I think it's pretty. But will only stay that way if you either live in a dust-free (not to mention pet-hair-free) environment OR you have a live-in, diligent housekeeper.

It is a fine design. But I am diverted by the OCD staging. Perhaps if real life were included it would grab me a bit more.

I love the concept of this kitchen but I'm not sure I would like to live with so much open shelving. The huge kitchen island is what I love most, both for storage and food prep, although I would have used an antique English pine for a warmer, country feel.

Beautiful. But...

The shelves are OCD, while the under-island storage is a jumbled mess that will only get worse, clatter-y, and dusty.

The drawers are fantastic (and "close with an agreeable thud"), and how about those cabinets between the windows! Lovely!

I wonder what kind of maintenance has to be done on the copper-front range?

Limestone floors? Ouch.

My very first thought was, "Oh, what an effing mess."

It's a very nice, magazine kitchen. Very serene colors.

I wonder if time-out for the teenagers would be hand washing all the dishes under the island? Or wiping down all the shelves without standing on the counters in dirty tennis shoes?

With my 5 cats and construction dust, I cannot imagine the fur and splooge I'd have to wash off every time I thought I might cook.

Hardly realistic for a function kitchen. Form? Maybe.

Pretty, but my first question was, "Where are the drinking glasses?" Then I saw them in the pretty cabinets on the window wall. Then I thought, "Where is the fridge?" I am still wondering that!
I think it could have been loosened up a bit with some of the bowls, platters, cake plates, etc from underneath the island, had they put them on those OCD open shelves. I'm a little OCD myself, so the strict structure on the open shelves in contrast with the anything goes look underneath the island seems at odds.
But that's my problem not theirs- haha! I would absolutely take it over the kitchen I have now!

This kitchen probably has "six people working around it" just like the original Edwardian model.

It's nice looking, but it's practical only for those who cook from scratch every day so that the pots and pans are in heavy cleaning rotation and not gathering dust, and who also has someone cleaning it all on a regular basis. If this family has someone cooking and cleaning like that for them, it's probably functional. If there is not a lot of cooking going on, they still need someone working to keep it clean.

I assume the family that can afford this kitchen can also afford housekeepers. Nevertheless, I like it. I would love having things at hand and not having to scrabble around in lower cabinets to find pots and pans.Unfortunately for me, my cookware is a ragtag collection of Farberware and Reverware, not pretty copper pots with their handles all facing in the same direction.

The jumbled mess under the island doesn't bother me, although I could imagine cats loving to crawl into the bowls for a nap.

One of my pet peeves: "The tap above is a pot filler. âÂÂRather than having to carry heavy pans over to the sink, they can be filled with water in situ,â he says." Um, you do have to carry it back to the sink, and what happens when that pot filler starts to drip? Better have a plumber on staff.

I would love to have a kitchen designed by someone named Petherick. So very Downton Abbey. Hopefully it comes with the staff.

I would like it much better if that island could have full cabinets on one side to hide the jumbled mess. It seems very strange to have OCD shelves coupled with that mess of stuff under the island.

Even if someone kept the open shelves clean, seeing so many shelf brackets annoys me. I don't care for the low ceiling.

I like Linelle immediately noticed the low ceiling. I live in a house with low ceilings that I don't notice and doesn't bother me. In that kitchen just looking at it makes me want to duck my head. I don't know why???

To me the shelves are boring.

I agree with the others that this kitchen would need a lot of maintenance to keep it looking clean. Also, I have two copper pans which have seen a lot of use. They do not look pristine like those in the photo - those must be purely decorative.

I too want to know where is the fridge, and for that matter, where are the outlets? Does England not have building codes requiring outlets? Do the homeowners (or their chef) never use a coffee maker, toaster or mixer?

Linelle - I do not think the ceiling is that low. I think that the strong double horizontal lines (actually triple lines with the 4" backsplash line) create an effect that makes the ceiling appear lower. The other side of that coin is if you have cabinets that go to the ceiling (or another example would be drapery in a living room hung directly beneath a ceiling), it gives the illusion that the ceiling is higher.

What are the characteristics of tulipwood? No kitchen that I have seen had tulipwood specified. I have seen a few pieces of old furniture that used it, but I know nothing about it.
DH liked the stove. That's it. I love the island, but the bowls underneath would be filled with Great Pyrenees fur in my house.

Fabulous materials, meticulous craftsmanship, wonderful appliances, but, in the end, too bland and impractical. I bet the homeowners really enjoy it, though.

I love it but the open cookware on that bottom shelf makes me shudder. Dust, dog hair...I know a quick rinse/sponging but why make extra work for yourself?
Not practical but nice to look at...at someone else's house, lol

It's nice but not for me, personally. Between open shelving and all of the copper that probably has to be polished it would drive me nuts.

The ceiling is low--there is a building height restriction for additions, I recall from the article. I think the hood design also accentuates the effect and does not seem the best choice to me. I wonder if there is also a pantry (with a microwave ;

As others have said--all that open storage! I don't keep the seldom-used pans on my pot rack dusted! I would NEVER keep all that stuff clean. And keep the copper that shiny? Forget it. I just tell myself I LIKE the color of old copper.

But this sure is pretty.

Does anyone else want to walk through and bump the pot handles askew---Just for fun!? ; )

I do like the peacefulness of its order and colors, though.

Questions about the island prep sink: why do you suppose they used that style of faucet, it looks like the pot-filler? Wouldn't a simple rotation to get it out of the way be sufficient? (Btw, I don't understand having a pot-filler without a drain to dump the water afterwards)

And what is that little plug-like thing in the side of the sink? Overflow?

Oh, for those seeking, I see electrical outlets in the side of the island, btw, but I imagine the refrigerator is around the corner in a larder. And it's England, so not coffee but tea with a kettle, though I think most use an electric kettle now. Where do you suppose the Microwave is?

The pots might get cleaned frequently, but do they dust the shelves every time they put the pots back?

No dish soap/never-empty dispenser?

For looks not cooks, although a lot of money was spent to give the appearance of the latter. Lots of impractical materials. The huge lower shelf was designed to display plumbers' crack when you're trying to reach a pan in the middle. Is the range all electric?

For me, I don't even like the looks.

"Because the kitchen is part of an extension, there were limitations on the ceiling height; it had to be quite low. "We had to dispense with top cabinetry", Petherick says. "But we really don't like wall cupboards anyway - they are often overbearing and stop you from doing fun things with the walls that are more attractive."
That is a lot of shelving real estate devoted to pots & pans. I wouldn't want to crawl around on the floor to retrieve items below the island. I'd want that stuff in drawers or overbearing cupboards. Overall, a pretty kitchen - I especially like the white floor to ceiling cupboards.

This post was edited by romy718 on Thu, Jan 1, 15 at 13:45

It's pretty to look at but there is WAY too much open shelving in my opinion and then all the kitchen stuff underneath the island sort of makes it look cluttered. This combination would drive me absolutely nuts. But I'm not a fan of having a lot of open shelving in a kitchen.

I wouldn't like having to look at all the kitchenware clutter under the table/island-yuck. Much less have to clean it.

Ofcourse in Edwardian times, I'd never have to set foot in there. And the scullery maids would be cleaning it.

Stop you from doing fun things with the walls? Like white subway tile?

I read all the comments before looking and was surprised by how much I like the looks of it. This is the kind of kitchen I hope to see when I take our local kitchen tour each spring because it's so different.

I like the built in cabinets and benches and all the copper - to look at. But as a kitchen I'd want to work in and clean, no.

The thing I dislike in any kitchen - and I mostly see it in magazine kitchens - is open storage near the floor under an island for dishes, pots, vases, etc. it doesn't make sense to me.

I'm willing to bet that at least a couple of the four drawers to the left of the stove are refrigerator drawers, OR the fridge is around that corner opposite the built-in hutch. As for the microwave? I honestly have to say that I've only seen one MW in any European kitchen I have ever been in, and even then it was on a counter.

I could not handle having the open shelving under the island. As others have said, my dogs fur would be in everything!

Like so many others, I like it to look at but to live with? Heck, no!

One would need a staff person just to keep the copper polished. Not to mention the rest of the grime on all the open storage, especially under the island. Yuck.

@laughable, yes, it would be fun to mess up those perfectly aligned handles! And to sneak a few non-copper items on those shelves, too.

These responses are so different from the ones on Houzz! Houzz people pretty much loved the whole thing, although there were some comments about needing staff to keep it all clean. I figure not many of them actually cook.

Me-I'm not polishing all those copper pots or getting down on my hands and knees to poke my head and shoulders under the island to find the cooking utensil I need. Not me.

The vast majority of Houzzers aren't into nuts and bolts. They just want pretty, even if it's not always practical.

I agree with CEFreeman

No.........All I see in that kitchen are dust collectors, washing bowls or pans when I want to use one. It would never work if you had toddlers or pets.

Not my style, but it is pretty to look at. I don't think people that "commission" that stove so they can get it in copper to match their pans are doing their own house cleaning. And not everyone has animal fur in their kitchen. When I saw the pot handles lined up so nicely, it did remind me of the opening of Downton Abbey with the staff using the ruler to set the table perfectly... yeah, not for me or my life!

"Limestone floors? Ouch."

Why do you say that?

Although it's trying to mimic an Edwardian style, I find it very much an American style kitchen in a large English home. Of course, you'd need full time staff and the thought of those low lying shelves and our darling pooch (a fur shedding machine) makes me shudder.

I think there may be an "american style" fridge in the larder, as mentioned above, along possibly with drawers to the left of the range (the larger ones seem about the right size).

At first i thought the top was induction, but I'm thinking it's actually a combination of the plaque top and the induction units. (I've seen this modules in a demo model in the US). Copper would be my last choice for a La Cornue. It's softer (dents) and will require constant upkeep. I'd probably just use the copper accents.

This post was edited by gooster on Fri, Jan 2, 15 at 2:23

I agree with whoever else hated all the brackets.

The view facing the other where you can't see any of the open shelving and brackets is peaceful and lovely.

And that is just from a beauty standpoint.

You have stumbled upon the hidden gem of fitted furniture makers in the UK....

I was in NYC several years ago on a project and met the owner and one of the PM's from Artichoke (they were working on the unit next to the one I was working on), I would think that there are maybe a few people on this board that have ever seen work like these guys do..

We are considered one of the so called "higher end" developer/builder in our area....and I had never seen work like they do, something you would really have to see to appreciate...real old world craftsman for sure

We have worked with Smallbones/Peacock/Wilkinson etc and it does not come close to the workmanship that Artichoke creates...spend some time on their website/houz/twitter etc and check out the work

As for the posted kitchen, sure it may not be the most practical layout for the average person....but for the client that owns the house that this kitchen is in, I would think that they could care less about how practical it is

I really like the base cabinets and the counters. I don't know how practical basalt is, but it's pretty!

The shelves are a little too lined up or something. There's a lot of contrast between the sparseness and order of the upper shelves and the jumble underneath the island. I think I'd like it better if it weren't so orderly up top.

If that's an induction stove, how are they using copper pots on it?

I don't love the hood.

AJc, it is beautiful work, I loved the island drawers and the cabinets between the windows, it all looks absolutely fabulous. I can totally imagine sitting around the table with a cozy supper. Just not our "cup of tea" for everyday use.

Sherri, I said "ouch" to the limestone floors because I have ceramic tile, and hard surfaces and I don't get along! Hurts my feet and knees after awhile, and when I drop something it's a goner. Limestone is certainly beautiful, though!

@tastyhummus: The top is a mix of induction (where the kettle is) and a traditional french top aka plaque. There may also be a griddle or other element there, I think.

Overall I think it's really pretty, but the shelves get on my nerves and the whole thing looks like a maintenance nightmare.

The under island open shelving would be awful for me. I wouldn't want to rummage around under there looking for what I want. That's why I have pullouts in my lower cabinets.

The jumble of pots under the island really bothers me too.

I'm wondering if the four drawers to the left of the stove are refrigerator drawers. Or possibly, as others have speculated, the refrigerator is in a pantry elsewhere. (I'm doing a combination of both in my kitchen due to layout limitations and I'm hoping it works well in practice.)

I love it from the countertop down. I find the basalt shelves and chunky limestone supports for them to be overbearing. Contrasted with the delicately narrow glassfront cabinets on the window wall, it's almost like a different kitchen.

There is a lot of pet fur and dust in my house, but somehow I still like that open island. I guess I just wouldn't put practical/often used stuff there. But it seems quite industrial in some ways, which I enjoy.

It is so pretentious to me, I could throw up! Clutterphobic, me.

Not particularly ergonomic for tall people. In fact, as far as my (tall) DH is concerned, he'd dispense with lower cabinets :)