A kitchen is the heart of the home, but it should also feel integrated into your whole home, as Neptune co-founder John Sims-Hilditch tells editor Suzanne Imre.
Think of home and chances are you visualise your kitchen. Once the industrious, below-stairs domain of staff, today’s kitchens form the axis around which family life revolves. Cooking, eating, talking, working and relaxing. It all happens in the kitchen, which is why designing the right space requires serious consideration.
‘Historically, the kitchen was divided into zones,’ says John Sims-Hilditch, co-founder of Neptune, ‘but all too often today, cabinets are slammed together in a tight space without enough thought given to the four core zones: food storage, prep, cooking, and washing. And not forgetting the more recent fifth function: socialising.’
The Chichester collection
It was the zoned layouts of the past that influenced the original concept for Chichester, Neptune’s first kitchen cabinet collection, famously the consequence of John not being able to find a timber kitchen that felt bespoke but was a fair price.
The idea was to consider the different work zones as elements in the design, and then work out what sub-elements would be necessary to complete the space. The result was a disciplined collection of 16 cabinets that could fulfil any room brief. Each piece was designed to stand on its own, combine to make a group, or sit with the others like a fitted kitchen.
‘With Chichester, we took the idea of timeless craftsmanship rooted in classic country furniture, and made it relevant for today’s lifestyle,’ explains John. ‘But crucially, we created individual, standalone cabinets that work as part of the home and don’t have to feel like a fitted kitchen.’
The Henley collection
Following the success of Chichester, John was keen to introduce cabinetry designs which offered different aesthetics and configurations while retaining a common language through the use of zig-zag shelving, mortice and tenon joinery, concealed hinges, and no MDF or chipboard.
First came Henley, a solid oak collection with less mouldings, making it feel more modern. ‘The wood’s finish was inspired by those I’d seen in Belgium,’ recalls John. ‘I wanted it to have a dusty oak texture, as if a layer of dust had softened the oak over the years.’ And whereas Chichester cabinetry has a practical slim drawer above a deep cupboard, Henley cabinetry is more evenly balanced between deeper drawers and cupboards with the addition of hidden drawers-within-drawers.
The Suffolk collection
Next came Suffolk. ‘This was a further evolution in our thinking,’ says John. ‘The style was influenced by Shaker simplicity, and the variety of drawer sizes meant there were countless storage configurations. We also maximised space by dropping the kickboard as low as we could and making the frame as slim as possible to allow for more storage inside.’
John is keenly aware of that fifth zone – the kitchen social space. ‘The boundary has become fuzzy between where a kitchen ends and home starts,’ he explains. ‘At Neptune, we see the kitchen as the heart of the home, but we are interested in the whole home, so we have designed versatile pieces across our kitchen and home collections to integrate cooking and living.’ It means a Neptune kitchen can extend into a dining or relaxing space, with pieces such as the Chichester dresser, Suffolk dining table or Henley coffee table flowing seamlessly between rooms. Such thoughtful integration means today’s well-planned kitchens may share the zoning concepts of old, but most definitely sit front and centre in the modern home.
