The Essex.

The most decorated of the seven. A molded door — ovolo, ogee, bolection, or a profile drawn for the room — with glazed upper cabinets, hand-cut carving, corbels and mantels where the room asks for them.

How it is built

The same construction, whichever range

The range decides the door and the ornament. Everything behind it is built the same way, in the same building, by the same nine people — and it is built that way whether the kitchen is going to Suffolk or to Connecticut.

What it costs, and why → How a commission runs → How it reaches you →

Specification

Setting out	Drawn in CAD, then again at full size as a rod pinned above the bench. Machining is taken from the rod, not the screen.
Carcass	18mm birch-faced plywood (a shade under 3/4 inch), glued and screwed, 9mm backs (just under 3/8 inch) housed in rather than pinned on. Adjustable feet throughout.
Face frames	Solid timber, mortise and tenon, with scribed filler stiles where the joinery meets the building.
Drawer boxes	Solid European oak, 16mm (just over 5/8 inch) sides, through-dovetailed front and back by hand, waxed.
Runners	Full-extension soft-close, rated to 90lb.
Painted work	Four coats, brushed by hand in our own finishing room, with the final coat cut in on site after installation.
Installation	By the people who made it. Nothing is subcontracted and nothing arrives flat-packed.

The chimneypiece in the evening, the range lit beneath it

A run molding on a painted door, with a turned knob — Hardware, chosen for the room

The Essex seen from the doorway, the range set under a carved chimneypiece with the island in front of it — The Essex

The carved overmantel above the range, roundels and fluted pilasters cut in oak — The carving, cut by hand

A walkthrough of The Essex

Not the right one if the house is plain. This kitchen will look like it is trying.

A carved paterae on the chimneypiece, against the glazing bars of the cupboard beside it

The room from the corner, the range wall on one side and the window over the sink on the other

The whole room in the evening, the glazed uppers lit and the island in the middle

Astragal-glazed cupboard doors with plates and glasses ranged inside

Made in this range

A kitchen we have built to this door

The island under a dark stone top, cream painted in-frame cabinets and glazed uppers behind

Essex, England · The EssexCountry House KitchenA molded in-frame (inset, in American terms) painted kitchen built around two carved chimneypieces, with a full island, astragal-glazed wall cupboards and a steel rack hung over on chain.See the project →

All seven projects →

The other ranges

If this is not the one

The Suffolk — hand-painted in-frame English kitchen, built in Suffolk and installed in the United States

Hand-painted in-frameThe SuffolkA flat center panel, a plain stile and rail, a solid timber face frame, and paint.See the range →

The Scandi — handleless character oak kitchen with matte black cabinetry, made in Suffolk

Handleless oak, solid timberThe ScandiFlat, finger-jointed fronts in character oak.See the range →

The Kensington — sprayed handleless kitchen in book-matched veneer, made in Suffolk

Sprayed, handleless, contemporaryThe KensingtonFlush handleless fronts, book-matched and sequenced grain from a single parcel of veneer, appliances behind matching panels, and runs that change material without changing plane.See the range →

All seven ranges →

Every kitchen shown here is one we have made. The images are visualizations rather than photographs of our clients’ houses. They are built from our own workshop drawings and our own photographs of the work on site, and finished with AI, because our clients ask that their houses are not photographed or published. More on that.

Tell us about the room.

Where the house is, roughly when you would like to be cooking in it, and what you have in mind. We will tell you honestly whether we are the right people for it.

Make an inquiry