Kitchen Renovation in Camden

Camden throws up all sorts. Georgian terraces around Primrose Hill and Regent's Park, tall Victorian houses along Haverstock Hill, and quirky canal side conversions near Camden Lock. Every one of those needs a different plan when you're redoing the kitchen, and we work out the right one before we lift a tool.

Take the Georgian houses near Regent's Park and Gloucester Crescent. A lot of them still have basement kitchens with the original flagstone floors, brick vaults and old coal store alcoves. We keep what gives the room its character, the exposed brick, the arched doorways, the stone underfoot, and build a proper working kitchen around it.

Victorian terraces are a different job. On Haverstock Hill and the streets near Kentish Town we do a lot of side return extensions and open plan conversions, working to the actual plot and the party wall situation you get in this part of north London. Camden Council's conservation officers are strict but reasonable, and we've dealt with the planning team plenty of times.

For the waterside places we borrow a few tricks from the boats. Tight galley layouts, fold down surfaces, storage tucked into every gap. When space is short you learn to use all of it.

Not many boroughs have the range Camden does. Grade I listed Nash terraces around Regent's Park at one end, converted industrial buildings along the canal at the other. Camden Council runs tight conservation area rules across a lot of it, including Primrose Hill, Camden Square and the Regent's Canal corridor.

So a kitchen job here usually means working around heritage rules. Worth it, though. You end up with a room that keeps its period feel and still works like a modern kitchen should. Property values are high and people round here actually notice good design, which is a decent reason to get it right.