What Kitchen Would Suit My Period Property?

In terms of what kitchen style you should choose, this is really only a question that you can answer. However, don’t let your creativity be constrained by the rather old and outdated idea that your period home has to have a period style kitchen.

Similarly, don’t assume that in-frame furniture, that’s to say kitchen furniture that’s built the traditional way - using the skills of the master cabinet make, has to be ‘stuffy’ old and boring!

Basically, anything goes and it’s up to the skills of an experienced kitchen designer, as you will find at Fisher & Noble, to make the design concept and kitchen layout work.

Old period homes such as town-houses and barn conversions can successfully blend a traditional interior with a modern style kitchen. This can particularly be the case with a barn conversion with its modern open-plan living style. The smooth sleek surfaces of modern cabinetry can provide a pleasing visual contrast with rustic stone walls and timber beams.

With regards to bespoke, in-frame furniture you get that ‘made to fit’ flexibility that truly benefits the older property with its often difficult proportions. Made to measure cabinet sizes best exploits the available space whilst ensuring everything is in complete proportion with the homes interior dimensions. This can be a very difficult ‘ask’ of ‘off the shelf’ furniture ranges with standard cabinet sizes.

In-frame doesn’t have to look completely traditional either. Vibrant or exciting finishes can mix with modern accessories - to include worktops and handles to offer a perfect fusion of traditional and contemporary styling. Manufacturing flexibility also makes breakfast bars and social seating arrangements - in short, all the things that we would want from a modern kitchen space, possible.

At Fisher & Noble, we offer all kitchen styles! Choose from bespoke in-frame and ultra - modern styles and just about everything in between, to suit a wide range of budgets.

The only limit, is your imagination.

Talk to us at the Planning Stage of your Kitchen Project!

All too often, when a new build project or kitchen building extension has been undertaken, final decisions on kitchen design style and the ordering of furniture and appliances only takes place during the building process, near to the end of building works - or even after they’ve been completed!

Most people generally have an idea of what kind of kitchen they want, a rough idea of how it will be positioned and where appliances might go. Unfortunately, it’s only when they go and speak to an experienced kitchen designer that more opportunities begin to open up. However, at this point, plumbing and electrics are already installed and are difficult (sometimes impossible) to move without great expense. If only they had consulted with a kitchen designer at the initial planning stages of the build project!

Typical examples might be a kitchen island that could have benefitted from an additional sink. The trouble is, with the floor already laid it would be very difficult to retro fit the under-floor plumbing work that such a sink would require. Sometimes, the kitchen and dining zones need to be re-orientated to make the best use of those garden views BUT with plumbing and electrics already installed behind those newly plastered walls - just how possible is it to swap the zones around to the new more logical and aesthetically pleasing solution?

What you need to consider is that kitchen designers are experts in kitchen design and layout and – with the best will in the world, you and your architect are not! A highly experienced kitchen designer will not only ensure a layout that makes best use of light and available space, but also, that electrical sockets – with exactly the right rating – are placed in exactly the right place. The same applies for all plumbing requirements and to some extent lintels and support columns, a few cm in any direction can be the difference between a successful or a compromised kitchen design.

At Fisher & Noble, we are happy to work, at the planning stage, with you, your architect and your builder to ensure the that the end result lives up to the considerable investment you’ve made.

Fisher & Noble also offer a fully project managed service to not only include all trades, but also, building works. This will greatly limit the potential for the mistakes that often arise from trying to deal with all relevant third parties by yourself whilst giving you complete peace of mind.

What is a Luxury Kitchen?

In truth, ‘luxury’ means different things to different people and its relative to what one is used to. For example, if your kitchen is old, worn out and the appliances are no longer working correctly - then a ‘new kitchen,’ regardless of how much it might have cost, could be considered a luxury!

However, at Fisher & Noble, we have separated out our kitchen ranges into price groups to help give you a guide as to the kind of specifications you can get for the amount you are willing to spend.

Whilst all our furniture is of the highest quality, within its individual target market and price grouping, it is our ‘Stafford’ - Bespoke Manufactured In-frame Kitchens’ that we at Fisher & Noble consider to be the ultimate luxury.

Fisher & Noble’s ‘Stafford,’ bespoke In-frame kitchens are literally hand-created from scratch, working closely with you - the customer. There are NO ‘ready made off the shelf solutions’! With ‘Stafford,’ you have complete cabinet size and shape flexibility as well as finishes that include FSC sourced beautiful timbers and sumptuous custom paint shades.

Then there is the build quality of our ‘Stafford’ - bespoke custom-made, in-frame kitchens. You need to understand that ‘Stafford’ is very much a long-term investment and that the furniture becomes part of a homes internal architectural fabric, lasting for simply generations. In years to come, paint shades can be changed as can handles and even work-tops to ring the changes. However, the cabinetry itself will be as good as the day it left the work-shops. The reason for this is that ‘Stafford’ furniture has been created using the skills of the master cabinet maker. Solid timber cabinets, solid timber - dovetailed drawer boxes and front frames, in which the extra thick-5 X piece doors are hung; using proper recessed butt hinges - are all construction hallmarks of the ‘Stafford,’ besoke, in-frame, furniture range.

For true discerning homeowners or design professionals looking to add value, prestige and Kudos to their homes, look no further than Fisher & Nobles’s ‘Stafford,’ bespoke manufactured in-frame kitchens; the flexibility, and quality is as good as it gets BUT with out the over inflated price tags of many of the revered in-frame bespoke luxury brands.

#luxurykitchens #custommadekitchens #bespokeinframekitchens #inframe #solidtimberkitchens #oakkitchens #luxurykitchenideas

What Are the Possible Kitchen Layouts?

The kitchen layout that’s possible for your home largely depends on the type of property in which you live and the available space that you might have. For example, if you are in an older ‘listed’ property, you might be restricted on both space and the possibility of moving walls to make the space bigger. Similarly, if you live an a city centre apartment suit, it might be that your living-room space is integrated with your kitchen area.

By contrast, you might have a large space or the possibility of a large space by combing rooms or even re-orientating the kitchen so that’s its in a different - larger room.

However, kitchen layouts might best be described as follows:

• ‘One Wall Layout kitchens’ - typically for smaller and often open plan spaces. Modern apartments often use this sort of open plan kitchen / living design.

• ‘Galley Kitchens’ - This is where you have two runs of kitchen cabinets facing each other. This sort of layout is typical of the Victorian and Edwardian town houses and terraces

• ‘L Shaped Kitchens’ - The name of this design perfectly describes the layout with the smaller part of the L often taking the form of a peninsula / breakfast bar arrangement. It could be an ‘L’ arrangement with a kitchen island within it.

• ‘U Shaped Kitchens’ - Again, the names perfectly explains the kitchen layout. It might be that the one side of the ‘U’ is a peninsular / breakfast bar or if the kitchen space, within the ‘U’ is big enough, it could accommodate a kitchen island.

All the above are very much generalisations. The fact is, at Fisher & Noble, we get all sorts of properties and living spaces to contend with. Our bespoke flexibility means that we can produce a design and furniture that works for all types of homes, requirements and tastes. Our custom-made kitchen cabinetry option means that we can make spaces work far more readily than would be possible with ‘off the shelf’ standard cabinet size solutions.

Anything is possible at Fisher & Noble; the only limit is your imagination.

Classic ‘U’ shaped kitchen featuring a small island

Single wall kitchen with kitchen island in foreground

The Benefits of a Kitchen Island

By far the most popular ‘must have’ for people embarking on a new kitchen project is that of an island.

Besides aesthetics, a kitchen island fulfils many functions. First of all, they can act as a visual divide between the cooking and the socialising space within a kitchen; this is especially useful since you still enjoy the benefit of being able to converse with family and friends whilst preparing - but without them getting under your feet!

An island can also provide additional storage and food preparation surface area and it can be a home to an additional sink and other integrated appliances to include ovens, hobs, wine chillers and more besides.

Integrated kitchen seating arrangements can also be built into an island. For example, breakfast bars are possible as are dining table arrangements with bench seating; this can be either your main seating area or, it could complement a dining area / zone located within or next to the kitchen - perfect for the socialising kitchen space.

The key question is ‘ Do you have enough space for a kitchen island?’ Ideally, you need at least a metres clearance around a kitchen island to not allow people to not only pass by easily, but also, to allow cabinet doors to fully open. Fisher & Nobles ‘bespoke manufactured solutions’ means that kitchen islands can be designed to any size or shape giving you endless possibilities.

If space is just too restricted, the other alternative might be a kitchen peninsular; this can have many of the benefits of an island but generally requires less space. This is because a kitchen peninsular is basically a return from either a wall OR wall fixed base cabinets giving you just three sides to navigate around. Any length or depth is possible, in fact a double cabinet length is enough to provide you with a small breakfast bar and useful additional storage.

What Work-tops Should You Choose?

Your choice of work-tops is fundamental not only to the look of your kitchen, but also, its durability. Choice of work-top is pretty much down to the look you wish to achieve, the use the kitchen is likely to get (the amount of food preparation / work-top use and subsequent cleaning) as well as your budget.

However, your choice of work-top is something that needs to be considered early on in your kitchen project plan since it has a bearing on the colour / finish of the kitchen cabinetry as well as the rooms wall colours and even accessories such as blinds.

These days, there is a multitude of choice. In our opinion, stone is easily the most hardwearing. Within the stone kitchen work-top category, you have natural stone such as granites as well as engineered stone work-top products.

Granites have a natural random pattern that only nature can achieve and these patterns range from subtle patinas through to visually impactful - heavily veined patterns. Depending on the rarity, prices - rather like the finishes themselves, can vary tremendously. With some granite work-top finishes you can even see rare fossils within! Popular and reasonably priced granite work-tops include ‘Steel-Grey,’ African Black and for a little bit of a sparkle ‘Star Galaxy,’ whilst Ivory Fantasy, Kashimire Gold and Bianco Sardo offer a lighter colour tone.

Engineered stone kitchen work-tops, to include quartz, still makes use of natural stone, however, the stone has been processed. Basically, the stone has been crushed and bound together with a resin. This gives a stone kitchen work-top a more even patina and sometimes vivid colours are added to create ‘zingy’ - eye catching finishes. Engineered stone work-tops offer a more modern to contemporary feel and can be more expensive than granite - depending on brand and finish.

Also available is a range of what’s known as ‘solid surface’ kitchen work-tops. One of the most popular and flexible (in terms of finishes and product possibilities) is ‘Corian.’ These surfaces are made of an acrylic polymer and are bonded onto a substrate. The advantages over stone is that you can achieve truly seamless joins and can integrate basins and upstands in the same or a contrasting finish. They also enable you to achieve an even, consistent colour and finish. These sorts of worktops can be expensive, but again, vary in price depending on brand.

Laminate kitchen worktops have been seen as the poor relation, compared to stone or solid surface work-tops, but Laminates have greatly improved in quality and variety and shouldn’t automatically be ruled out; times have changed and so have laminates! Todays laminate kitchen work-tops are not only extremely resistant to scratches, cracks and stains, but also, a broad selections of finishes, patinas and colours means that you can achieve a fantastic look to suit your tastes BUT without blowing a huge whole in your budget.

Whatever style and look you are seeking to achieve, Fisher & Noble offers the design and product flexibility to achieve it - all within a given budget.

How Do You Start the Kitchen Design Process?

The key thing to remember, with this question and one which we often get asked, is that its YOUR kitchen. At Fisher & Noble, we don’t dictate, in terms of design - and we don’t try and push you towards a particular style or furniture range.

With this in mind, its a good idea to get yourself a folder or a scrap book to retain kitchen imagery, style, finishes and ideas that appeal to you. You can get ideas for your style and finish of kitchen from the likes of Pinterest as well as house / lifestyle magazines.

Within you your scrap-book or folder, make notes of what you would like to do in your kitchen and how you would like to use the space. This ranges from what kind of cooking and storage you require through to other requirements, to include socialising / seating; it could even include a study zone for when you work from home. Anything is possible!

Get a tape measure and measure up your available kitchen space; if possible, drawer up a floor plan indicating the measurements, doorways, windows and radiators etc. (This is only for a rough guide; Fisher & Noble would ultimately come to your home to do a thorough site survey.) If its a new build or extension, include a copy of your plans within your information.

The next thing to consider is your budget. To get an idea of kitchen furniture costs, you can go onto our kitchen furniture range pages where outline cost parameters are given. Don’t forget, appliances, worktops and sinks have a huge bearing on the budget too. For example, depending on brand and specification its possible to pay from several hundreds of pounds for an oven up to many thousands. However, Fisher & Noble’s flexibility means that your desired looks and needs can be achieved within a wide range of differing budgets.

Once you have given all the above some thought, then get in touch with Fisher & Noble. In the first instance and if at all possible, it is always good to come and visit our Eccleshall, High Street showroom, since you can see various styles of furniture, appliances and accessories first hand. During our initial meeting, we can discuss your kitchen ideas, requirements and tastes and give you a better idea of the budget you will require - according to furniture, appliance and work-top specifications.

The next stage would be to produce for you some drawings along with a firmer idea of budget. This would generally take around 7 days. If necessary, refinements to drawings specifications and prices can then be made.

Once you are happy with everything and you have placed your order, depending on which furniture range you have selected, lead times can be anything from 8 weeks to 12 weeks (for our bespoke-custom-made, in-frame furniture).

Fitting your furniture, depending on the size and complexity of your project, can take from a week to two weeks.

For further clarification on the kitchen design process as well as the stage payments required, please get in touch with Fisher & Noble.

Rest assured, with almost 4 x decades in the kitchen business and an excellent reputation for quality of service, Fisher & Noble will work closely with you to achieve your perfect dream kitchen.

What Colour Can I have my In-frame Kitchen In?

Fisher and Noble is all about choice and design flexibility, so the best way of answering is with another question - ‘what colour would you like your kitchen to be?’

With Fisher and Noble’s ‘Lichfield,’ Modular In-frame’ range, there is a vast colour palette guaranteed to satisfy most tastes and of course, colour shades can be combined to good effect. For example, how about light grey tones on the wall mounted furniture and bold statement colour for the island to create a focal point? This choice of course extends to worktops. For example you could complement an islands darker - bolder finish with a light stone worktop whilst the surrounding, lighter toned furniture could be highlighted with a dark granite.

With Fisher and Noble’s ‘Stafford,’ - Bespoke Manufactured In-frame Range,’ you have complete finish flexibility. We can literally match any paint shade you have seen. It’s not unheard of for customers to bring in a scrap of paper that has their ideal colour shade for us to match to! There is also the wonderful natural colours and patinas of mother nature. Timbers such as oak, walnut beech and a multitude of others besides, each have varieties with differing colour tones, burrs and other random markings. These can create an exciting visual contrast to a painted finish.

Still uncertain? That’s absolutely fine. Fisher and Noble will work closely with you - creating sample doors and colour swatches to ensure that you new kitchen is exactly as you want it.

Is a ‘Proper’ In-Frame Kitchen Expensive?

Expensive is a relative thing - when stacked up against furniture specifications, quality, size and extent of project…….. and of course budget!

However, Fisher & Nobles close links with its carefully picker - and long established trade manufacturing partners, you can be certain of furniture that’s not only beautifully produced, but also, extremely competitively priced.

With our ‘Stafford,’ - bespoke, custom-made offering, we don’t trade on ‘brand kudos’ like so many of the high-end in-frame names. We believe that actual substance - that’s to say flexibility of design and finish as well as quality - is more important than a very expensive, over hyped badge. The irony being that many of the ‘trophy bespoke brands’ are now not so bespoke since they have had to compromise on their offering in order to scale up production.

Our ‘Stafford,’ - bespoke in-frame offering is as flexible as you can get with hall marks that include: any finish, flexibility of cabinet sizes, oak finished cabinets, oak dovetailed drawer boxes on soft close systems and hardwood 5 x piece doors hung within a hardwood frame using chopped in butt hinges.

Prices for our ‘Stafford,’ bespoke manufactured in-frame kitchens start at around £35,000 and go up to around £50,000 (excluding worktops, appliances and fitting). This is substantially less than many of the high profile luxury in-frame brands.

Fisher & Noble also offers the ‘Lichfield’ range; these are modular in-frame kitchen solutions. Whilst the cabinet sizes and colour selection is a little more standardised, you still have great levels of specification to include the choice of a concealed or butt hinge, 5 piece doors and dovetailed drawer boxes on soft close systems.

Prices for our modular in-frame start at around £20,000 - furniture only making genuine, high specification, in-frame furniture more affordable than ever.

Small Details Make a Difference→

With Fisher & Noble kitchen commissions it can often be the smallest details, that are designed into your bespoke kitchen commission, that you don’t necessarily see BUT greatly add to the usability and enjoyment of your kitchen furniture on a daily basis. This is especially true of our ‘Stafford’ - fully bespoke designed and manufactured, kitchen furniture range. For example, the way the drawer-boxes effortlessly glide to a close by themselves or that special bi-fold door design on the coffee making cabinet that prevents the doors from protruding into the walk by area. It could even be the specially rounded / radius end to an island or peninsula that gives a greater feeling of space whilst eliminating any hard / sharp corners. These sort of small BUT not insignificant details just aren’t possible with showrooms selling ‘off the shelf solutions’

Fisher & Noble prides itself on its details……and this isn’t just restricted to the furniture itself. Fisher & Noble has gone to great lengths to choose its trade partners with the likes of ‘Fisher & Paykle’ (no relation!) who provide us with high quality cooking and refrigeration appliances with ‘details that make a difference’ and which separate the brand from any perceived similar manufacturers.

Even small accessories like ‘S- Box’ have been carefully sourced to work hand in hand with Fisher & Nobles close attention to detail. Why have an ugly power / plug point on the end of some beautiful island cabinetry when you can conceal it into a worktop - all it requires is the push of a finger to make its kinetic system rise into action, as and when required!

At Fisher & Noble - Design is very much the detail

Is a Custom-made Kitchen Worth the Investment?

This is a question many people ask and it very much depends on your choice of brand and supplier. Ironically, many of the ‘high-end,’ well known - ‘bespoke trophy brands’ have very high price tags indeed BUT far less flexibility compared to the more cost effective, lesser known - smaller bespoke manufacturing brands. This is because the more well known, expensive brands have had to both automate and reduce their offering in order to fulfil volume.

At Fisher & Noble, we have a long working relationship with a small, long established, bespoke, in-frame kitchen manufacturer, based in England allowing us to present to you our ‘Stafford’ kitchen range; a fully bespoke, in-frame, manufactured product with a specification that frankly - is as good as it gets. With the ‘Stafford’ range, we can offer the levels of flexibility that enable us to answer your specific tastes and requirements, but at sensible prices.

This means that we can offer made to measure, bespoke kitchens, boot rooms, bedrooms and home study solutions of the highest possible specification and quality but at a cost that enables you to do far more with a given budget.

The quality of our ‘Stafford’ furniture along with its timeless, classic design means that it will never go out of fashion - lasting for quite literally generations of use due to the materials and construction methods used. Given this, a Fisher & Noble ‘Stafford’ - custom-made kitchen is very much a sensible, long-term investment. In many years to come, colours, handles and even worktops can be updated; however, the furniture will be as good as the day it left our manufacturers workshops.

www.fisherandnoble.co.uk