Kitchen with a Drop-in Sink, Laminate Floors, Limestone Floors and Cement Tiles Design Ideas

© JEM Photographie
This is an example of a mid-sized mediterranean u-shaped eat-in kitchen in Paris with a drop-in sink, flat-panel cabinets, white cabinets, wood benchtops, multi-coloured splashback, cement tile splashback, cement tiles, multi-coloured floor and beige benchtop.

This dark green kitchen shows how Tom Howley can create a kitchen where everything has a place and can be easily accessed. Integrated appliances and bespoke storage minimise clutter and glass fronted cabinetry with subtle lighting provides plenty of opportunity to display both attractive essentials and pieces of art.

This bespoke professional cook's kitchen features a custom copper and stainless steel La Cornue range cooker and extraction canopy, built to match the client's copper pans. Italian Black Basalt stone shelving lines the walls resting on Acero stone brackets, a detail repeated on bench seats in front of the windows between glazed crockery cabinets. The table was made in solid English oak with turned legs. The project’s special details include inset LED strip lighting rebated into the underside of the stone shelves, wired invisibly through the stone brackets. Read our article about The Regency Cook's Kitchen. Primary materials: Hand painted Sapele; Italian Black Basalt; Acero limestone; English oak; Lefroy Brooks white brick tiles; antique brass, nickel and pewter ironmongery.

Photo of a small contemporary single-wall separate kitchen in Cologne with a drop-in sink, flat-panel cabinets, white cabinets, granite benchtops, stainless steel appliances, cement tiles, no island and beige floor.

Kitchen Island with built in induction hob and large draws for storing all your cooking essentials.
Design ideas for a large country u-shaped open plan kitchen in Cornwall with a drop-in sink, shaker cabinets, grey cabinets, quartzite benchtops, white splashback, black appliances, limestone floors, with island, black floor and white benchtop.

©beppe giardino
Inspiration for a contemporary galley eat-in kitchen with a drop-in sink, flat-panel cabinets, black cabinets, wood benchtops, black splashback, coloured appliances, cement tiles, with island and multi-coloured floor.

Glazed oak cabinet with LED lights painted in Farrow & Ball Chappell Green maximise the space by making the most of the high ceilings. The unified colour also creates a more spacious feeling. Pine table with chapel chair hint at the origins of the house as an old chapel with the limestone flooring adding to the rustic feel.

✨ On continue la visite... avec une cuisine de caractère repensée de A à Z ! ? Projet : T2 de 60 m² — Location meublée à Lyon 7 Dans cette pièce de 11 m², tout a été optimisé pour offrir un maximum de rangements, tout en conservant le charme de l’ancien avec ce bel arrondi. ? Esprit végétal et minéral : Le pari gagnant ? Un vert profond aux nuances bleu-vert fumé pour le mobilier bas, associé à un blanc cassé minéral sur les murs. Ce duo apporte à la fois fraîcheur, sérénité et luminosité, tout en soulignant l’élégance de la pièce. @farrowandball skimming stone & green stone ? Côté matières, la star ici c’est la crédence en faïence, à la fois authentique et décorative. Une touche d’artisanat qui sublime la cuisine avec raffinement et personnalité. @pointp_fr faïence coloker blanc et revêtement quick step béton galet ? Swipez pour découvrir l’avant / après : une transformation qui vaut le détour !

small Kitchen complete refurbishment
Photo of a small transitional single-wall separate kitchen in London with a drop-in sink, flat-panel cabinets, dark wood cabinets, granite benchtops, beige splashback, ceramic splashback, stainless steel appliances, limestone floors, beige floor and black benchtop.

In brief Location, location, location When looking for your perfect home where you can put down your grass roots and start a family there are many ‘must haves’ that we all have on our wish lists. The obvious contenders are price and location with many other niceties, like the number of bedrooms, layout and decor taking a back seat. As we all know, location can sell a home to those who strive to be in the right area, for transport links, local amenities and the all-important school catchment areas. Like many other families throughout the UK our clients chose their house for its excellent location. Just ten minutes from the centre of Stafford by car, our client’s house is in a popular and sought-after suburb of the town for couples and families alike. They have always loved the location of their house for its easy access to work, schools, leisure facilities and social connections, but they were becoming increasingly frustrated with the layout of the ground floor of their home. It’s inevitable that families will evolve and our needs from our properties will change too. Since the young family of four moved to their large four-bedroom detached house a few years ago, their property has been unable to meet their lifestyle needs and living patterns. Although their property has adequate bedroom space for them and their two children, the layout of the downstairs living area was not functional and it obstructed their everyday life, making entertaining and family gatherings difficult. Our First Meeting Upon our initial consultation with our clients it was clear from the outset why they sought to make changes to the layout of their house. The property had been extended to create extra space by the previous owners, but unfortunately the design and build hadn’t been executed well at all. The rooms and layout were awkward in size and shape and it didn’t allow the family to come together and enjoy their home. They had the floor space, but it was sectioned off into separate rooms, some without a purpose. The garden surrounds the house on all three sides and is of a good size in its entirety with different areas on each aspect. We could clearly see that the house itself didn’t address any particular aspect of the garden in any way. Moving to a new house wasn’t an option, the family were happy with the location and size of the property. What they wanted was a modern, functional, stylish space for everyday family life, with the flexibility to accommodate their large extended family when needed and to ultimately add value to their property. We were appointed by our clients to create a design solution to redesign the ground floor living area with a modern, light filled, open plan space that connects with the garden. It was clear from outset that our design intention was to break down the room barriers and to respond to the needs of the family, supporting their lifestyle now and for the future, bringing them together and creating a house they could call a home. Delivering a project on time and within our client’s budget are always a top priority for our team. The family decided to stay in their house during construction, therefore it was even more essential to minimise the level of disruption to their daily lifestyle with a young family living on site. The family needed help from our team at Croft Architecture to swiftly and successfully acquire Building Control Approval for their project to progress rapidly, ensuring project completion on time and to their determined budget. Our Approach Surveying the site The client’s home is located on the entrance to a quiet cul-de-sac on a mature, leafy, suburban housing estate. Their home nestles into its well-established site, with ample space between the neighbouring properties and has considerable garden space to the rear and both sides. During our initial visit we spent a long time with the family observing the existing layout, talking about how they currently live in the property, their annoyances with the house in its current form, how they would like to be able to live in their family home and how they aspired it to feel, look and live. We walked through the house and it was clear that the existing layout didn’t work downstairs. The house had been extended onto before they had bought the property and the space hadn’t been well thought through in terms of how it would be used effectively. The rooms directly to the left off the hallway, didn’t really have a proper function. The previously extended space had resulted in the house with too many rooms and subsequently this had led to a series of impractical spaces. The long and narrow extension was home to a small U-shaped kitchen at the front of the house, which led onto the dining area and then onto a small room at the back of the extension. For the size of the house the kitchen and dining room in a much smaller and narrower area, leaving larger living areas to the rear of property with copious amounts of dead space. The small kitchen was tucked away at the front of the property which made life difficult for our clients to observe their children playing safely in the garden whilst preparing food and carrying out work in the kitchen. On the opposite side of the property there was another old extension which had a step down into it. This living area had a tiled floor and large glazed windows on all sides which made it feel almost like a conservatory.This area was rarely used by the family as it had no real function, plus it was hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It had become an under utilised space. We walked around the property and it was clear that the house itself didn’t address their private garden space to any particular aspect in any way, meaning that the garden space was under used because of the poor connections. The family wanted a combined kitchen, dining, lounge space for daily life and also for entertaining their family. Design Approach The size of the property presented the opportunity to substantially reconfigure the family home to create a series of dynamic living spaces oriented towards the large, south-facing garden. Our team suggested removing the little kitchen from the front of the property and re positioning it within the unused glazed space at the back of the house. The glazed room had internal French doors with a step down into the space separating it from the lounge. We proposed to remove the French doors, level the floor and make it into one room with the existing lounge. To connect the new open plan kitchen and living space to the rear and side garden sliding and folding doors were the solution, extending the family’s usable living space by creating a seamless indoor-outdoor flow. There was already a patio area there and it made sense for the kitchen to move to the rear of the house to be close to the patio for easy outside dining. It was therefore logical to retain the existing living space in it's current location next to the new kitchen, maintaining the natural flow of the house for the family after eating and entertaining in the kitchen. When making decisions regarding the kitchen design, we worked closely with the family. They thoroughly enjoy spending time cooking and entertaining with their large extended family. To assist with their culinary preparations our clients had aspired to have an induction hob within their new kitchen. As they were working through the design with us, they weren’t sure about an induction hob because of different cooking methods required for certain meals that they like to produce. They particularly like making chapatis which require a round pan and a gas hob. We didn’t see this as a problem and suggested having a single gas burner for purely this purpose whilst still installing an induction hob. They decided to go ahead with our idea, choosing a single gas burner and an induction hob, and it looks great! The existing lounge space had a corner aspect at the rear property that protruded into the garden. Positioned next to the kitchen and dining space it seemed logical to us for the living area to also open out onto the patio, thus connecting the garden to the house on a wider aspect. To enhance the connection between the garden and the living room we thought that a corner door would work extremely well to really open up this space. The clients really liked the design concept to create a feature of the corner with glazed sliding doors that would completely open the house up to the garden. They were excited about the prospect of the allowing huge amounts of natural light into their home and the flexible access it would provide to the garden. Once the new kitchen, dining and living space had been concluded, we then had to consider what the previous kitchen and dining area was going to be used for within the small, long side extension. We talked with our clients about a few possible uses. We noticed that the family have a piano and few other musical instruments. It made sense for this space to become a quiet part of the house for them to escape to, play music, read and generally relax in a snug area. To shorten the length of the new music room and make an additional feature in the newly created open plan kitchen, dining and living area, we reclaimed some of the space from the back of the side extension and opened it up to the main open-plan space, thus creating another new snug. We added an additional design feature within the snug by creating a timber window seat. Not only does it provide extra seating, but it’s also created a snug within a snug, a haven for reading, napping and gazing out into the garden. As part of their brief our clients also wanted a to incorporate a log burner into their newly remodelled home. To connect the new music room and snug to the living space we proposed to position a two-way log burner where the existing gas fire was located. By retaining a fire in the original location it would minimise the disruption and work required to install the wood burner. However, the theory didn’t turn into reality and the new fire resulted in being quite a task to get it to work. When the contractor began to strip back the existing fireplace, they discovered that fitting the pipe within the building was going to be more challenging than they anticipated because of the poorly constructed extension. It was difficult to execute but it was ultimately achieved. What lies beneath? It’s not until you uncover the fabric of the building that you fully understand what’s going on underneath. When the contractor exposed the structure of the house, we found out that the property had been poorly constructed, and they uncovered a lot of poor workmanship from the original builders. As the build progressed the inner skin of the extended structure was exposed, we found that it wasn’t actually strong enough and we needed to make it safe in order to proceed. Going forwards we ensured that the structure was safe, and all issues were identified and immediately rectified. The previous extensions to the house also presented further challenges as the build progressed. We found that the floors between rooms were not level. We wanted to create the appearance of one space rather than lots of chopped up areas. To do so we needed to alter the floor and ceilings to ensure that they were flush right through the new open plan living space. Also, after removing the internal French doors, the down-stand beam where the doors had previously been were subsequently left prominent down from the ceiling. The design required careful planning and attention to detail to achieve the best looking finished results for the client. For us, in principle our clients’ scheme at the outset was quite a simple project but when the strip out commenced there was actually a more going on underneath that needed attention before the project could start to take shape. A lot of things needed to be considered to make it work structurally and properly for the family. When the carpet was initially lifted, we found a parquet floor underneath. The family and our team were extremely excited at the prospect of having a traditional parquet floor that could be sanded down and made good. However, when ‘all’ of the carpet was removed only half of the living room had been covered in parquet flooring and the other half was actually a solid concrete floor. Unfortunately, we couldn’t proceed with the flooring and our clients chose another floor finish. Making connections Our team at Croft Architecture have created a new, sleek, spacious family ‘hub’ that’s light with clean lines. The open plan space unites the family of four whilst providing the ability to gather the wider family and seamlessly connecting their home with the garden through the new full length sliding doors. Although they now have plenty of space to gather with the family, they also have areas of seclusion to spread out and escape to when needed. A strong working relationship between our team, the client and Building Control enabled us to gain the necessary permissions promptly. We enjoyed working with the project team and we’re extremely pleased to successfully deliver the completed project. Although it wasn't in accordance with our client’s timescales with the discovery of hidden structural challenges, we spent the time carefully resolving the issues to unsure that our clients home was not only safe, but also looks great and functions perfectly.

The kitchen space is not huge but has everything you need and is great for entertaining. The utility area in the distance is as well designed as the kitchen. The Portland stone floor runs straight out in to the garden. The space is flooded with light. Photo:James Balston

Bespoke hand painted shaker kitchen by Distinctly Living.
Inspiration for a mid-sized transitional galley open plan kitchen in Devon with a drop-in sink, shaker cabinets, grey cabinets, solid surface benchtops, grey splashback, ceramic splashback, stainless steel appliances, limestone floors and a peninsula.

Design ideas for a mid-sized contemporary l-shaped separate kitchen in Rome with a drop-in sink, flat-panel cabinets, green cabinets, quartzite benchtops, white splashback, marble splashback, stainless steel appliances, cement tiles, with island, blue floor, white benchtop and recessed.

This contemporary kitchen has clean elegant lines with pops of turquoise that contrast with the blue of the cupboards and grey and white worktops. There are lots of working surfaces convenient for all kitchen tasks, whilst the breakfast bar provides comfortable seating for guest or kids to do their homework etc whilst you are working.

Located on the dramatic North Cornwall coast and within a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), the clients for this remarkable contemporary family home shared our genuine passion for sustainability, the environment and ecology. One of the first Hempcrete block buildings in Cornwall, the dwelling’s unique approach to sustainability employs the latest technologies and philosophies whilst utilising traditional building methods and techniques. Wherever practicable the building has been designed to be ‘cement-free’ and environmentally considerate, with the overriding ambition to have the capacity to be ‘off-grid’. Wood-fibre boarding was used for the internal walls along with eco-cork insulation and render boards. Lime render and plaster throughout complete the finish. Externally, there are concrete-free substrates to all external landscaping and a natural pool surrounded by planting of native species aids the diverse ecology and environment throughout the site. A ground Source Heat Pump provides hot water and central heating in conjunction with a PV array with associated battery storage. Photographs: Stephen Brownhill

Design ideas for a large country u-shaped eat-in kitchen in Surrey with a drop-in sink, beaded inset cabinets, beige cabinets, marble benchtops, white splashback, marble splashback, stainless steel appliances, limestone floors, with island, beige floor, white benchtop and vaulted.

We made the most of this compact space by removing the wall between kitchen and reception room - opening it up to create an eat-in area.
Photo of a small contemporary galley open plan kitchen in London with a drop-in sink, flat-panel cabinets, grey cabinets, solid surface benchtops, panelled appliances, laminate floors, beige floor and white benchtop.

This is an example of a large contemporary single-wall eat-in kitchen in Rome with a drop-in sink, recessed-panel cabinets, red cabinets, wood benchtops, grey splashback and cement tiles.

This bespoke professional cook's kitchen features a custom copper and stainless steel La Cornue range cooker and extraction canopy, built to match the client's copper pans. Italian Black Basalt stone shelving lines the walls resting on Acero stone brackets, a detail repeated on bench seats in front of the windows between glazed crockery cabinets. The table was made in solid English oak with turned legs. The project’s special details include inset LED strip lighting rebated into the underside of the stone shelves, wired invisibly through the stone brackets. Primary materials: Hand painted Sapele; Italian Black Basalt; Acero limestone; English oak; Lefroy Brooks white brick tiles; antique brass, nickel and pewter ironmongery.