This tired kitchen gets a contemporary re-style with timeless choices that complement the apartment’s Georgian heritage — and the owner’s love for hosting

You know you’ve made it in life when you’ve got not one Peden & Pringle kitchen but two. The owners in this case are Jan and Bernard, whose Anstruther property has featured in this magazine before. Just like us, they have a keen appreciation for the work of Adam Peden and Camilla Pringle, makers and designers of bespoke kitchens. This time, we’re taking a peek into their garden apartment in Edinburgh.

Camilla took the lead once again. “Jan is one of my favourite ever clients,” she says. “She loved what we’d done for her and Bernard previously, but told us she didn’t want a copy-and-paste of that. So we looked at the lower ceilings here (the property is on the basement level), and saw we could make it feel cosier and play around with colour-drenching.”

The flat is in a Georgian building but the interior had been gutted and renewed by a developer. “The kitchen that had been put in was perfectly nice, but it wasn’t designed by somebody who likes cooking and entertaining,” Jan explains. “It just wasn’t well laid out. I knew Camilla could do better with it. I asked her to put back as many original features as she could and to open up the space to make it feel airy and have a better flow. She knows we like colour so she guided the palette.”

On the walls and cabinets is Little Greene’s deep blue-based Harley Green, which immediately envelops the space. An oak veneer was used on the rest of the cabinets, given a coat of Osmo oil to achieve a greige finish. Instead of relying on cold or muted colours to bring light into the space, Camilla did the opposite, integrating spots of brightness. On the back wall, an antiqued mirror splashback reflects the light streaming in the window, preventing the area from feeling too dark. Orange bar stools from Catalog provide another pop of colour, and the tall cabinetry is broken up with backlit reeded glass.

“The only thing we replicated from the Anstruther property was the horizontal plate rack in the display cabinet – Jan was very sure she wanted it here too.” This clever bit of storage is tucked behind reeded-glass doors and has generous shelves below for the rest of the serveware as well as accessories like napkins and candles. To the right is a display area and TV unit and on the other side is more storage, including a wine rack.

“Our truly bespoke cabinetry has no limitations, we are able to tailor it exactly to the requirements of the customer,” says Camilla. “Both Jan and Bernard are tall, so the worktop has been raised to accommodate this. The space didn’t have an island before, so we rectified that. Jan loves to cook and now she can stand at the hob and still have a conversation. It’s all about making it suit them.”

A velvet-finish Dekton surface was chosen for the worktops: slimline for the counters and with a thick built-up edge on the island. “I’ve never in any previous kitchen deviated from a very simple worktop, so that was a bit of a leap for me,” Jan reveals. “I’ve always been worried that I’d choose the wrong thing and not be able to live with it after six months, but I love it! It was great fun going out with Camilla to choose it. I’ve had polished granite before and you spend the whole evening with a dry cloth trying to get it streak-free. This is easy to look after and it looks so striking.”

Jan’s praise of the worktop could easily describe this whole project. Everything has been designed with ease of use in mind, as well as the couple’s love of colour and entertaining. “I’m pleased it doesn’t feel too stuffy or formal,” Camilla says. “I think that’s because it encompasses a fusion of styles and different textures (the oak veneer, the slimline Shaker-style cabinets, two thicknesses of worktop) and because it directly connects with the living space. Both clients are avid art collectors so the place is filled with beautiful things. It’s a visual treat. It must just be great to return to at the end of the day.”

“It is,” says Jan with satisfaction. “It’s a lovely space to come home to. I can get work out of my head by pottering about and making tasty food while chatting to my husband. Isn’t that what we all want in life?”

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