Homeowners Lauren and Thomas McKenna have re-thought their kitchen with clarity and simplicity – we reveal the story behind this beautiful renovation…
After buying a pretty Victorian cottage in Barnes, south west London, Lauren and Thomas McKenna knew that one of their first priorities was to re-think the kitchen.
“It was dated and characterless, and we wanted something that was more in keeping with the style and period of the house,” Lauren, vice president of marketing for a beauty company, tells KBB journo Amelia Thorpe. “We had recently had our son, Max, and wanted to make the kitchen more liveable and geared to family life.”
The layout
Lauren and Thomas, who is CEO of an AI technology business, began to consider how to tackle the space. “The layout simply didn’t work,” she says. “A narrow peninsula blocked much of the room, while a rectangular dining table took up more space, so it all felt cramped and impractical.”
While they were pondering, they came across local kitchen company Makers, known for bespoke kitchens made by hand, in its London workshop. “We had been to visit several kitchen showrooms when we spotted Makers, and we were drawn in by a pink kitchen in the window,” continues Lauren.
After meeting head of sales and design Lizzie Spinks, they made their decision quickly. “The experience immediately felt personal,” says Lauren. “Unlike other companies which made us think our kitchen had to fit with what they could create, it was totally the other way round with Makers – it was all about how they could design and make the perfect furniture for us.”
They also established that Makers’ sister company, Brown Property Services, could handle the build of a new garden room to house a home office and gym, as well as new metal-framed doors across the width of the kitchen. “We realised that they could deal with the whole project, end to end, which was very reassuring,” she notes.
The design of the serene, neutral kitchen
As Lizzie began to work on the kitchen design, it made sense to remove a stud wall, which screened the entrance to a cloakroom. By enlarging the size of the kitchen in this way, there was room to include an island – giving the family space to walk around it on all sides, unlike the peninsula of before which blocked movement.
But how to include a dining area in the design? “I played around with different shapes, before landing on the idea of a curved bench as part of the island,” explains Lizzie. “This made it possible to include a table that comfortably seats four (six at a pinch) and the rounded shape adds to the easy sense of flow around the room, different to the awkward angles of before.”
Behind the island, the wall run houses built-in appliances and the sink, plus storage. A shallow-depth dresser cabinet with glass doors houses glassware, cleverly concealing a boiler behind. “There is a touch-to-open panel at the back of the glassware shelves, so that it is easy to access the boiler controls, if required, although they are usually controlled via an app from a smartphone,” explains Lizzie.
Bespoke details
There are plenty of other custom details throughout the neutral kitchen, to allow the couple to keep surfaces clutter-free, from a drawer to house the paper towel roll to another designed to store their favourite tea bags and coffee pods.
Drawn to serene interiors, Lauren chose a neutral and natural mix as her palette of materials for the kitchen design – with stone colours and oak accents. “We want a home that feels relaxing and calm, so we have used these tones throughout the house, rather than jumping schemes from room to room,” she explains.
Aged brass handles, curved detailing, and Arabescato Cremo quartz worktops and splashback elevate the restrained look and add a sense of movement. “There’s nothing fussy – even the electrical sockets are hidden – but there is a quiet level of texture and interest that feels warm and inviting,” says Lauren.
Photography: Mary Wadsworth
This house tour was featured in the October 2025 issue of Kitchens Bedrooms & Bathrooms magazine.
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