THE WALNUT ISLAND KITCHEN
STOKE NEWINGTON
An island doesn't need to be big to stop you in your tracks.
The brief was deceptively challenging: a compact rear extension, beautifully realised by Shacklewell Architects, flooded with light from a dramatic rooflight and full-width glazing opening onto a walled courtyard. The space had real architectural ambition — and the joinery needed to match it.
We were brought in to design and make the centrepiece of the room: a solid American walnut island, complementary powder blue storage running along the rear wall, and a walnut bench seat — pieces designed to work together as a considered whole.
The island is the star
The rich grain of the solid walnut, the hand-fluted detail on the legs, the warm brass handles — these are details you notice as you move closer, not from across the room. An island at this scale works because every inch of it is considered.
The joinery presented a real technical challenge. The staircase descends directly into the kitchen, meaning the storage had to integrate seamlessly with the angle of the stair — cabinetry that steps down with the architecture rather than fighting it. The result looks effortless. It wasn't.
Clever storage, quietly done.
The powder blue cabinets are topped in Carrara marble — a considered counterpoint to the warmth of the walnut. But what makes them special is what's inside. A dedicated spot for cups by the window seat. A small cupboard concealing a charging station. The angled cabinet beneath the stair fitted with lift-out panels that hide a storage compartment for valuables — space that would ordinarily be lost, made genuinely useful.
The walnut bench seat bridges island and storage, creating a material thread that ties the room together. Sitting beneath the rooflight, in a space that brings the outside in, it's a place you'll actually want to be.
Completed in collaboration with Shacklewell Architects, Walthamstow.
Photography: Frederick Goff
