Annabel's Elegant In-Frame Kitchen and Boot Room

Design by Isabella Keziah

Annabel extended her newly built home and wanted to transform it completely with an open-plan kitchen, large utility room, and separate boot room for storage. The transformation is truly breath-taking.

Project Date

February 2023

Location

Congleton

Range

Hampton

Finish

Chalk, Spring

Layout

Kitchen, Utility & Boot Room

Goals for the space

When Annabel approached Smile Kitchens to design her living space, she had a clear vision in mind. Her goal was to create a stylish and functional kitchen, utility room, and boot room that would reflect her taste and personality. She had already extended the entire ground floor of her new home and was looking for a design that would seamlessly blend with the new space.

Smile Kitchens took the challenge of creating a modern yet timeless look in a white and blue colour palette that Annabel had in mind. Our designer, Isabella, worked closely with Annabel to understand her vision and requirements. Using in-frame cabinets, panelled larder pantries, and tall cupboards, we created a light and elegant look with lots of traditional character and a modern feeling.

In-Frame Kitchen Doors

One of the most striking features of this kitchen is its in-frame design, which highlights the exceptional craftsmanship of the Hampton range. The drawers and cupboards are integrated within wooden frames and decorated with fine lines and panels that give for an elegant and sophisticated appearance.

To complete the look, we paired the doors with satin brass cup handles from our Mix collection. The gold hardware offers a slightly rustic contrast that pays homage to a more traditional charm that adds character and a touch of luxury to the overall design.

Butler's Pantry

Open up this butler's pantry that reveals a little piece of everyday luxury: a beautiful breakfast bar that makes daily routines much more effortless and weekend brunches a little cosier. At the heart of the pantry, you'll discover all your breakfast essentials, including a smoothie blender, toaster, and coffee machine, accompanied by decorative tea and coffee jars that match the same blue as the kitchen cabinets. Additionally, the doors feature two spacious spice racks, making it easy to access all your spices and sauces.

Belfast Sink

At the heart of the kitchen lies a decadent kitchen island with a sink. This Belfast sink has a deep, generous basin and traditional design that seamlessly melds with the coastal feeling of the white and blue cabinets.

Made from a ceramic fireclay, this kitchen sink is highly durable and resistant to chipping, scratching, and staining, and its large bowl is perfect for avid cooks who love to cook for the whole family without cluttering the worktops with big pots and pans.

Bifold Dresser

Walking towards the back of the house, we step into a hallway leading to the boot room. It's conveniently located between the kitchen and the back of the house, making it easily accessible.

The space has been transformed into an at-home bar, complete with tall cabinets with a bifold dresser and larder cabinets that neatly conceal a fridge and their favourite wines. Annabel has adorned the bar with her favourite glassware and serveware, making it the perfect spot for entertaining guests.

Pet-Friendly Boot Room

The boot room is the crown jewel of this renovation project. It has been designed to match the style of a kitchen, creating an exquisite space. Usually, keeping this room tidy is a challenge. However, Isabella has optimized this room with all-around cabinets that conceal all their family's outdoor clothing, dog supplies, boots, shoes, and even dog leads.

Annabel's favourite part of the room is the cosy seating nook with underneath shoe storage. She can sit comfortably while putting on and taking off her shoes after a long day.

Smile Kitchens, from start to finish, have been incredible. Our designer created countless designs to perfectly match our vision. I've been able to order the kitchen of our dreams without the big scary price tag.

Annabel

This project was a tough but exciting challenge. Making sure that these three separate rooms served their purpose and blended well was crucial to making a cohesive theme throughout Annabel's home. Her home is now a modern and elegant place with luxurious features.

Isabella

Make this kitchen your kitchen

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How are we different?

Online design service

Our Smile design team are experienced kitchen designers by trade, not just sales people.

Samples delivered to you

Feel the textures, see the colours, and assess the quality of our products in your own home.

Value for money

Without costly showrooms, we keep prices lower, offering you exceptional value without compromising on quality.

No payment until delivery

You won’t have to pay a penny for your kitchen until it’s been delivered.

How we work

Connect with our expert designers from the comfort of your home and bring your dream kitchen vision to life.

Planning your kitchen

Browse our site and explore our kitchens, then book a consultation with our designers. They will ask about the scope of your project and share inspiration, ideas, and ways to optimise your space.

Creating your design

Your designer will present your design with a 3D walkthrough and a full breakdown of costs. We'll make amendments until the design aligns perfectly with your vision, and we'll also send you samples of doors, handles, and worktops.

Placing your order

When you are 100% happy with the design, we'll send out a design pack for your fitter to double-check. Once everything is finalised, lets arrange a call to run through every detail and place your order.

FAQ's

What’s included in the design service?

What isn’t included?! You’ll have your very own 1-on-1 dedicated kitchen designer who will listen to your needs, get to know you, and offer expert design advice throughout your project. Your designer will send free samples, tweak your design as many times as you need, and provide high-quality renders of your design alongside a video walkthrough. We’ll provide a fully itemised transparent quote as well as technical elevations for your fitter to check. Plus, you’ll receive access to our brand partner’s discount codes! If you decide to order your kitchen with us, the initial £25 payment for your design consultation is taken off the cost of your kitchen.

How long does my design consultation last?

We book 1 hour for your online design consultation – plenty of time to discuss your project and chat with your personal designer.

Does your service include free samples?

Yes! After your design consultation, your designer will send you free samples including door colours, cabinet internals, worktops, and handles. The only chargeable sample is for the bespoke colour match service, where there will be a fee of £30 per door sample which is refundable upon ordering.

Do I have to buy my kitchen from you?

There’s absolutely no obligation to buy a kitchen from us after having a design! We’re a team of designers, not salespeople, so you’ll never be pressured into buying anything here. We always recommend getting quotes from different suppliers before purchasing, so you can feel confident in your decision. We’re committed to keeping our prices low all year round, and we’re with you throughout your project.

What are the next steps after my design consultation?

Following your design consultation, your designer will take your brief and start designing. They will arrange a time that suits you for a design presentation, ideally the following week, where they will present the design to you and talk you through the quote breakdown. After this meeting, you will receive the design, 3D walkthrough, floor plan, and a fully itemised quote. You can share the link to your 3D walkthrough with your friends and family for feedback!

Do you supply and fit kitchens?

Yes and no. We supply all the kitchen furniture you need to transform your room – from cupboards and handles to worktops, sinks and taps. We then work with your chosen fitters – any trusted local installer you’d like  – sharing everything they need, all the small details to support your fit every step of the way. We deliver your new kitchen, then work hand in hand with your fitter to make sure everything goes super smoothly.

What range of worktops do you offer?

The real question here is “what type of worktop would you like?” We stock a huge range of worktops in a laminate and Minerva but if you love a super sleek Quartz top or a rustic wooden counter, we’ve got great supply partners to bring you any type of worktop you’d like.

Where do your names come from for your kitchen ranges?

If you hadn’t guessed yet, we absolutely love the concept of Hygge and the Danish approach to warm, cozy living. So we draw on all those Scandavian influences to name our kitchen ranges. Don’t worry, we still don’t really know how to pronounce Hygge (Higgy? Huggy? Hyoo-guh?), so we’re happy to go with whatever you call our range – we’ve heard every variation (and every one sounds wonderful!)

Do your units come supplied rigid or flat packed?

A great question, because you’ll be wondering how much space you need to make for the delivery (and how much work your fitter might need to do). Almost all our units are supplied rigid and ready to fit. You’ll need a good amount of space ready for the units. We have a small number of units that have to be flat-packed due to their size however we’ll be sure to let you know in your quote if this is the case.

Do you offer bespoke sized units/doors?

We’ve got such an extensive range of kitchens that we can always try to accommodate your space. When we design your kitchen, we make sure everything fits snug as a bug.

Do you supply appliances?

We don’t currently supply appliances, and there’s a really good reason why. We’re brilliant at designing kitchens, but not so good at manufacturing washing machines and fridges. So let’s leave that to the appliance experts. Our designers will help you create the perfect appliance-shaped gaps in your custom kitchen design, and our partners at AO.com will happily fill them. And because we work closely together, you’ll get a lovely 10% discount off any appliances you fancy.

How do I know my new/existing appliances will fit into my kitchen design?

Easy! We’ll tell you. We’ll check for you. And then we’ll double check. We’ve been doing this a long time, and we know how the vast majority of appliances are sized (they’re actually all fairly standard). But just to be certain – send us the measurements of your appliances (or just the model number and we’ll go Googling to get the details) – and we’ll make sure they fit snugly into your new kitchen designs.

How long are your kitchen quotes valid for?

Our price quotes are valid for 30 days from the date of quotation. Should your design change as part of the amendment process, we will provide an updated quote and honour the prices provided at the time of original quote as long as it is within the original 30 day quotation period.

Why do you charge for your design service?

The honest answer to this is that we think it’s more than worth it! Your design consultation is with a qualified designer, not a salesperson. The quality of service you will receive from your designer – their care and attention to detail in creating your design and the high-quality renders of your designed space plus a 3D walkthrough and fully itemised easy to understand quote are worth paying for. Plus if you’re not 100% happy with it, we’ll refund you the design service fee.

Do you offer an at home measuring service?

We don’t currently have a home measuring service, but we do have wonderful designers who help walk you through the whole process to measure your kitchen yourself. And then we’ll ask your fitters to double check and verify all those measurements themselves too, just to make sure. Any professional fitter will want to take their own measurements so we verify every inch. Only when you’re happy, your fitter’s happy and we’re happy, do we move ahead with the order process.

What if I have measured wrong?

We’ll be double and triple checking every measurement, so don’t worry. Your chosen fitter will want to measure everything themselves too (if they don’t, we’ll give them a nudge), and then any measurements that were a bit skew-whiff, we’ll rejig the designs and update the quote. No worries at all.

Why do I need an online design consultation?

So you can design your dream kitchen in your pyjamas? So you can browse brilliant new kitchens without leaving your current one (and sneak whatever snacks you like)? So you can get to know our amazing designers one on one? All great reasons why we like to have a design consultation with you. Most importantly, a video call helps us get to know each other and clearly understand your vision for a new kitchen. And it means we can share our screens and walk through a 3D visualisation of your transformed room together.

How much is the deposit?

We don’t ask for a deposit on any of our kitchens – you don’t have to pay for your kitchen until it’s delivered in full and you are 100% happy! We’ve never had a customer not pay for their kitchen we’ve delivered!

What method of payment can I use?

We have a secure online payment system for you to pay for your new kitchen when it’s delivered. We accept the following payments:

  • Visa credit and debit
  • MasterCard credit and debit
  • American Express
  • Bank transfer

Do you have a fitting service?

We don’t have a fitting service, so you’re free to choose any local trusted fitter you like. Many of our customers like to get a few different quotes from fitters, and we’re more than happy to sense-check any quotes for you, helping you find the right fitter for the right value.

Do you provide instructions for installation?

Absolutely. We might not have a fitting service, but we send out a comprehensive fitting pack for your installers. It’ll have all the instructions and drawings they need, but just in case that isn’t enough, we’ll be sure to have a chat with them too. And we’re always here to answer any questions or help in any way we can during the fit too.

How long have you been open?

We opened the doors to our new way of designing and supplying kitchens in 2020 (though we’d been putting the groundwork in a long time before that). Our team has decades of experience in kitchen design, and our founder has been working with kitchens for so long, he’s become a permanent fixture.

Where do you deliver?

We deliver to the mainland UK. Please note this excludes Northern Ireland.

Where are you based?

Our designers work from home, so you might be chatting to them in Newcastle or Newquay, Kent or Kendal. Our HQ is in Greater Manchester.

Other real kitchens

We know that nothing beats seeing a real kitchen in a real customer’s home. Take a look around and check out your favourite ranges in real projects.