Two Colours, One Room: Designing the Kitchen at Scallop House

An open-plan kitchen is rarely a blank slate. In most London homes it is where the original house meets the new extension, where Victorian proportions run into contemporary glazing, and where a family's busiest hours play out. At Scallop House in Stoke Newington, we have started the concept design for the kitchen and dining space. We think that meeting point shouldn't be hidden. It should be celebrated.

Mineral green and warm terracotta test an earthy pairing, with the island adding texture to the kitchen zone.

The idea: let the old and the new speak

Our central move is simple. We use two bold, complementary colours to define the two parts of the room.

• The original house holds the working kitchen: tall units, open shelving and the cooking run, all in a single deep, enveloping tone.
• The new extension holds the softer, more social space: a built-in window seat, low storage and a sculpted ceiling with a circular rooflight. It is wrapped in a lighter, warmer partner colour.

The colour doesn't stop at the joinery. In the extension, it runs across walls, ceiling and floor, so the space reads as one continuous, crafted volume. The effect is less "painted room" and more "carved room". The curve of the ceiling and the pool of daylight from the rooflight become the defining features.

The result is an open-plan space that still has a clear sense of place. You always know where the house was and where it has grown.

Eight pairings, one conversation

We prepared a series of concept visuals testing eight colour pairings on the same design:

• Deep Olive + Dusty Rose
• Aubergine + Pale Sage
• Indigo + Ochre Clay
• Forest Green + Soft Lavender
• Mineral Green + Warm Terracotta
• Burgundy + Plaster Pink
• Deep Blue Green + Coral
• Deep Petrol + Oatmeal

Showing the same space in eight different moods changes the conversation with a client. The question moves from "what colour do you like?" to "how do you want this room to feel?"

• Deep Olive + Dusty Rose feels grounded and warm.
• Indigo + Ochre Clay feels like late summer light.
• Deep Blue Green + Coral is confident and playful.
• Deep Petrol + Oatmeal is calmer and more restrained.

Each pairing works because the two colours carry similar weight in different ways. One is deep and saturated, the other is softer and mineral. Together they create contrast without conflict.

Seamless surfaces

To achieve the wrapped, continuous finish in the extension, we are exploring microcement, with Topcret as our proposed supplier for the wall, ceiling and floor finishes. It is a jointless finish that can run up walls, across floors and around curves, and it can be tinted to almost any colour.

In the original part of the house, a grey microcement floor anchors the kitchen and dining table. It also creates a quiet threshold where it meets the coloured floor of the extension. That line on the floor does the same job as the colour change on the walls: it marks the junction between old and new, with no need for a door or a step.

The island as an object

We think the island deserves to stand on its own. Rather than treating it as another run of cabinets, we have shown it clad in terrazzo on all sides, like a solid block of stone set into the room.

Terrazzo suits this role well:

• It is durable and forgiving in a hard-working kitchen.
• Its aggregate can be tuned to the colour pairing, so each scheme has its own island.
• It brings texture and depth that paint alone can't.

Around it, a glass dining table and Kartell Louis Ghost chairs keep the sightlines open. The island and the colour stay in focus, and the room feels larger than its footprint.

Design meets reality

Concept visuals are a starting point, not a specification. Our first images showed stacked ovens in a tall unit. As we developed the layout, it became clear that this position is needed for the fridge freezer, so the ovens are likely to move below the worktop.

This is exactly why we test ideas early. A good kitchen is a balance of three things:

• Atmosphere: colour, light and material
• Workflow: the practical relationship between prep, cooking, washing and storage
• Integration: appliances, services and extraction, coordinated with the contractor from the start

The workshop: getting the detail right

The next stage is a design workshop with our clients and the contractor. Before it, we ask clients to think about the decisions that shape how a kitchen works day to day:

• Island finish: cabinet and worktop materials
• Worktops and splashbacks
• Hardware: knobs, handles, or a handleless design
• Storage: bins, trays, larder, spice racks
• Appliances: ovens, dishwasher, hob, fridge freezer, microwave
• Sink and taps: sink type and size, and whether a boiling water tap is wanted
• Extraction
• LED lighting: including the warm under-shelf lighting shown in the visuals

Clients don't need to have every answer. We are happy to make recommendations. The goal is to reach the workshop with priorities clear, so the time is spent on decisions rather than discovery.

Why this approach works

Many open-plan kitchens become one large, undifferentiated space. By giving the original house and the new extension their own identities, and linking them with a sculptural island and continuous light, Scallop House will feel like a sequence of places. There is somewhere to cook, somewhere to gather and somewhere to sit in the sun.

Colour is one of the most affordable ways to shape how a space feels. Used with conviction, it can do as much as the architecture itself.

Planning a kitchen or extension? We would love to hear about your project. Please do get in touch with RISE Design Studio to start the conversation.

→ Email us at architects@risedesignstudio.co.uk
→ Or call the studio on 020 3947 5886

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