Open-plan living has its advantages, but for those with tidy sensibilities, it can also present challenges, especially when it comes to the ‘kitchen zone.’ Even before the pandemic – and a new desire to live less day-to-day and to keep a greater stock of non-perishable goods – the walk-in pantry (or its various iterations from generous larder unit to the in-demand ‘breakfast- cupboard’) had become the well-heeled homeowner’s must-have.
Award-winning bespoke designer-makers Mowlem & Co have been creating these covetable storage solutions for many years, applying all the experience and expertise that makes such rooms-within-rooms not just any old cupboard. A careful appreciation of how such spaces are used, where best they are positioned and how they should be configured means that Mowlem & Co pantries have become a bench-mark in getting it right.
“From judiciously positioning cool stone or quartz worktops/baking prep zones so there is also somewhere that shopping or deliveries can be stashed until put away, to the size and height of shelving, to adjustable features and appropriate lighting, these rooms have their own set of rules,” says Jane Stewart, Design Director of Mowlem & Co London.“We have been refining these solutions over time and even if there is no space for a separate room, there are ingenious ways to add the kind of specialised storage that makes life easy, comfortable and pleasingly neat for the end-user,” she adds.“At one extreme these spaces can become design features in themselves, celebrated and framed by fluted, frosted or crittal glass doors, while at another they can be the most discreet of cornucopias, only revealed when handle-less pocket or folding doors are effortlessly tucked away. Although, of course, one can always add a bold pop of background colour within a larder to bring its inner beauty to life,” says Jane.
So, should interior architects (whether specialising in residential design or with a commercial client in need of a similarly detailed solution) want to achieve the best results within an overall project… Mowlem & Co might sensibly be the first port of call?