Freestanding look right for kitchen

TIRED of those repetitive branded terraces of fitted units?

Kick off the kick-boards, move in some leggy independent pieces and free up your kitchen style with a freestanding look.

Why so independent? Just as in the kitchen of centuries past, each character in the unfitted kitchen has a part to play, and unlike sweeps of fitted cabinets, roles dumbed down by blank, identical doors, this furniture has a deliberate, functional identity. Pantry cupboards, pot boards, central island tables bravely stand alone rather than being slapped tightly into place. It’s worth remembering that in a fitted kitchen you pay over the odds for just two surfaces, doors and counters, the rest is largely supporting MDF.

What defines free-standing, is the standing, so flush kick boards stitching the piece to its neighbour are out. You can push together matching modules in a contemporary range (with no side overhangs) and tie them with a counter. While this creates a closer physical relationship closer to a fitted choice, it retains individual legging.

A total plan, or even a dash of individual furnishing, is no longer limited to twee country hand painted confections. There are plenty of classic shaker types and glittering module styles gleaned from the hard working industrial kitchens of hotels and restaurants to choose from. IKEA’s Varde is highly popular and a solid entry level off-the-peg option.

VERSATILE AND FOOTLOOSE

Unfitted pieces are a real plus in rangy old houses with imperfect walls where fitted pieces would have to be shimmed into position or the walls refinished to ensure a long run of cabinets was not cocked out of position. No drilling required, the kitchen can be arranged to suit the most awkward of floor plans, strapped down only at plumbing points.

In these strangling financial times a freestanding kitchen can be reconfigured, and can move when you do. This does leave potential buyers with a gutted room full of nothing put power outlets and dangling pipe work, something you need to make clear when setting out the ‘fixtures and fittings’ provisos for your agent. If you’re looking towards an extension but are not quite ready to throw your finances at the project, refreshing your current kitchen storage with pieces not screwed into place, can be a first investment.

CHEATS AND COMBINATIONS

In a fitted kitchen add a sense of stand-alone with in-frame design, breakfronts, and advancing plinths to the front of the cabinet work that suggest legging. This could be turned, squared up or even implied legs in a different colour, or materials such as wood doors framed in metal supports. Islands and central tables are an ideal way to step away from monotonous runs of units.

Explore everything from substantial trollies (Argos do a wide selection) to the more structural weight of a complete island. We’re looking for the appearance of a heavy legged table complete with storage, rather that something tied to the floor. Recess the kick boards for a floating feel if there are no legs. Choose industrial styling in stainless steel, resins and rubber wheeled trollies, blocks and islands if you’re fighting off a mansion kitchen look.

Approach a kitchen maker for a quote on a free-standing bespoke or combination kitchen offering built-ins blended with signature freestanding elements. Combining painted units with bare-wood works beautifully in these marriages. Just remember to be practical, integrating extra pieces as part of a functioning well thought-out area not simply as visual fluff.

SWEET SALVATION

The columns, antique-style knobs, linen hangers, and elegant broken line of a top class ‘country style’ kitchen, reflect its roots in a freestanding assortment of articles purchased as small amounts of occasional cash was available.

There is huge potential for the use of reclaimed pieces. Brown ‘utilitarian’ pieces of no great aesthetic interest from the 20s to the 50s area are a steal at most auctions. Keep your room measurements in your bag at viewing.

An Edwardian wardrobe is proudly re-established as a pantry cupboard. Follow the French, simply removing door panels and replacing them with chicken wire or sheers. A post-war side-boards and plain overhead shelving are painted up together and set near enough to present a unique dresser. Chests of drawers can take everything from recipe books to an arsenal of pots.

Underscore sentimental touches with aesthetic harmony and practicality. The height of work counters, especially those adjoining the sink and cooker must make sense. A difference of 5mm is a muscle cramping effort when stooped, leaning and reaching over a worksurface. A joiner may be able to tweak some spatial challenges with subtle fixes.

A similar colour of timber can welcome in a number of styles. If something is completely out of step, consider stripping it and re-finishing it to a closer match. Keep your eye open for over-sized catering unit in stainless steel, now highly prized even in honest scuffed condition.

If you’re lucky enough to find small square, mailbox-size lockers, tailor these for individual items. A small masked area of chalkboard paint and you can quickly label the contents and change it as you choose. Look for lockers with no rust present, and if the original enamel paint is only in slightly distressed condition consider celebrating it against more civilised surfaces. If you find a wooden locker in good condition at a bargain basement price, throw the money at the seller, grab it in your arms and run.

GHASTLY GAPS

If there is a caveat with freestanding kitchens, it’s the lack of baseboards and the inclusion of any counter breaks. Fitted units gained popularity in the 1940s, as quite simply it reduced housework in a home without servants. Kitchen floors are daily scattered with food and ancillary grot dragged in from the back door and with a following wind this soon rambles under the units. Regular cleaning is absolutely vital.

Slender, vertical gaps in a kitchen are bad news. Where pieces butt up against each other with even a slight overhang to the sides or a change in height, a mung-swallowing gorge develops.

Think through where you should place longer runs of uniting counter over several pieces to stage food preparation.

Wheeled pieces, or lighter elements with the slightest shake, will not sit obediently against wall tiling, and in a tiny kitchen where every centimetre counts a full freestanding fit-out can be problematic.