Couture Kitchens

We were lucky enough to meet up with Andy Barette, Creative Services Director at luxury furniture and bespoke kitchen creators McCarron & Co, to find out about what’s hot in the world of kitchens for 2018. 

“Consumers are becoming more and more aware of the importance of details and having a design that is truly bespoke and this is reflected in key design trends for 2018. With the Contemporary kitchen from McCarron & Co, which is a flat panelled handless style of kitchen, having a painted finish over a wood grain such as ash, is currently highly desirable. This appeals to people who want a clean line style, but still retains some warmth and the craftsmanship of seeing the grain of a natural wood.

This continues on the carcasses – real wood veneer with solid dovetailed drawer boxes are very popular, rather than the grey and white melamine that line the interiors of so many manufacturers’ carcasses. With the wooden interior the consumer is given the opportunity to pretty much spec any internal design that they desire, with a key favourite being a bespoke wooden cutlery internal.

Metal accents are still very much on trend, and we are finding consumers are much more savvy as to what’s available and the opportunities to personalise their cabinetry. As well as bronze and polished copper finishes, polished stainless steel is on trend this year and at McCarron & Co we have been asked by clients to add this detailing to the centre panels of our Brompton style of furniture, which takes it from being a simple square panelled ‘in frame’ kitchen to something much more sophisticated. It’s more important than ever for consumers to consider how items such as taps, hinges and handles all work together.

Casual dining is still very much a feature for 2018, with breakfast bars in some form or another still being very popular. A continuing trend is for having the hob on an island, if the space and extraction permit.

Another continuing trend is the use of quartz worktops that mimic real marble. There really are some stunning options available now.

At McCarron & Co, as well as our traditional and contemporary style of cabinetry, we have a style called the Modena, which although was conceived a number of years ago, it appears very much on trend this year. With its deep chamfered frames, it’s quite unlike anything else on the market, and it fulfils a very desirable part of a client’s brief, which is to have something timeless and unique, something that the Modena is able to be on both counts.”