Kitchens to covet shades of brilliance

Acclaimed interior designer Abigail Ahern has created a kitchen rich in natural tones and textures, with leafy garden views

-  Abigail Ahern

I’m a retailer, designer, author and teacher. I have a retail store in Islington, and live in east London with my husband and our two dogs.

The kitchen is approximately 30 square metres and I joined forces with Herringbone Kitchens to design a range of modular kitchen cabinets. The kitchen is timeless and chic: slabs of natural quartz are on the island, work benches and black splash, and the cabinets are painted out in my infamous inky saturated palette.

I wanted a kitchen that was practical but at the same time super glam, as it’s an open-plan arrangement in our house, so I wanted it to blend with the other zones, like the den and dining area. I also wanted to have a view of the garden while cooking and for it to be somewhere that I loved to hang out in and entertain.

It was pretty seamless with Herringbone, who designed and put my ideas into reality. I don’t think there were any lows – being asked to design a kitchen was one of the most exciting things I have done.

The five things that make this my perfect kitchen are: the NEFF appliances – I love them all, from the oven to the fridge, the warming drawer to the steam oven; the lighting – it adds so much atmosphere, from my beautiful chandelier to the little table lamps on the counter; the open-plan shelving – it’s so much nicer than looking at a lot of closed doors, and it’s made the kitchen feel super chic; the pantry – housing all my dry and tinned goods, plus other appliances – has been a big game changer as it’s a beautiful piece of cabinetry and hides all the stuff that isn’t that great to look at; and little details, such as the aged brass hardware on all the cabinetry have elevated it to a whole other level.