The Kitchen Island in This London Home Is Made of Melted-Down Chocolate Box Molds

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Project Details:

Location: London, England

Architect: Mike Tuck Studio / @miketuckstudio

Footprint: 1,900 square feet

Builder: Dowel Design

Photographer: Luca Piffaretti / @lucap_photos

From the Architect: "Mike Tuck Studio has just completed work on a post-war terraced house, reimagining and extending a separate small kitchen and dining room to create a large open-plan living area that opens to the garden. A wall of joinery conceals a door back to the rest of the house and gives the feeling that the new extension is an escape, marking the point where the traditional terraced house becomes a modern urban oasis.

"The client moved to the property from a three-story flat, and the layout of the house represented something more akin to family life, but they found the small separate kitchen meant there was no space to prepare food and spend time together. In the new space, the clients have been able to watch their daughter grow. Hidden in the wall of joinery is a toy cupboard where the chaos of family life can be closed away, and a large utility room continues off the kitchen, operating as a separate prep area to hide meal production, while the main kitchen is a serene place to sit together. The existing fireplace was clad in terrazzo from Granby Workshop, and while the original brief called for a wood- burning stove, this was not implemented due to environmental concerns—but the feature still acts as a hearth and focus point for the home.

"One of the clients is a children’s book illustrator, and his work is notable for its use of color. The simple, robust material palette was selected in collaboration with the client and it was their unique eye that we think brings the design together materially and texturally and it becomes a cohesive work against the artwork and objects they have completed it with. The wooden parquet flooring was reclaimed via Parquet Parquet and came from a school in Stoke-on-Trent, and the kitchen island is covered in plastic panels reformed from melted down chocolate box molds, made by Smile Plastics."