We are entering that time of year when we want to keep the back doors open wide, enjoy the sunlight streaming in and be able to nip in and out of the kitchen, serving guests a fresh summer lunch. But being close to nature is beneficial for our health all year round – here is how the experts like to connect the hardest working room in the house, with the garden…
WIDEN YOUR ACCESS
If you have the space, the budget and the ability, why not incorporate complete access to the garden into your kitchen design? Large sliding doors will allow natural light to flow in while connecting you to the garden space. You can open the doors up when the weather allows it and enjoy your indoor/outdoor kitchen. This Turner Architects kitchen was designed at an angle to quite literally turn to face the garden, ready to embrace any summer day. www.turnerarchitects.co.uk
GET LOW – BASEMENT LEVEL
Depending on the original design of your house, keeping your kitchen on the basement level means you will be inevitably closer to nature. A bold tiled floor and views onto a terrace give you the feeling of extra space and an ability to double the size of your kitchen whenever the doors are open. As the main source of natural light in this kitchen, it is paramount that the windows and window-paned doors that look onto the garden are as wide as can be. The pistachio shade framework in this space by deVOL Kitchens brings joy and personality to the room. www.devolkitchens.co.uk
COURTYARD
The extension in this old Georgian house references a combination of Dutch courtyard paintings, traditional East Asian courtyard houses and monastic cloisters – as you look through the back of the house you can see a play on the cloistered hall. The small courtyard has sliding doors which can open it up, as does the entire back of the house. It is a definite added step and potential pull on your budget, but with the right experts, incorporating a courtyard into your build be it big or small, will always bring nature and calmness to the space. www.turnerarchitects.co.uk
FRAME IT
The garden in this one-bed worker’s cottage in Ballybough, is surrounded by buildings that have such character that they are key to the personality of the house. The living spaces are framed around the garden with full-height, mirror-coated windows and metallic cladding providing a contemporary contrast with the inner-city backlands. This creates the sense of a secret garden refuge, buried in the heart of a city block. www.scullion.ie
INDOOR TO OUTDOOR TILES
If you’re thinking about tiles for your kitchen, consider this new trend. ‘Anti-slip’ is now a very popular tile term and these tiles work both indoors and outdoors. There are certain tiles with slip resistance that people are increasingly incorporating into their kitchen floor and letting them flow seamlessly from inside the kitchen to outside in the garden, says interior designer Sara Cosgrove. This is a sophisticated and practical design choice, making the garden more accessible while creating a streamlined, contemporary look. The kitchen pictured above boasts TileStyle’s anti-slip Bottega Topo tiles in this home in Dublin. www.tilestyle.ie
LOW WINDOWS
Even if your kitchen is not located on the ground floor, you can still create that connection between the room and your garden. By incorporating low windows, you can achieve an above and below eye level view of the garden, enabling you to feel the calming presence of nature in your kitchen. Even better if there is a tree nearby! www.arenakitchens.com
EXTEND OUT
Like many other Victorian terraces, this house previously had a dark and narrow kitchen, with no connection to the garden. The rooms didn’t work together and something needed to change for the way the family wanted to live. By incorporating the side return, Mel Architects created a spacious kitchen and dining area. The arched windows with red frames are inspired by the front façade of the neighbouring properties. The views out to the garden from these windows are something the family never previously had and the roof windows mean there is natural light pouring in from up high as well. It is as if they are immersed in a bright and beautiful red-trimmed greenhouse. www.melarchitect.co.uk
MODERN APPLIANCES
Wine coolers are becoming very popular in new kitchen remodels, with tall and narrow coolers becoming especially trendy at that. The sleekness of the narrow wine cooler looks very cool in an open-plan kitchen extension as it has the space to look good. Siemens boast the IQ700 Wine cooler with glass doors at 212.5 x 45.1cm. With adjustable temperature, and a capacity of 58 bottles, this wine cooler makes your kitchen extension party-ready at any time. Siemens of course has other sizes in wine coolers and cooling drawers so take a look here: www.siemens-home.bsh-group.com. Book an appointment at the Home of Innovation in Dublin to see what appliances will work best for you. www.homeofinnovation.ie
