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Seasonal sophistication

Nothing can beat a traditional family Christmas at home, and there is nothing more fitting than a Victorian farmhouse kitchen playing host to the main Christmas meal. Decorated with festive greenery, red berries, glittering baubles and fairy lights, and with aromas of wintry spices and a lavish meal roasting in the Aga, the Keebles' Robinson & Cornish kitchen sets the stage for a perfect Christmas Day. With a large open-plan format also housing a dining table and sofas, Christiana Keeble says the family can comfortably spend the whole day in this room, from cooking and eating to unwrapping gifts and playing games.

When the Keebles decided to install a new kitchen, they took on a huge project. To create the current large airy space, walls had to be knocked down, the boiler moved outside, a chimney breast removed and new windows and doors installed. The previous kitchen consisted of tired 1980s pine units on a splintery wooden floor. It wasn't well designed with limited storage, and it segregated the cook from the rest of the family. Whilst this would always be a big structural undertaking with huge RSJs needing to be installed, the Keebles did not expect such finds as an old well in the original hallway - the sort of delights that period houses often uncover during major building work. In fact, what began as a four-month project took eight months from start to finish.

And when it came to designing the kitchen around the property's original structure, George Cornish, the Director of Robinson & Cornish, says: "The really exciting element, for me, in this design was the very powerful overmantle surround. We designed this to emulate a typical period, country-style fireplace, which houses Christiana's four-oven Aga. This is linked to a grand double-bowl farmhouse sink, which is big enough to take baking trays, and ample storage with translucent etched glass wall cupboards. "The island was another key element, as this contained the all-important pan drawers and a micro/combi oven tucked out of view, but most importantly the island ensures a great worktop surface for food prepping and plating up dishes of cooked food. It is the staging post between the cooking and the wet areas and is vital to the efficiency of the whole space."

The housekeeper's cupboard is always such an important part of any period kitchen and here, George and his team personalised it by making the cut-outs in the doors to Christiana's personal choice. He adds: "This was a common feature of this type of cupboard and could be just simple holes bored in the doors or perhaps a fleur de lys. These cut-outs actually reflect the oak leaves seen in the painted chandelier over the family table."

But Christiana says that her heart lifts every time she walks into the kitchen, so it was well worth the wait. Even having spent five months washing-up in the children's bathroom with no downstairs water, and cooking family meals on an old two-ring gas Baby Belling cooker, Christiana has no regrets. She beams: "I now have this stunning, calm, contemporary space that is fabulous all year round. But my favourite time of year has to be Christmas."