Konstantina

Tour this dark green Shaker kitchen with a secret pantry

Posted on 7th February 2025

Combining the nostalgic appeal of a period home with a clean design and contemporary surprise elements, this Insta-worthy green Shaker kitchen brims with personality…

Karen and Stuart Cook and their three children have lived in their beautiful 1870 Gothic Victorian home for seven years, having spent more than five of them lovingly decorating it, room by room. Karen wanted to re-introduce mid-Victorian features and heritage colours to honour the property’s period aesthetic. “The kitchen had originally been the servants’ kitchen and had a low ceiling,” says Karen.

Shaker kitchen design with open shelving and a freestanding island. — Karen didn’t want wall-mounted cabinetry, so Higham Furniture designed a floating shelf instead, which makes the kitchen look more spacious and keeps essentials at hand.

For their latest works, they added two metres to the side and one metre to the back of the property to square off the space but also to dig down two steps to give the room greater height.

The extension now comprises an open-plan, 46sq m kitchen, as well as dining and living areas, and a rectangular ceiling lantern that showers the space with light. Three large, steel-framed windows let more of the natural light in while offering gorgeous garden vistas.

The kitchen design

When it came to the kitchen itself, Karen wanted a classic design to complement the period features of the house, but was keen on combining vintage elements with contemporary appliances, too.

Closeup of the wet zone area with a fluted butler sink and a brass tap. — The wet zone in this green Shaker kitchen is ideally positioned facing the window, to make the most of natural light. Vented induction hob by Bora.

Fluted butler sink with double bowls and a classic tap sit in the wet zone area. — Quooker classic Fusion tap in Patinated Brass with Cube function.

Following a recommendation by their architects, Simon Merrony Architects, the family was impressed by Higham Furniture’s bespoke cabinetry and also appreciated their transparency regarding costs – and so, they commissioned them to design and make a hand-painted Shaker kitchen specifically tailored to their needs.

“Karen was fantastically well-researched and gave us a detailed brief; we loved her vision from the start,” says Tim Higham, founder of Higham Furniture. Among her main requirements were floor-to-ceiling cabinetry, a walk-in pantry with secret doors, and ‘no wall-mounted cabinets’.

Storage area behind fluted glass doors. — Crockery is organised on shelves, hidden behind cabinetry doors.

To start fulfilling her wishes, the team made tall Shaker cabinetry with 80mm rails and stiles and quadrant beading, along with a baker’s table island, made from oak stained with Jacobean Oak wood dye.

The island

The inspiration came from a set of Victorian haberdashery drawers with glazed fronts that Karen had owned for years. “She wanted to bring that detail into the kitchen design,” says Tim. “She initially thought of finding an antique table to act as the island. But we have designed baker’s table islands in the past, so we presented our concept – essentially, a built-in island made to look freestanding.”

Dark green Shaker kitchen design in a U-shape layout with a central island. — The table island was made entirely from oak stained with Jacobean Oak wood dye. High back leather bar stools by Where Saints Go; Light and Living Demi pendant lights by Naken.

Standing on six legs, the island includes handmade haberdashery drawers and was designed to incorporate a vented induction hob within the worktop. To its right-hand side, facing the dining area, Tim designed six slim glazed drawers for tablecloths, napkins and table mats.

Both sides are covered with a 30mm Misty Carrara Satinato quartz worktop that emulates the look of a Victorian baker’s table. The same material was also used to create a single floating shelf a few steps away, as a solution to Karen’s ‘no wall-mounted’ request.

Dark teal painted kitchen cabinetry with stone surfaces and a brass rail for storage. — Original Vintage classic oak parquet flooring by Broadleaf Timber.

Closeup of the Shaker cabinetry with brass handles. — The undercounter drawers feature stylish pull cup Armac Martin handles.

The walk-in pantry

The two runs of tall cabinetry to the left of the island are painted in a rich dark teal green by Little Greene, with an antique brass hanging rail and a Jacobean Oak-stained library ladder to help reach all top boxes.

Two of the floor-to-ceiling cabinets include shelves for crockery and glasses, while they flank a central Narnia door entrance which leads to a full-length walk-in pantry running behind the kitchen cabinetry.

Tim explains that these secret doors posed a bit of a challenge: “There are several supporting piers that have been hidden in walls or furniture, to make the kitchen look more natural. But due to their location, it was tricky to get the Narnia doors located centrally and to match them with the adjacent doors. However, we managed it, and the doors are all equal.”

Freestanding wood kitchen island with stone worktop and a built-in hob. — On the task side of the island are eight symmetrical deep drawers with pull cup handles, for plates and pans.

It looks like Karen got her wish: floor-to-ceiling and no wall-mounted cabinetry, secret doors, and a vintage-meets-contemporary aesthetic – ideal for her blossoming interior design consultancy business, too.

So, what does she think of the space? “I love it! Friends who come to visit comment that it looks as if it has always been there,” she says.