Which range, and why.

Start with the door, not the kitchen

Seven ranges sounds like seven products. It is not. Behind the door every range is built the same way, by the same people, to the same standard. What changes is the door and the ornament, and that is the decision that makes a room look inevitable rather than applied.

What follows is how we would steer you, in the order the decision usually gets made.

If the house has moldings

A room with a molded baseboard and a casing with a section to it wants in-frame work, or inset in American terms, with the door sitting inside the face frame. The Suffolk is the plain version of it: a flat center panel, plain stile and rail, a solid timber face frame, and paint. The Essex is the same construction carrying ornament, with a molded door in ovolo, ogee or bolection, glazed upper cabinets and hand-cut carving where the drawing calls for it.

If the room is built around a range

The Farmhouse is painted inset planned around the range rather than around a hood: a mantel over the cooker, a fireclay sink, plain recessed panels. It is the one for a room with an old floor and walls that are nowhere near square.

If you want color, but not everywhere

The Norfolk is painted inset in a strong color with unpainted oak left alongside it, so the timber does the softening rather than a second color.

If the house is modern

A contemporary house with a lot of glass and no moldings is the opposite case, and in-frame work looks applied in it. The Kensington is sprayed, handleless and flush, with sequenced veneer and appliances behind matching panels. The Scandi is the timber version of the same idea: flat, finger-jointed fronts in character oak, with no paint and no applied handle.

If you do not want a fitted kitchen at all

Freestanding and modular is furniture rather than cabinetry: an island on legs, a dresser, a larder cupboard, a sink stand, a prep table. It suits a room you may want to change, and a house where built-in work would read as an intrusion.

What does not change

The carcass, the frame, the drawer boxes and the finish are the same whichever range you choose, and so are the hands that make them. A range is a starting point and a language rather than a product code: every kitchen is drawn to your room, and details move between ranges when the drawing is better for it.

When you have a direction, what an English kitchen costs in America sets out the money honestly, and the commission explains what happens between the first call and cooking in it.