How shoe designer Penelope Chilvers transformed two adjacent rooms into a spacious kitchen

In its previous incarnation, the kitchen of shoe designer Penelope Chilvers’s house in Gloucestershire had plenty of character, but was short on space. Whenever she entertained more than four guests, the party had to be split between two tables, one in the kitchen and the other in the next-door dining room. The stone-built house was originally three workmen’s cottages, which had long ago been knocked together, the result being a range of room sizes and ceiling heights. The kitchen, in one of the oldest parts of the house, hadn’t been touched since the 1960s. To create a larger space, it was clear that the dividing wall had to be removed.

‘It was really important to Penelope that the room should retain its cottagey feel and that the new kitchen should look settled, as if it had always been there,’ explains George Miller of Neptune — who also collaborated with the designer on a dining space and bootroom. To achieve that goal, the team used pieces from three different kitchen collections. The base-level cabinetry has timber doors with Shaker-style cabinets above, which, as are the walls, are painted in a sage green.

‘Even with the extra space gained by removing the wall, we still felt the kitchen needed more work surfaces, so we opted for a free-standing prep table in the centre.’ Above this is a Marina pendant from Neptune’s lighting range.

Elsewhere is evidence of the designer’s personality; open shelving around the cooker houses her collection of baskets and ceramics and she has hand painted butterflies on the walls inside a glazed wall cabinet. At the window, are merino wool curtains are by Tori Murphy.

A roller hand towel adds a nostalgic feel, but some modern touches, such as a Quooker hot tap, have been included, too. ‘There’s a practical reason for this — it avoids cluttering up the kitchen counter with a kettle,’ points out George.