Our Sandhurst Kitchen within the walls of a Georgian gem
I cannot believe it was the beginning of Spring when I visited this kitchen. Time really does fly. But this kitchen is timeless, beautiful, and it will stay so.
“It's timeless without being a pastiche and yet still captures our individual style.”
Aniket and Russ Pritchard, 2023
Link Hill House, Sandhurst - bespoke kitchen by Collins Bespoke.
Not too far from Tunbridge Wells is the very pretty village of Sandhurst, steeped with traditional Kent features, such as oast houses and windmills, white weatherboarded cottages and rolling field views. It is everything you would expect from a High Weald village - an area of natural beauty - very ‘instagrammable’, so Visit Tunbridge Wells says itself!
Nearby towns include Rye and Winchelsea, meaning the Kent and Sussex coastlines are within easy reach, as well as being close to bigger towns like Tunbridge Wells, making Sandhurst a perfect place for a rural home.
Link Hill House, taken from Ani and Russ’s Instagram page @ahometolast
Sandhurst village green, by David Hodgekinson for Visit Tunbridge Wells.
One such rural Sandhurst home is Link Hill House, a charismatic Georgian being sympathetically and lovingly restored by Russ and Aniket Pritchard. And, being a local kitchen-making company, making high-quality, crafted and beautiful furniture, Collins Bespoke was asked to design and make the home’s kitchen and boot-room.
“Our kitchen was part of a larger entire home renovation and we were really keen to stay local for our suppliers.” Rus and Aniket came across Collins Bespoke on Instagram and visited the Old Surrenden Manor showroom shortly after. “Meeting Tom, we knew that CB was going to be the top choice. Tom was so friendly, down to earth and really understood our design aesthetic and requirements. He was very patient in the design process and guided us towards constructing a beautiful kitchen that we love.” Owing to the house’s history, its dimensions and the renovations it was undergoing, it needed a thoroughly bespoke design. Link Hill House’s kitchen room was just wonderful, with its high ceilings, reclaimed Herringbone terracotta flooring from Ca Pietra, and prodigious sash windows. Its kitchen was going to need to complement all of these elements.
Looking out - through the kitchen to the front sash windows of Link Hill House.
To the back of the kitchen, where the large sash window looks over the garden.
Ani and Russ also wanted space – space that was as aesthetically sensitive as much as it was sociable and practical. “The kitchen is the heart of our home, both in the layout of the house but also the ethos of our family life. We knew it had to make an impact and be something we loved immediately as it's the first main room you walk into.” Keen on cooking as a family and entertaining, accommodating their approach to food was important. “Our style of cooking involves plenty of mess, enthusiasm and also focuses on sharing dishes so we needed space to showcase this and Ani’s collection of platters, bowels and ceramics.” This led to the larger kitchen island design, creating a social space and connecting the dining and cooking areas.
With zones to cook, to sit, and to enjoy original features, such as the sash windows at the front and back of the room, the design needed to incorporate the demands of modern and contemporary living but also adhere to the character and charm of the period home in which it lives. “Our aesthetic tends to the classical but with clean lines and limited frill. Tom hit this on the head with CB's Shaker design. We wanted the kitchen to appear freestanding so it looked like Georgian cabinetry rather than a fitted kitchen and CB has delivered some beautiful joinery and carpentry to create this.”
Where contemporary meets tradition in the butler-sink-induction-hob zone. But, look at that extractor in the hob. Wow! By Bora.
Being the most important room in the home, the kitchen entertains and it is the family-hub: it must be practical. Exactly what Russ and Ani wanted. Therefore, its layout was important. The traditional ‘triangle rule’ (hob, fridge, sink in a triangle) is always a good starting point. However, this rule does not always fit and, more recently with open-plan living, kitchens are being designed in zones. In Link Hill House, doorways dictated the traffic-flow of the kitchen, and the kitchen design had to work with those. There are three separate entrances, including one from a side boot room.
A bespoke kitchen is designed to fit around and complement existing features in a room. Such as all these doors and windows!
How to make use of a chimney breast recess. Fill it with some beautiful bespoke cabinetry.
The furniture also had to fit around and complement the old fireplace and unusual window positions. A bespoke dresser was designed to fit into one of the chimney recesses, matched with a freestanding cupboard on the opposite side, which was so in-keeping with a Georgian Shaker scullery theme. The advantages of bespoke designs mean storage solutions fit into any awkward areas. “The magic of going with a bespoke company is that the entire kitchen is made to your specifications. To name but a few we raised the countertops as both of us are very tall. Our fridge is a beautiful piece of bespoke cabinetry that is cleverly designed to look as un-fridgey as possible! The pantry and coffee stations had to have extra heights and coving created to fit the walls and all of our island is bespoke hand chosen oak. The quality of the craftmanship is unmistakable.”
The style and colour of cabinetry makes a huge difference to a space. Link Hill House’s kitchen’s style was kept classical with the simple Shaker. “Both of us love colour, so we knew the kitchen was never going to be plain. But we wanted to keep it with the key theme for our house, which was to create areas of quiet warmth with period elegance. The kitchen is south facing with triple aspect light so the colours needed to cope with this. ‘Railings’, by Farrow and Ball, worked perfectly on our cabinetry, it gave us the drama of the dark shade but still the magic of appearing blue and warm in the bright light. We love it.” Using the darker paint finish enhanced the cabinetry’s presence within the room. However, the room’s lightness is still maintained with the light oak island, and the light stone worktops. As well as the high white ceilings and light painted walls, and all that gorgeous window light.
As for hardware, we love that Russ and Ani chose the mixed choice of Armac Martin’s Bakes and Cotswolds collections in burnished brass: simple, effective, modern yet traditional, and oh so pretty.
Not so Simple Shaker-style cabinetry, finished in Farrow and Ball’s Railings with Armac Martin handles.
Finally, worktops. They often make a kitchen.
Material choices were really important to Ani and Russ and they were keen to use natural elements as much as they could. “The island is constructed of Indian leathered granite from the Deccan, where Aniket's family are from. It is reminiscent of the work surface Aniket had in his family home in India and a nice nod to the shared heritage of our family.” Of course, a natural marble is stunning but is a lot more expensive and a lot less practical than a quartz stone, but Russ and Ani love that about it - its organicness and that being so natural, it will mark and age with time. Polinato Black Forest and Carrara Marble stone worktops are the varieties used in Link Hill House, and we love them too. There are so many worktop options and Collins Bespoke’s designers work with some wonderful stone suppliers who are always available to talk through these.
Carrara Marble stone worktops used for the sink run, on top of dark grey painted cabinetry.
Polinato Black Forest marble stone worktop on the island, with natural oak cabinetry and burnished brass handles.
A few of Aniket’s dishes on display in the island’s open shelving.
Within the aesthetics, the practicality of the sink-run consists of integrated dishwashers, a farmhouse sink and large pan drawers. Linked to this is the double-oven housing - making easy oven-to-sink movements. A floating oak shelf matches the oak island opposite the sink-run, where there is an ultra-modern and well-reviewed flush Bora hob with integrated island extraction. The island creates more easily accessible storage with its large drawers and open shelving, and displays Ani’s colourful array of pots.
A few final words from Russ and Aniket:
What is your favourite part?
“There is so much to chose from that this is a really hard question. But if we had to choose, probably the pantry cupboard. It's beautifully made, the lighting is so calming and we love that it's a beautiful yet wonderfully practical piece of furniture for a working kitchen. It was also Russ's dream object to have in the kitchen so definitely a favourite.”
Were there any project pitfalls?
“Navigating our needs and balancing space and budget is always tricky but Tom really helped with this especially when it came to directing us to more pragmatic choices without making huge design concessions. Thank you, Tom!”
Did anything go wrong?
“There are always snags on all projects, especially in a period home. Our coffee counter is set on a wonky very old original lath and plaster wall. Owing to the age of the house, there are very few straight lines, if any at all! This meant the shelves were not secure or level when initially fitted, which was a problem. The shelving needed more support and CB had an excellent fitter who was able to create bespoke supports for the shelves and repaint them by hand to make sure our ceramics were safe.”
What are your hints and tips?
“We would say have an open mind but a clear vision; and, be prepared to accept that this may change as your project moves along. Also budget! Try and remember there is a budget to stick to! Lastly, trust your designer, they've done this many times before and are a wealth of information and invaluable experience.”
Thank you Team CB!
Collins Bespoke would like to thank Russ and Aniket Pritchard for asking them to design and make this kitchen. And, letting us feature and share their story, too. You can also see examples of their boot-room here - it’s the yellow one! Their home renovation is documented on Instagram: @ahometolast - and their Summer garden has been just simply stunning to follow. I love flowers.
As for Collins Bespoke, you can find out more about us here and see more of the beautiful kitchens and interiors we have made. Or visit us at our showroom and design studio at Old Surrenden Manor, Bethersden, Ashford, Kent.
Link Hill House, Sandhurst - the finer details:
Shaker-style cabinetry, by Collins Bespoke.
Kitchen painted finish in Farrow & Ball’s Railings and natural oak.
Kitchen sink by Shaw’s.
Kitchen tap by Quooker.
Handles by Armac Martin.
Hob by Bora.
Ovens by Siemens.
Worktops: Polinato Black Forest and Carrara Marble, supplied and installed by Stonewright UK.