The low, beamed ceiling in this room presented a challenge for kitchen specialist Chisholm Design: how to incorporate plentiful storage without the space feeling cramped. This was especially important because the front of the English house is Georgian architecture, with high ceilings and big windows, and the back of the house, where the kitchen is located, is 16th century, with low ceilings.

“There’s quite a mismatch in the feel of the house as you go through it, so it was important the spaces flowed together,” designer Joanna Chisholm says. She did this by keeping the kitchen light and open, so the low ceiling and reduced light is less apparent, and building storage neatly into all the available space, including under the stairs and within the fireplace.