One thing you quickly realise walking around the Second Nature showroom is just how much choice there is. Doors, colours, worktops, handles, storage, appliances, finishes… and that’s before you start thinking about the rest of the room.

Choice is a good thing. But too much of it can also make planning a new kitchen feel a bit overwhelming.

During my recent visit to our supplier, PWS in Newton Aycliffe, I spent a lot of time looking through the latest Second Nature displays, finishes and materials. There are some fantastic ideas — and probably more possibilities than most people realise when they first start thinking about a new kitchen.

But I don’t think my job is to show you everything.

It’s to help you find what’s right for you.

Start with the room, not the door

It’s very easy to begin a kitchen project by asking what colour somebody wants or whether they prefer Shaker or contemporary cabinetry. I’d rather start somewhere else.

How do you use the room? Who cooks? Do you eat there every day? Do friends congregate around the island? Where does the coffee machine live? What gets left out on the worktop because there’s nowhere sensible to put it? And what drives you mad about your current kitchen?

Once I understand those things, we can start making choices for a reason.

Perhaps you need a breakfast cupboard that can be opened in the morning and closed away when you’re finished. Maybe a large island isn’t actually the best answer and a peninsula would work better. Or perhaps changing the position of an appliance could make the whole kitchen easier to use.

That’s when all that choice becomes useful.

Bringing the materials together

This is also the bit I really enjoy.

A kitchen doesn’t have to come from one collection or be one colour and one finish throughout.

During my visit I saw some lovely combinations of painted cabinetry, natural timber, dramatic stone, metallic details and different textures. Individually, they’re samples. Put the right ones together and they start to create a room.

The trick is knowing when to add something — and when to stop.

I don’t want somebody walking away from a meeting with twenty door samples, twelve worktops and a decision to make by Friday. I’d much rather listen, narrow things down and put together two or three combinations that I genuinely think will work.

You still make the choices. I make the choosing easier.

And it doesn’t have to stop at the kitchen

Something else that struck me at PWS was how naturally kitchen design is now extending into the rest of the home.

There were boot rooms and utility spaces, fitted living furniture, storage and cabinetry designed to connect different parts of a home. That makes a lot of sense to me.

If we’re already thinking carefully about the colours, materials and furniture in your kitchen, why stop at the kitchen door?

A utility room can complement the kitchen without being identical to it. A boot room can provide the practical storage that keeps clutter out of the main living space. Fitted furniture can carry some of the same materials into an adjoining dining or living area.

It’s about making the home feel considered as a whole.

And that’s why we’re Palmer & Palmer Bespoke Interiors, rather than just a kitchen company.

Choice is only useful when it works for you

I came away from PWS with plenty of photographs, samples and ideas. But the biggest reminder was actually quite simple.

Having access to a huge range of products is valuable. Knowing which ones to use is more important.

Every home is different. Every customer is different. And I don’t think the answer to good design is giving everybody the same fashionable kitchen they’ve seen online.

It’s listening, asking the right questions and gradually narrowing all those possibilities down until everything feels right.

That’s the difference between choosing a kitchen and designing one around you.

If you’re thinking about a new kitchen — or perhaps a kitchen, utility, boot room or living space that needs looking at together — come and have a chat.

We can help make sense of the choices.

Ewan Palmer
Qualified Interior Designer & Founder

Palmer & Palmer
Beautifully Designed. Perfectly Made. For You.