The Jones’s

The Jones birch ply kitchen makes optimum use of their combined kitchen/dining/living area. They called upon our design ingenuity to make best possible use of every inch of available space. The unique feature of this kitchen was a pop-up worktop extension, which allows for vital extra workspace whenever it’s needed. For material, the Jones chose a natural birch ply for their kitchen. There's a real honesty to naked birch ply as a kitchen material, thanks to the beautiful contrasting layers at its edge and its unadulterated face. The lack of pretence is certainly endearing. If you're familiar with our work you'll know that we're definitely no wallflower when it comes to colour, but we do love a naked birch ply kitchen when we see one, and this kitchen has to be one of our favourites.

We agree with the Jones that when there's so much happening in one area, you don't want everything screaming for your attention all at once. Their decision to opt for a naked birch ply to face the main kitchen cabinets in this small area, and then inject some colour into their scheme using illuminated orange-backed open shelving units, was a really good choice. These shelving units work very well in an open-plan scheme as they don’t just act as a showcase; they also help to set the mood by serving as an only light source in the evening.

Of course, when we say ‘naked’ birch ply kitchen, the naked part isn't strictly true. All of our birch ply kitchen carcasses and doors are finished with multiple coats of hard wax oil so they don't pick up stains and greasy finger marks too easily. In kitchen settings, birch ply isn't quite maintenance-free, and when it’s used in and around wet areas like sinks, bins and dishwashers, we encourage owners not to leave water standing on the surface. That’s because continued and persistent contact with water – or potentially staining liquids – will spoil the look of the kitchen in time. Don’t worry though: as a kitchen carcass material, birch ply wins hands down over chipboard, which doesn't like to come into contact with any moisture at any time. The 2015 Boxing Day Floods really put our birch ply carcasses to the test, because while our shop itself was devastated by the disaster, our showroom kitchen escaped relatively unspoilt by the water.

Find out more about our bespoke plywood kitchens.

Kitchen Cabinets - Birch Ply | HiMacs, Concrete Grey | Open Shelving Units - Orange Coloured Laminate | Kitchen Doors and Drawers - Natural Birch Ply | Appliances - Siemens