Celebrating great kitchen design: meet the Londoner who has won our award for the best kitchen makeover project

After teaming up with home renovation and design platform Houzz to launch the first ever London Home Design Awards - and receiving hundreds of entries - we can now reveal the winner of the best kitchen makeover.

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Barbara Chandler4 July 2018

Kitchens are the hard-working heart of the home where we cook, dine and chat with friends.

This multi-functional space must be practical and flexible, but we also want it to be beautifully designed with a pop of personality and enough storage to keep the pots and pans behind closed doors.

We asked our readers to send us images of imaginative and thoughtful living room makeover projects from their own homes, as part of entering our first ever London Home Design Awards in partnership with Houzz.

Much heated debate took place among our expert judges in the glamorous Lecture Room & Library at London's design hotspot Sketch in Mayfair, and we can now reveal the winning makeover project.

THE WINNING KITCHEN
Sponsored by leading tile specialists Topps Tiles

Winner: Laura Burkitt

What the judges said: “Good to cook in, with sensible placing of hob and worktops”; “Individual touches exude personal passions”; “Superb details, down to rails and knobs.”

Jimmy Beltran S

A New York loft in a London garden — that was the aim of journalist Laura Burkitt, 33, for the Queen’s Park flat she shares with fiancé Ben Sarner.

Art-school trained, her kitchen renovation has sparked a new career in styling and design (lauraburkitt.com). The couple reconfigured all rooms in the property to make an open-plan living area plus two bedrooms — one en suite — and a small shower room.

Jimmy Beltran S

They extended the kitchen into the lovely garden, doing all design work themselves and employing builders. Howden kitchen units (howdens.com) were painted charcoal and brass handles were sourced online. To save money, they shopped around for reclaimed materials.

The industrial look started with Crittall-style black steel doors from Fabco Sanctuary (fabcosanctuary.com), a micro-cement floor by Dan Dixon (theplastercollective.com) and exposed-brick wall. Lucy Haring of Haring & Co made the striking table. A traditional range cooker and Belfast sink add to the eclectic look. Vintage dining chairs bought off eBay were upholstered in different coloured velvets. Wall grout for engineered bricks was painted grey, and then the whole wall sanded back. Brackets made by a local smith hold hanging utensil rods from Ikea.

Jimmy Beltran S

Laura’s tips: “Open shelves make a room feel lived-in. Live in a space before you buy your furniture. Leave plenty of space around a kitchen island.”

Each of the five category winners will be sent a £500 Houzz Shop voucher to spend on Bang & Olufsen products and a £250 voucher to spend on Tom Dixon products, also in the Houzz Shop. Plus, we'll be sending the winners to a lamp-making workshop at The Factory in Tom Dixon's new flagship store, worth £250.


TOP TIPS FROM THE EXPERTS FOR PLANNING YOUR KITCHEN PROJECT

"A modern home has to be more than just a home; it has to be multi-purpose and evolve from a bedroom to an office, from a kitchen to a studio," says food writer and guest judge of the kitchen category, Rachel Khoo, who has just finished renovating her Khoollect London studio space/apartment with a host of space-saving ideas.

And space-starved Londoners in particular have to champion innovative, resourceful design when planning an interiors project so as to ensure they put every inch to good use.

"Use clever tricks like choosing thinner units and using open shelving instead of overhead cabinets," says Harriet Goodacre, spokesperson for Topps Tiles, "When tiling a smaller room go for a larger tile, mirrored tiles are the perfect solution for brightening up a space.”

WATCH OUR VIDEO: BEHIND THE SCENES ON JUDGING DAY

The London Home Design Awards at Sketch


WHO WE TEAMED UP WITH

Many thanks to the sponsors of the London Home Design Awards:

  • Bang & Olufsen, renowned for their high-end audio, picture and multimedia products, sponsors the living room category
  • Luxury bathroom designer Kohler sponsors the bathroom category
  • Leading tile specialists Topps Tiles sponsors the kitchen category
  • Hästens, known for their ethically sourced and handcrafted beds, sponsors the bedroom category


WITH THANKS TO OUR EXPERT PANEL OF JUDGES

Juliet Murphy

The expert panel of judges included the editors of Homes & Property and Houzz, Janice Morley and Victoria Harrison; design journalist Barbara Chandler; Daniel Hopwood, former president of the British Institute of Interior Design; and Richard MacRae of architecture design studio EDRM.

Guest judges included food writer and broadcaster Rachel Khoo; Mad About The House author Kate Watson-Smyth; interior design duo Jordan Cluroe and Russell Whitehead of 2LG Studio; the founder of Mr & Mrs Smith hotels Tamara Lohan; and founder of The Balcony Gardener Isabelle Palmer