Design for Life: Cottage kitchen by Sarah Spencer Ashworth

Interior designer Sarah Spencer Ashworth explains how she turned a young family’s tricky kitchen space into the beautiful, practical heart of their home…

“The key to a great kitchen design is being honest with yourself about how you live and use that space, and designing accordingly. But it shouldn’t feel like a solely practical workspace, it should be a lovely room to be in.”

The kitchen is where life happens, in all its beautiful, messy chaos – so a great kitchen design doesn’t just look good in a showroom or Instagram post, it’s built for real life. That’s why we’re inviting some of the UK’s best interior design professionals to share their kitchen secrets with us and to show how they create spaces that are as practical as they are beautiful – starting with the brilliant Sarah Spencer Ashworth (@sspashworth).

Sarah and her studio partner Katie Dahle specialise in residential projects in London and Norfolk, with a design ethos that’s “all about the balance between old and new, and creating elegant interiors with a kick.” Here she talks us through their work on a family cottage kitchen, giving us an insight into how an expert approaches a challenging design project…

“This little cottage presented interesting spatial challenges for the kitchen, as it was made up of two rooms. The larger room had to function as both kitchen and dining room, and be able to accommodate everything that comes with young children! There are French doors onto the garden at the back and a door to a walk-in pantry, so only really one wall that could accommodate cabinetry. Off this room is an old lean-to, which was long, thin and un-insulated. This space needed to house utility elements."

“When you’re hosting in an open plan, multifunctional space, then ideally you hide the washing up, so you’re not staring at it through the meal. With this in mind we located the dishwasher and larger washing up sink in the utility. This works because, despite technically being in another room, it is only a few steps from the kitchen, and it frees up space for pan and crockery storage drawers in the main kitchen, along with a small rinse sink. The full height fridge/freezer also went into the utility."

“There is a handy walk-in cupboard which we kitted out with floor to ceiling shelves and a very small counter to house larger electrical goods. Under this counter we put two trollies that could hold all the playroom and craft kit that could be wheeled out as needed. This serves well as a little pantry. "

“We used v-groove panelling on the back kitchen wall behind the cabinets to serve as splashback and add some visual interest. We clad all walls and ceiling in the utility in the same panelling to make sure the spaces ‘talked’ to each other (and it meant we could add insulation behind the panels). The vertical lines of the panelling help to visually lift the low ceiling height – this is also the reason we decided against any wall cupboards. "

“It is always nice to keep some wall space free to add personality with art in a kitchen, so it doesn’t feel clinical. The key to a great kitchen design is being honest with yourself about how you live and use that space and designing accordingly. But don’t hold back on beautiful art, a table lamp on the worktop, rugs…A family kitchen shouldn’t feel like a solely practical workspace, it should be a lovely room to be in.”

Follow Sarah on Instagram for more of her beautiful designs, inspiration and ideas.

The cottage features Naked Kitchens' frameless Ladbroke kitchen in white. See more Ladbroke style kitchens here.