WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 'BESPOKE KITCHEN ' & 'HANDMADE KITCHEN'?
This is a question we often get asked.
A bespoke kitchen ie. one which is customised or custom-built, may be handmade or mass produced - factory-made - but modified to meet an individual's requirements.
A handmade kitchen is always a bespoke kitchen, hand crafted out of wood - very occasionally out of alternative materials - usually English or European oak, occasionally out of other woods such as cherry, pine, Canadian maple, ash and walnut. The phrase 'bespoke handmade' is a tautology in the same vein as ' wooden oak kitchen'. Nevertheless, the phrase 'bespoke handmade kitchen' is a popular descripton, an Internet search term.

SUSSEX HANDMADE KITCHENS CRAFTED IN OAK
There are three qualities of oak wood used in furniture making in the UK: rustic, character and prime. Character oak is the most used in making kitchens. It shows all the grain, has 'sound knots'. and no sap. Pippy Oak is a particularly decorative version of Character Oak with small clusters of 'cats paw' knots - see picture left below. It is greatly valued for its decorative qualities by master craftsmen. "Pippy tends to be a wild hedgerow tree rather than a straight, clean, commercially grown oak. The outside of the log will have the most “pips”; the closer to the heart of the tree the plainer the wood" - source Armstrong Blog.

Sussex handmade oak kitchens - click bold text for large images - may be hand painted. HM14 is an example of a handmade painted kitchen.. Most are in a traditional handmade kitchen design - sometimes called country-style or farmhouse - with Aga or range see HM13 - Belfast Sink and wooden worktop, though more recent developments include granite & other types of worktop. Traditional handmade kitchen designs include the famous Shaker Style. Please refer to this page by clicking here or view the Handmade Boston Shaker Kitchen here

For more guidance on Terminology please go here - Editor.

THE KITCHEN'S THE PLACE TO SHOW OFF
by Rosie Millard in the Sunday Times - an excerpt from the full article.

DOES YOUR HANDMADE KITCHEN EXUDE BLING?
"If your home exudes bling, your kitchen must exude even more of it. Gone are the days when a well-appointed house could get by with a glorified scullery for culinary duties. The kitchen represents the beating heart of the modern home, and “well appointed” means just one thing: its cooking area is a knockout. More than any other room, it is a permanent display case for the aspirations, style, class and – to be honest – wealth of the owner.

HANDMADE KITCHENS SHOULD BE GLORIOUS.
" Ideally, your handmade kitchen must be so glorious that it will fire up instant jealousy in anyone who comes to see it (in a nice way, of course). No wonder kitchen designers are taken more seriously (and paid more) than interior decorators. In they come, with their 3-D space-simulating computers and their swatches of stone, their ideas on peninsulas and suggestions for butcher’s blocks, stainless-steel splashbacks, butler’s sinks and all the rest. And the underlying aim of all this kit is for it to excite kitchen envy."

A HANDMADE KITCHEN EXCITES KITCHEN ENVY
" We all understand what kitchen envy means because we have all found ourselves at its mercy. I imagine it’s only a matter of time before “excites kitchen envy” makes its way into estate-agent speak "

"Almost anything can provoke kitchen envy. A clutter-free island. A steam oven. A hot tap that provides boiling water at a touch. A built-in espresso-maker. The desired accessory doesn’t need to be ultramodern – it just needs to be intriguing. When I heard about a friend of mine who had installed a rotisserie spit in a medieval chimney breast at his home in the Dordogne, it was like a knife thrust into my breast."

"Why are we all suffering like this? Because the middle classes, by and large the main proponents and victims of this condition, have got rid of the staff, you see. In returning to the humble handmade kitchen to cook our daily bread (in our Panasonic bread-makers), we have found ourselves hanging out there all the time, and so the bespoke handmade kitchen has become a mirror of who we are. A highly codified one, but a mirror nonetheless."

LIFESTYLE OF THE HANDMADE KITCHEN
“What people are actually envious of is not the kitchen itself, but the lifestyle that is displayed within that space,” says R.G., a kitchen designer “People come round, they see an open-plan kitchen, and there you are, cooking at the island, facing your guests, with a sushi bar at the back, demonstrating a clean, functional, chic lifestyle. That’s what people see, more than a simple room"

Excerpt from an article by Rosie Milard in the Sunday Times January 20th 2008

BELFAST SINKS AN INTEGRAL PART OF COUNTRY HANDMADE KITCHENS
Generically known as Butler's Sinks, they were traditionally part of the Butler's Pantry in large houses in pre World War 2 Britain. With the social changes engendered by the War, Butler's Pantries disappeared from most large family houses. The Pantry was where the wine glasses, decanters, fine china, cutlery and dishes were washed up and stored, the scullery where the pots and pans went for scrubbing. Belfast sinks, therefore, have a long history and evoke the days of Mrs Beeton's Cookery Book with its fattening desserts like spotted-dick and Sunday roast beef and Yorkshire Pudding.
What's the difference between the Butler's and Belfast sinks? Read about it here.
"What the Edwardians did for us - The long run of pantries, larders and game room are now given over to wellies and freezers". More from The Daily Telegraph .

"JAMIE OLIVER'S former house, used for filming the Naked Chef programmes, has been sold.
Since the Naked Chef the whole property has been re-vamped and extended to maximise the living space. The home now offers the best in-state-of-the-art living, including five plasma screens, one of which is a waterproof screen in the spa bathroom, fibre optic mood lighting, a gym, bespoke kitchen, integral garage and solar panels".
More.....

FITTING HAMPSHIRE HANDMADE KITCHENS NOW EASIER. LIKEWISE SURREY HANDMADE KITCHENS.
Editor's Note: - In Hampshire handmade kitchens by Violet Designs have been installed widely throughut the county. Also in Surrey handmade kitchens have been fitted in Guildford, Godalming, Farnham and up the Hindhead A3 corridor. The opening of the A3 Hindhead tunnel in July 2011 has made it easier and quicker to fit our handmade kitchens in Hampshire and Surrey.

Sussex Handmade Kitchens by Violet Designs, Midhurst.
Designed & fitted in Sussex, Surrey & Hampshire
Tel: 01730 810059
info@violetdesigns.co.uk

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WE DESIGN, FIT AND SUPPLY HANDMADE KITCHENS OF EVERY SORT IN FARNHAM, PORTSMOUTH, ROMSEY, HOVE, BRIGHTON, WORTHING, LANCING, LITTLEHAMPTON, BOGNOR, CHICHESTER, BASINGSTOKE, PETWORTH, HASLEMERE, GODALMING, GUILDFORD, RICHMOND, WOKING, LEATHERHEAD, DORKING, SOUTHAMPTON, WINCHESTER, HORSHAM, ARUNDEL AND THROUGHOUT WEST SUSSEX, HAMPSHIRE AND SURREY. ALL KITCHENS FITTED AND INSTALLED IN MID SUSSEX AND WEST SUSSEX AND ALL OTHER AREAS OF SUSSEX.