Shooting the Breeze: Cool New Take on Shaker Classic

It’s early o’clock, dew still on the ground, but Naked Kitchens creative director Jayne Everett and photographer Malcolm Menzies are already hard at work on their photoshoot in deepest Norfolk.  You couldn’t make up a more idyllic setting for someone’s dream country kitchen  -  an old vicarage in the heart of the Broads.

But it's all real. Real house, real homeowners, real Naked Kitchen. Our very latest, to be precise, commissioned by a busy professional couple who love to cook and who entertain like it's going out of fashion.  The kitchen  – no prizes for guessing that we’re calling it The Norfolk Vicarage -  is spacy and breezy, spritzing the innocence of the Shaker classic with a chilled new twist.If anyone can shoot this breeziness to show off the kitchen in all its brilliance, then it’s award-winning Malcolm. He’s the ideal lensman for Naked Kitchens, completely grasping the earthy yet edgy ethos underlying our work, our respect for wood and our way of harnessing hi-tech to use natural materials sustainably and without waste. Hailing from the remote island of Iona, Malcolm is no stranger to the wild side, although he’s now based in London with a reputation for catching some of the capital’s most iconic and sophisticated brands, interiors and lifestyles.

We’re proud of The Norfolk Vicarage and we can’t wait to see how Malcolm’s artistry reveals its personality. So much heart and soul gets poured into creating our kitchens, and launching any one of them is a huge deal.   Suddenly, we’re seeing the kitchen through someone else’s eyes and it’s exciting and nerve-wracking all at the same time.As the Norfolk Vicarage couple love entertaining so much, their new kitchen was crafted to be the very hub of the home, offering both welcome and wow factor to their many guests. In a svelte fusion of ancient and modern, we worked around period features like the chimney breast and narrow windows to bring the necessary fluency and circulation to an area that is often both entrance and living room of the house.

It all came together smoothly - and what was once a rather dark space is now bright and joyous, with a stunning sweep of antiqued glass behind the Aga spreading its radiance over worktops of white Carrara quartz and giving a friendly sparkle to the carefully-positioned glazed cabinetsIt’s a kitchen with all kinds of tailored elegance:  putting the cocktails in Shaker, we love the host’s area with its smart little sink - for icing and slicing the G&Ts -  a glasses cupboard, and cabinet for storing wine and mixers.

There are stowaway trays of sleek grained wood, pegboard crockery dividers in the solid oak drawers, a vegetable preparation sink, cupboards with bifold doors that open generously to the full depth of the worktop, and a deep overhang on the island, allowing friends to lean in comfortably, instead of perching awkwardly on their stools with nowhere to put their knees.The photoshoot takes about ten hours, but it’s fascinating to glimpse how Malcolm’s keen eye picks angles and lighting that catch the essence of this lovely new kitchen.  We can’t wait to launch it now – so, as they say, watch this space.  Or rather, the fresh new space of The Norfolk Vicarage Kitchen….Malcolm's Website