidden kitchen where the design brief was to create a space nothing like a 'normal kitchen'

When redesigning their home, the owners of this Kensington townhouse wanted to capture a sense of ‘ease, light, and connection to the outdoors’. Having previously been based in Corsica, the French couple wanted their new London dwelling to recapture the energy of their Mediterranean home and help their daily lives feel effortless. This was the inspiring force behind their new kitchen by Roundhouse Design.

With a new baby on the way, the space needed to be a comforting and functional space for their growing family of soon-to-be four. Mathilde, from a family of gallery owners, and her husband David, who also has a love of the arts, both share a strong appreciation for beauty and history and immediately fell in love with the mid-19th-century townhouse on viewing it.

‘Our vision was an easygoing family home, where rooms feel generous and light-filled, and where every space invites you to relax,’ explain the couple. It was important for them to retain the Victorian character – they chose to reintroduce period details, such as plaster paneling.

With the help of Layzell architects, one of the big decisions they made was to move the kitchen from the lower ground level to the ground floor where it could benefit from strong natural light. Mathilde explains, ‘The kitchen is the heart of our home, a space where we spend most of our time together, and we wanted it to have a sense of openness, overlooking the garden, seamlessly connected to the rest of the house’.

They remapped the layout of the ground floor making it open-plan and repositioning the staircase, balancing the traditional character of the property with a fresh contemporary layout that welcomed more light into the space.

‘Elevated but not ostentatious’ is how Mathilde characterizes her design philosophy. She explains, ‘We favor a soft, natural color palette that enhances an airy atmosphere and materials and finishes that age beautifully over time’.

When it came to translating this in their new kitchen, they sought the help of expert kitchen designers Roundhouse Design who perfectly understood their brief to balance heritage with modernity and function with beauty.

Mathilde is a serious cook so needed a practical kitchen, yet she was determined to keep the space looking streamlined and uncluttered. This was the big challenge and where the team came up with the idea of a ‘hidden kitchen’. They wanted to design a space for cooking that blended in with the rest of the ground floor, given the open-plan kitchen layout.

It needed to hold the many appliances, gadgets, and tools Mathilde uses in meal preparation, but as a room that the family spends a lot of time in, they didn’t want it to be characterized by its functionality. Instead, they wanted it to feel inviting, calming, and beautiful, like the rest of their home.

With Roundhouse, they came up with the plan to wrap the kitchen in traditional wall paneling that conceals floor-to-ceiling kitchen storage. The bespoke cabinetry was color-matched to the walls to enhance the seamless appearance, creating a connection between the kitchen and the rest of the home beyond. Made-to-fit doors blend flawlessly in with the paneling.

Almost all of the kitchen appliances and utensils are out of sight. A custom extraction is integrated into the barely-there hob. Paul Welburn, Senior Designer at Roundhouse, explains, ‘The space was carefully balanced to be highly functional while maintaining the sleek, concealed aesthetic, requiring precision engineering and meticulous detailing’.

One of the most unique elements of the kitchen that enhances the ‘hidden’ look is the kitchen island. In Paul's words: ‘The island was designed to feel like a dining table rather than a conventional kitchen island’.

In order the make the kitchen island feel more like a piece of furniture, they opted for a rich-colored wood which they stained with a bespoke oil, and raised the legs to make it look more table-like and less utilitarian.

Never missing an opportunity to maximize hidden storage, Roundhouse engineered the legs of the island to allow gadgets to be hidden within. Natural stone worktops featuring striking veining were chosen by hand by the owners, a practical choice that also adds to the timeless appeal of the space.

The ‘hidden kitchen’ may well be the answer to the quandary of the modern kitchen, that is, how to balance practicality with comfort and style in the space that is increasingly becoming the most used room in the home. For Mathilde and David, the 'hidden' concept certainly helped them articulate their vision, creating an elegant family space suited to their lifestyle.

Mathilde says, ‘Now, as we settle into our home, we are reminded daily of why we fell in love with this space: the soft morning light in the kitchen, the gentle flow between indoors and out, and the feeling that every detail reflects the way we love to live’.