Let’s start with a kitchen…

Any new project needs a starting point – the spark, the catalyst, the desire for change that sets the wheels in motion.

Whilst reviewing a number of projects from the past 25-years, and recalling the initial conversations with our clients, a common stand became apparent amongst these quite individual custom install projects: kitchens.

Before we go any further, we’ll make it clear that we’re not kitchen designers or kitchen installers – we leave that to the experts and are happy to recommend our friends at Carvetti  Kirkland Kitchens and Interiors – but we know that commissioning a new kitchen is often that ‘spark’ for starting a conversation with Majik House.

Clients will frequently tell us that they have been wanting to talk to us for years, but the timing wasn’t quite right; it turns out that the right time is when a new kitchen is also being planned.

Always at the heart of any home, the kitchen has increasingly become more of the focal point when entertaining; it’s an extension of our lifestyle and personality, and not just somewhere to prepare food; and it’s the relaxed day-to-day space where all the family can be together.

If this is where we spend so much time, surely it stands to reason that the whole living experience should be the best it can be?

The planning and design process invariably offers that opportunity for big changes: moving a door or window, changing the ‘flow’ of the kitchen and, increasingly, combining the kitchen and dining areas with family living spaces.

A new kitchen is a significant investment but, done right, it’s one which repay you in spades given the amount of time you spend in the space, and affording the same focus to the lighting control and entertainment systems as when choosing cabinets and appliances is something which will only add to your environment and enjoyment.

Let’s Make Light Work of Lighting

Think ahead and consider your kitchen space: of course there will be plenty of times when you are preparing meals and the kitchen will be more of a ‘functional’ space, with directional lighting – usually positioned under wall cabinets – to aid your work.

But chances are you don’t want the same lighting experience when you’re enjoying your meal, or when a friend has dropped-in for a chat, or when you’re celebrating an occasion?

Nor do you want to be turning dimmer switches to get those annoying, flickering lighting levels just right – let’s be honest, nobody wants the hassle when you’ve got a glass in your hand and a conversation to get back to.

No thanks – just one button to press that will change the scene to your pre-set preferences with elegantly smooth transitions. There, that was easy enough, wasn’t it?

Sound Solutions for Easy Listening

Many of us also enjoy music or listening to the radio in our kitchens and, whilst the latest generation of smart speakers are perfectly adequate for most, they’re often an unnecessary addition that tends to detract from the elegant clean lines of the cabinetry and work surfaces.

Discrete and compact in design but with no compromise on performance, flush-mounted ceiling speakers will deliver balanced and uniformed precision sound throughout your kitchen, dining and family living space.

Controlled by a simple remote, smartphone or tablet and with music and radio from your favourite streaming service and apps, we’d suggest that integrated ceiling speakers are the perfect partner for your new kitchen.

Breaking a Few Eggs…

There will naturally be a degree of disruption in your home when kitchen installers and associated contractors are on-site, and the Majik House team will always look to coordinate our activities in-line with everyone else.

In fact, we actively seek to be involved in the project planning so that our work with your appointed kitchen designer and trades (builder, electrician, plumber etc) is appropriately aligned. There are even occasions where Majik House become the de facto project managers, such is our experience and expertise on such commissions.

This is also a great opportunity to future proof this part of your home with cabling, networking and controls introduced that will serve you well today and for the foreseeable future.

I think we can all agree that the prospect of having walls channelled-out to accommodate additional wiring, light fittings and equipment isn’t really something that we want to be doing around our lovely new kitchen?

The Proof is in the Pudding

As many of you will be aware, we very much ‘live what we do’ and this extends to our own homes. Just recently, Majik House founders Tim and Carol Burrow have had a new kitchen designed and installed by Kirkland Kitchens.

The cabinetry is finished in a deep cobalt blue with the natural wood grain and juxtaposed against back-lit resin panels with their marbled texture; overall the effect has a foot in both contemporary and heritage camps.

Ceiling downlighters cast a warm 3000k light are from the range created exclusively by Majik House, whilst the feature pendant lights about the kitchen island are by Illuminati.

All of the lighting – downlights, pendants, back-lit panels and LED cabinet lighting – is managed by a combination of Control4 and Lutron, with numerous scenes pre-programmed and changed with the push of a button.

Audio in the kitchen is courtesy of Velodyne in-ceiling speakers powered by a SONOS amp, again managed via Control4 through Neeo remotes, smartphones and wall-mounted touchscreens.

“In size, ours is a very modest kitchen but we followed the same approach and practices as with all our clients.” explains Carol Burrow.

“The lighting had to enhance the kitchen, not dominate it; it had to be soft and welcoming but also practical and functional. Having simple single touch control to change from one scene to the next is both convenient and has the effect of altering the feel of the kitchen with each setting; it almost feels like we’ve got three new kitchens instead of one.”

“The audio is ‘just there’, and just how we wanted it. Being quite a small kitchen, space on work surfaces is limited so not having to accommodate stand-alone speakers and their wires is an obvious benefit.”

If you’re in the early days of planning your new kitchen or any other home renovations for that matter, and want to discuss the possibilities that home automation, lighting control and AV systems can bring to enhance your property, then please get in touch. We’re happy to have an initial consultation with you to discuss your project and ideas in further detail, and provide a no obligation quotation for your consideration.