The Unfitted Kitchen: a timely return to common sense

It seems the design world has rediscovered the unfitted kitchen. Social media is full of beautifully photographed pantries, freestanding cupboards and furniture that looks as though it has found its place over generations. While it's encouraging to see this shift away from rigid wall-to-wall cabinetry, particularly after the launch of my new collection. I can't help wondering whether we're embracing anew aesthetic or rediscovering a way of living. There's a difference.

For much of the twentieth century, kitchens became exercises in efficiency. Everything was fixed, planned and hygiene focused, often with little regard for the people enjoying the space beyond the mechanics of cooking. Yet real life is unfixed (haha). Families change, cooking habits evolve and our homes increasingly accommodate work, conversation, homework and entertaining. Furniture, by its nature, has always adapted more readily to these changing patterns than fitted cabinetry. It allows a room to breathe, to evolve and, importantly, to reflect our personalities. I hit the zeitgeist with the idea in the Sunday Times in 1980 when they published Why This Awful Fixation With Fitted kitchens receiving around a thousand enquiries over the next few years. It took another six years to persuade a UK company, Smallbone, to launch my first collection (see below).

An unfitted kitchen isn't simply a collection of freestanding pieces. It's about designing a room in a holistic way and begins before designing the cabinets. The kitchen should behave like any other well-furnished living space, with places to gather, to pause, to prepare food and to enjoy each other's company. A table often works harder than an island because it welcomes multiple activities without prescribing them. Open shelves, dressers and individual pieces invite ownership rather than perfection. They reveal life instead of concealing it. And this is not to forget the decorating. Pictures, plants, quirky objects as well as your favourite pots on display.

Perhaps this explains why the unfitted kitchen feels so relevant today. In an increasingly digital world, we're looking for homes that ground us in something more human. We value craftsmanship over uniformity, adaptability over permanence and character over repetition. Trends come and go, but the kitchens that endure are those designed around people rather than products. The unfitted kitchen isn't a new fashion at all. It's simply a reminder that the best rooms have always been furnished before they were fitted.

My 1986 collection for Smallbone.

We now have updated many of the pieces. Please enquire for more detail. Mostly made in English Olive Ash.

From our current collection. A design for a peninsula, a key piece of furniture for moderate sized kitchens. Available in painted finishes with Olive Ash legs.