Essential Kitchen Bathroom Bedroom Magazine May 2014 Back Issue

This month I spent a day hiding behind the façade of a Victorian London pub. But had I not known of its former use, I would never have guessed it. Architect Paul Archer had stripped this building back to a blank canvas and rebuilt it, injecting both new character and calm just a moment from the bustling high street of one of London’s busiest thoroughfares. This best of both world’s scenario is something many of us would aspire to. Clever planning and marrying the indoor and outdoor areas has created this Japanese style sense of peace. I love to get out to these locations and truly experience how actually living in this space would feel, and here I felt instantly that this would be somewhere that would be very easy to call home. But once a build like this is at the planning stage, how on earth do you choose a kitchen style that measures up, adding a sense of drama yet also helping to create that feeling of homeliness that we all long for? Here it has been achieved in a collaboration between architect and kitchen makers with the addition of sleek Gaggenau appliances to complete the look. See The Art of Easy Living, page 28. The years, it seems, go past quicker and quicker, and this issue marks a year since we re-designed the magazine. So, this month we celebrate our special anniversary with more pages and some extended features. Yet another exciting architectural project, showcasing a serene Varenna Poliform kitchen, takes us across the globe to New Zealand, where kitchen designer Joanna Hoeft opens the doors to her own kitchen in a conversion of a 100-year-old workman’s cottage. Here again (see A Tale of Two Halves, page 42), fabulous architectural innovations sit comfortably with the emergence of a modern living space that I defy anyone not to want to try out. Who wouldn’t like to come home from a long day to a kitchen that makes you feel like you’ve stepped into another world, to relax with your family in a totally workable and uplifting space?