“Only a few kitchens worth more than £300,000 sell each year in London,” says Gary Singer, a designer of high-end kitchens. “We do about one a year. In the past three years we built one for about £350,000, another for £420,000 and the last for £480,000.”
In some parts of the country such sums of money would buy you a decent family home. So why do these kitchens cost so much? Part of it is down to size; for instance, one kitchen had a 2.1m x 1.2m island made of quartzite, which cost about £100,000. Another factor is the materials used; bespoke drawers with gold-plated and silk accessories cost about £6,000 each. In other cases it is the technical difficulty involved, such as creating a restaurant-grade kitchen disguised as a regular one, so Michelin-starred chefs can cook for guests.
Yet there is no shortage of buyers for bespoke kitchens such as those created by Singer, with London being home to almost 5,000 ultra-high-net-worth individuals (ie someone with a net worth of more than $30 million), higher than any other city, according to Knight Frank. And many of the people buying these seriously luxurious kitchens are purchasing not one, but two.
“They will buy an all-singing, all-dancing one that their friends will see, but they will also have an equally expensive one behind the scenes where all the messy preparation and cooking happens,” Singer says. His company, Eggersmann Design in Chelsea, southwest London, sells between 15 and 20 kitchens a year, costing an average of about £110,000 each.
The two kitchens may differ little, although the back kitchen might have more specialist equipment, such as steam ovens, and will have more sinks for preparation and dishwashers for cleaning up. Air extraction may be more heavy-duty at the back because this is where all the serious cooking is likely to happen. The front kitchen is more likely to have features associated with entertaining, such as wine coolers or bars.
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For those who enjoy cooking, two islands — one with cooker hobs, the other with a sink and preparation area — are a must, creating a zone in the middle of an open-plan kitchen where a chef can work. “It is a really good way to create an isolated space, yet you are in the middle of the room,” Singer says. “There is a clear thoroughfare to the tall storage away from the islands, so that the cook isn’t disturbed by people coming to the fridge or larder. And more edges mean that more people can congregate, with the cook in the middle.”
Two of everything, then. Except ovens, apparently; why have two when you can have four? Many of Singer’s clients choose two extra-large ovens for entertaining and two of standard size for everyday use, one of which might be a combination oven, either steam and conventional or microwave and conventional. When it comes to hobs, most want a five-zone induction, although few want the array of other cooking tops and griddles on the market. Teppanyaki grill plates, which discolour and are difficult to keep clean, although useful, are rarely bought as stand-alone items; much better to get one that fits on to the hob and can be hidden away when not in use.
Overhead extractor fans are so yesterday, with discreet pop-up hob-side ones now the preference.
Wealthy kitchen buyers do not want built-in coffee machines, either. “They need an awful amount of care and maintenance. If you only want one to make two or three cups a day, they are a bit too annoying,” Singer says. Better to invest in a good counter-top coffee maker.
Nor do they want clutter. Pocket doors are used to hide prep areas and appliances, with banks of these shutting to give a seamless wall of wood or glass. An alternative is a set of wall-to-ceiling glass or wooden panels capable of rotating to reveal crockery, utensils, cookbooks and other essentials. Another option is oak panels that slide back — activated by a simple command to Alexa — to reveal a TV and bar area.
Seamless storage is vital. Incorporate plenty of drawers custom-made to keep everything organised, with faux suede linings, so there is no clanking of cutlery against timber to contend with. You can even have customised spice-jar holders and weighing scales. Singer says: “I spent six hours in Harrods for one client, measuring out every piece of crockery and cutlery to come up with bespoke solutions for the 1,100 items they wanted in their kitchen.”
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Bespoke cabinetry and unsual materials are also at the top of wish lists. Popular choices are cabinets coated in smoked eucalyptus veneer or hand-finished concrete plaster, worktops made from hot-rolled steel, which is more textured and resilient than the conventional cold-rolled stainless steel, and kitchen islands made from quartzite with a satin (almost leather-like) finish.
“People want bespoke bells and whistles, but also luxurious materials and design details such as framing around the ovens. It is these refined details they pay for. It is the smart functionality of the drawers, the areas that are concealed and the neat little lighting details,” Singer says. “A lot of the price, though, is down to the sheer scale of the rooms — one was 60 sq m [645 sq ft]. There is a lot of cabinetry and appliances going into some of these places.”