Designing in your own space.
A kitchen should respond to the unique architecture, natural light and everyday life of your home.
At Original Handmade Kitchens, our approach to kitchen design begins where your new kitchen will actually be used. We offer free home design visits across Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire, giving us the opportunity to understand the room, take accurate measurements and talk through how you want your kitchen to work.
No high-pressure showroom. No trying to imagine how a display kitchen might translate into your property.
Instead, we sit down with you at home and develop a bespoke kitchen design around your space, your kitchen ideas and the way you live.
Good Kitchen Design Starts With How You Live
A beautiful kitchen still needs to make everyday life easier.
From unpacking the morning groceries to preparing meals and hosting family dinners, the way you use your kitchen should influence how it is designed. That means thinking beyond how the room looks and considering movement, storage, work surfaces and the practical relationship between different areas.
During your home design visit, we can see those considerations in context.
We look at the existing architecture and proportions of the room, how natural light enters the space and where opportunities exist to make better use of it. We can then begin shaping a tailored layout around your priorities.
For homeowners considering kitchen design in Hertfordshire or Buckinghamshire, it is a personal approach built around the actual home rather than a standard showroom template.
From Kitchen Ideas to a Bespoke Design
You do not need to arrive with every decision already made.
You may have a clear picture of the kitchen you want, a collection of kitchen ideas you would like to bring together or simply know what does not work about your existing room.
Our role is to help turn those thoughts into a practical bespoke kitchen design.
Because every kitchen is custom, the design is not restricted to a fixed collection of standard components. Cabinetry and storage can be considered around the room, while materials, painted finishes and other details can be tailored to suit the character of your property.
The aim is not to impose a particular look. It is to understand what you want and develop a kitchen that feels naturally at home in your space.
Storage Designed Around Your Routine
Good storage is not simply about fitting as many cupboards as possible into a room.
It should make the kitchen easier to use.
By designing in your home, we can discuss what needs to be stored, how often you use it and where it would be most useful. Storage can then be mapped around your routine rather than determined by a standard cabinet plan.
That might mean thinking about where groceries are unpacked, how cooking equipment is organised or what needs to be close at hand when you prepare food.
These practical decisions may seem small individually, but together they can make a significant difference to how the finished kitchen works every day.
Kitchen Colours and Painted Finishes
Kitchen colours can change the entire feel of a room, particularly when considered alongside its natural light and existing architecture.
Our painted kitchens can be finished in any bespoke colour you choose, rather than limiting you to a small manufacturer's palette.
Solid tulipwood frames, doors and drawer fronts provide a smooth surface for the painted finish, with doors and fronts made to a substantial 28 mm thickness.
Whether you already have a particular colour in mind or are exploring different kitchen ideas, the finish can be considered as part of the complete design - alongside the layout, furniture and character of the room.
British-Made Furniture Behind the Design
The design does not stop once the layout looks right.
Our British-made kitchen furniture is hand-built and quality checked at a workshop in Yorkshire before travelling to its final home.
Solid hardwood is used throughout key areas of the furniture, including tulipwood frames, doors and drawer fronts. Solid oak drawer boxes feature traditional dovetailed joints, while robust Egger carcasses, stainless-steel sink liners, invisible magnetic door closers and soft-closing drawer runners complete the specification.
These construction details give the design substance. Rather than creating a kitchen that simply looks bespoke, the furniture itself is made around a more considered approach to materials and craftsmanship.
Designing a New Kitchen or Kitchen Renovation
Not every project starts with an empty room.
If you are considering a new kitchen as part of a wider kitchen renovation, the existing space may need to change before the furniture can be installed.
Walls may need moving or removing. Plumbing, heating or electrics may need repositioning. Kitchen lighting, flooring, tiling and decoration may also need to be considered alongside the new layout.
Because Original Handmade Kitchens can manage this wider work, the practical requirements of your kitchen renovation can be considered during the design process rather than addressed separately afterwards.
This can be particularly valuable during a larger kitchen refurbishment, where changing the room itself creates the opportunity for a better overall layout.
From Kitchen Design to Kitchen Installation
A considered design deserves an equally considered installation.
Rather than handing over a set of plans and leaving you to coordinate different companies, suppliers and kitchen fitters, we can continue with you through the next stages of the project.
Our in-house team can manage structural alterations, plastering, kitchen plumbing, heating, electrics, tiling, flooring, lighting, painting and decorating alongside your kitchen installation.
You have one point of contact and a dedicated project manager throughout, helping the design, British-made furniture, kitchen installers and associated trades work together as one project.
From the initial layout to the final coat of paint, the details can be managed with the finished room in mind.
Independent Kitchen Design With a Personal Approach
Original Handmade Kitchens is a small, independent kitchen company - not a franchise or chain.
With 25 years of industry experience behind the design process, we provide personal guidance rather than pushing you towards a predetermined range.
That independence also means the conversation can stay focused on your home. Whether you are exploring a completely custom kitchen, a more traditional design or a tailored kitchen refurbishment, the starting point is what works for your property and your everyday life.
We combine that personal design service with British-made furniture and complete project management, bringing design, manufacture and fitting together.
Start With a Free Home Design Visit
If you are thinking about a new kitchen, kitchen renovation or complete kitchen refurbishment, invite us to see the space for ourselves.
We can take accurate measurements, look at the architecture and natural light, discuss your kitchen ideas, storage requirements and kitchen colours, and begin developing a bespoke design around your home.
No showroom pressure. No standard solution forced into the room.
Just thoughtful kitchen design, tailored to you and your home.