Pebble Grey Schüller Kitchen in Bishop Auckland

A pebble grey Schüller kitchen in Bishop Auckland

A kitchen, a full utility behind it, and a built TV wall — designed together, for a home in Bishop Auckland.

The move that ties it together is a walkthrough: tall doors in the kitchen run open into the utility, so the working half of the kitchen carries straight through into the room that takes the mess.

Matera, in pebble grey

The kitchen is Schüller, from the Matera range. The fronts are a UV matt lacquer in pebble grey — warm rather than cold, which is what lets it sit against brass and against a heavily veined worktop without fighting either.

It is one colour, and that is the point. The tall run, the island and the base units are the same pebble grey from end to end, so the cabinetry reads as a single quiet surface and everything that is meant to be seen — the marble, the copper, the light — is seen against it. A second, slightly cooler agate grey picks up part of the run and carries through into the utility.

A brass grip ledge instead of a handle

There are no handles. Instead, a brass-coloured grip ledge runs the length of the doors and drawers.

It does the same job as a handle without breaking the front, and it puts a warm metal into an otherwise entirely grey kitchen — which is where the whole scheme gets its character. A handful of units are left without it altogether, the appliance housings among them, so the ledge reads as a line where it is wanted rather than a band round everything.

Macchia Vecchia, and a hob that extracts itself

The worktops are Emil Ceramica Macchia Vecchia — a heavily veined surface that does the decorative work in a kitchen where the cabinetry is deliberately quiet.

Against it, the floor is deliberately plain: Graniti Fiandre in White Core, 1500 × 750. One surface is doing the talking and the other is staying out of its way, which is the only way heavy veining works in a room you can see all of at once.

The hob is an Elica NikolaTesla Alpha, which extracts through itself. There is no hood above it and no ducting through the ceiling: the recirculating outlet runs out through the plinth.

The sink is a Schock Kiruna XL in Twilight, undermounted into the same surface — a matt composite in a warm mid-grey that sits with the cabinetry rather than the worktop, so the veining runs to the edge of the bowl and stops.

A rose copper Quooker

The tap is a rose copper Quooker — boiling water on demand, in a finish that picks up the brass grip ledge running along the doors and drawers below it.

That is the whole scheme in one detail. The pebble grey does the structure; the warm metals do the character. Choosing a tap finish to answer a handle detail is the sort of decision that only works if both are specified at the same time, by the same person.

Asko, and a full utility through the wall

The appliances are Asko throughout, built into the tall run so the working half of the kitchen reads as one block. The package was upgraded during the project — the original design carried a different specification, and the appliances moved up as the scheme came together.

The utility is not a cupboard with a washing machine in it. It is a full room, reached through the walkthrough doors in that same tall run. That is what allows the kitchen itself to stay as clean as it does — the laundry, the cold storage and the noise all live next door, behind doors that match.

The TV wall, and one floor throughout

A TV wall was built as part of the same project, so the living end of the ground floor was designed rather than furnished afterwards.

Graniti Fiandre White Core, in 1500 × 750 slabs, runs through the whole downstairs unbroken. Kitchen, utility and living space sit on one surface, which is what makes three functions read as one home.