Bespoke Cottage Kitchens
What Defines a Cottage Kitchen?
Bespoke cottage kitchens merge rustic charm with modern practicality. Papilio’s handmade designs use high-quality materials tailored to your needs.
Cottage kitchens exude warmth and a sense of cosy sanctuary. They often incorporate features such as stone mullion windows, timber beams, flagstone flooring, wooden doors, and uneven walls. These design elements can be integrated into a variety of home styles.
Bespoke cottage kitchens emphasise tactile materials like timber and ceramics for comfort, nostalgia, and character valuing these textures as part of the charm. The natural palette highlights materials, complemented by cheerful accents.
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the difference between a farmhouse kitchen and a cottage kitchen?
Cottage kitchens tend to be more compact and cosy. They also display a wider range of wares and feature natural materials such as timber, stone, and ceramics. Farmhouse kitchens tend to be bigger and more industrial.
Can we have a cottage kitchen in a modern home?
Absolutely! You don’t need an ancient home to achieve the cottage style. We can incorporate aspects of a true cottage kitchen into our design.
We want a cottage-style kitchen, but also the latest appliances. How will you handle that without compromising the aesthetic?
As bespoke kitchen designers, anything is possible. We can suggest clever solutions or discreetly integrate appliances into our handmade cabinetry.
Recent Cottage Kitchen Projects
Materials and Cabinet Construction
When approaching cottage kitchen design, materials and cabinet construction are crucial. To deliver truly bespoke results, we always assess your space as the first step in selecting materials. Our commitment to quality shows in every aspect of our joinery and handmade cabinetry. With decades of experience and access to outstanding suppliers, our master cabinetmakers can realise almost any kitchen vision.
The Bruton Kitchen is a special example of a cottage-style kitchen. The architecture of the ancient home inspired our design, and we aimed to highlight the mullion windows, oak beams, and flagstone flooring. Our expert team of cabinet makers designed a central kitchen island with an elm worktop and open shelving. Along the sink run, we created semi-glazed wall cabinets with sliding doors to provide display and storage. We added discrete lighting to the back and underside of the eye-level furniture to provide much-needed illumination. Below, low-level, flat-faced cabinetry was constructed with a deep Belfast-style sink and brass Lefroy Brooks tap, which pairs beautifully with the magnificent Belgium Blue limestone worktop, complete with million-year-old fossils.
Worktops, Hardware and Detailing
At Papilio, we take pride in the finer details. As bespoke kitchen designers, we only work with trusted artisans and suppliers to ensure the finest quality of worktops, hardware and appliances.
Our Kitchen in Bath project is a fine example of a cottage kitchen style in a grand Victorian villa in Bath, Somerset. The fifth-generation family owners wanted a new kitchen that was cosy and respectful of the building’s history, but with all the gadgets and conveniences of the 21st century. The main space is flanked by parallel perimeter handmade cabinetry painted in Farrow & Ball. The cabinetry houses an Everhot range cooker, the perfect oven solution for cottage kitchens. For modernity and speedy efficiency, a Miele gas hob and combi oven with bespoke extraction and high shelving. Opposite, a double Perrin and Rowe sink with a Zip tap, and brass hardware, adding warmth and practicality to the overall design.
Kitchen Islands and Layout Options
When considering kitchen layout, cottage kitchens emphasise flow and flexibility. Unlike concealed or ultra-minimalist designs, these kitchens encourage the display of crockery and cookware, embracing the everyday and enhancing the space’s welcoming ambience.
Our Bruton Kitchen in Somerset exemplifies a cottage kitchen in a restored 1600s family home. The house features original stone mullion windows, low ceilings with oak beams, flagstone flooring, elm doors, and irregular lath-and-plaster walls. The new kitchen needed to retain character and warmth, remain practical, and add a contemporary edge. We designed a large, free-standing island, centrally positioned and hand-painted in sunny yellow. The island, set on legs, feels light and shows off the original stone floor. We mixed cabinet doors with open shelving and used ancient elm timber for the worktop, which our cabinetmakers hand-finished to highlight the grain. The island offers ample prep, storage, and perch space—the ideal layout for a cottage kitchen.
Storage and Practical Planning
Bespoke cottage kitchens exemplify craft, character, and a personal touch, ensuring each kitchen is as unique as its owner. At Papilio, our careful storage and planning maximise practicality and convenience, while accommodating your needs and style preferences—offering a space that is both beautiful and highly functional.
For our Cotswolds Manor House Kitchen project, a 17th-century Grade II-listed home in the Cotswolds near Oxford, we created a bespoke, cottage-style kitchen with a walk-in pantry, a wine store and a pet station with a shower and sink by the back door. The home’s head chef, who spends the most time in the kitchen, wanted the bespoke cabinets set to a specific height, so we also noted these preferences for the appliances. We installed a Sub-Xero & Wolf range cooker with a barbecue top, bespoke extraction to suit, and a brass pot rail running the full length of the wall under an open shelf.
Want to Know More?
We’d love to create your new cottage kitchen. Contact our team today to discuss your vision and book a personal consultation with our expert designers.
