Walnut Kitchen and Home Bar
Tetney

The client wanted a high-end modern kitchen with a colour and character that felt unique to them. The brief extended beyond the kitchen itself: a separate bar area for entertaining, positioned to work naturally with the dining space, was part of the plan from the start. Samuel Neal went on to complete the utility, cloakroom, multiple bedrooms and a dressing room for the same client, making this one of the more extensive whole-home projects in the portfolio.

The kitchen layout is built around a large Corian Glacier White island (approximately 4 metres by 1.4 metres) that serves as both the main working area and the dining end of the room. The island is supported at the dining end by a Corian barrel pillar, a structural and visual element that gives that part of the space a more furniture-like quality and helps the transition between cooking and dining feel intentional. 

The back wall is divided into distinct zones, each doing a specific job. The main cooking and storage run sits on one side, with a Schock Greenwich resin sink. A separate black section with a central wine cooler flanked by glazed display units handles drinks and glassware. A breakfast pantry (with an internal worktop, space for a toaster and everyday appliances kept out of sight) occupies its own doors. And on the right-hand side, what appears to be a run of cabinetry conceals a hidden doorway into a separate area of the house. The effect is a wall that does a great deal without ever looking busy.

The cabinetry is Häcker with a matte lacquered slab door in a bespoke colour chosen by the client from the NCS colour chart. Häcker offer a custom colour service across their range, painting doors to any RAL or NCS specification: with around 200 RAL colours and approximately 1,500 NCS options available, the options are seemingly endless. The client chose a neutral that sites perfectly between the warmth of the walnut and the cooler tones of the Corian and the black elements elsewhere in the room. 

Fluted walnut features on the wall units and the top drawer of the island introduce natural material warmth into what is otherwise a very controlled palette. The same fluted walnut appears in the Stacey Dooley kitchen in Liverpool: it’s a material that works well alongside both bespoke neutral tones and the kind of strong contrasts this kitchen uses. The Corian Glacier White worktops throughout are well matched to the island’s scale, with the barrel pillar also in Corian so the material runs continuously from the surface down to the floor. 

The larder fridge and freezer are Neff units fitted with stainless steel door fronts rather than standard cabinet doors, a detail that required bespoke-sized units above to sit correctly. It is a finish that reads as distinctive without announcing itself: the stainless steel draws the eye to the refrigeration column in a way that a matching cabinet door just wouldn’t. The ovens are Neff Slide&Hide, with a Quooker tap at the main sink. The hob is a Novy 5-zone induction unit with a built-in downdraft extractor, flush-fitted into the Corian island, the same specification used at The Old Rectory in Market Rasen.

The bar is directly in front of the dining area, positioned as a natural point between the kitchen and the dining table. It creates a distinct space in the open plan room, without needing a hard separation. The central bar unit is in the same fluted texture as the walnut kitchen features, but in black stained oak rather than natural walnut. The material language connects the two spaces; the colour difference marks them as separate.  

Two glass display cases with internal lighting sit either side of the central unit, providing illuminated storage for glassware and giving the bar a presence in the room during the evening. Inside, shelves for drinks storage, worktop lighting and a Liebherr drinks fridge (chosen specifically as a drinks rather than wine appliance, since the kitchen already has a dedicated wine cooler) make the bar fully functional as an entertaining space. The bar worktop is Corian Glacier White, which is the same as the kitchen. The whole unit is designed to feel like a piece of furniture that belongs to the room.

Beyond the kitchen and bar, Samuel Neal completed the utility room, cloakroom, multiple bedrooms and the dressing room for the same client. Each space was approached with the same practical thinking and attention to detail as the main kitchen. The dressing room was the final space to be completed. A project of this breadth is a good illustration of what a long-term client relationship with Samuel Neal can look like.

Sam remained closely involved throughout the whole project, from the initial kitchen design through to the final completion of the dressing room. With a project of this scale, the coordination between different spaces and different stages of work requires consistent oversight to make sure everything stays aligned. The custom colour specification, the bespoke cabinetry details (including the stainless-steel refrigeration doors and the units above) and the bar installation all required particular attention at key stages, and Sam was present to see each of them through properly.

This project works because every part of it has been thought through properly. The bespoke colour, the fluted walnut, the hidden doorway, the stainless-steel refrigeration, the Corian island with its barrel pillar, the bar with its black stained oak and Liebherr drinks fridge: none of these are standard choices, and none of them feel random. They add up to a home that is coherent, unique and built to last. It is the kind of result that comes from a client who knows what they want and a designer who knows how to deliver it.