Behind the Design
Behind the Design
Climb to the first floor of our Tunbridge Wells showroom and you’ll find a kitchen that feels woven into the fabric of the building itself. Welcome to The Italian Kitchen, a bespoke display that started life not with an appliance or a colour scheme, but with a single piece of furniture: an elegantly imposing, floor-to-ceiling oak dresser.
From there, every other detail unfolded: a pastry table borrowed from Italian culinary tradition, worktops in marble handpicked from the quarries of Carrara, and luxury appliances from Sub-Zero & Wolf and BORA. It is a layout designed to work with the room’s period features rather than against them.
We sat down with our Managing Director, John, to find out more about the story behind this showstopping display.
![Bespoke kitchen design with marble worktop in Tunbridge Wells](https://www.rencraft.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/italianborder-1-scaled.jpg")
John: It genuinely comes down to one functional feature: a bespoke pasta-rolling and pastry table set 80mm to 100mm lower than a standard British worktop, replicating the low tables used in Italy for rolling out the dough. A standard worktop sits around 900mm to 920mm, but this traditional Italian-inspired pastry table is set to exactly 820mm. This intentional drop ensures your arms stay perfectly straight while you work the dough without straining your back. It’s a small heritage detail, but it’s the one that gave the entire space its name.
![Luxury kitchen design with bespoke cabinetry and a kitchen island in Tunbridge Wells](https://www.rencraft.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/5-scaled.jpg")
John: We wanted it to feel as though it had always belonged in the building, almost as if it had been left behind a century ago and we simply built the rest of the kitchen around it. It is the kind of piece that has a timeless, inherited quality that you could easily believe has been here for generations.
Architecturally, it takes full advantage of the room’s high ceilings. We handcrafted the glazed upper doors with slender bars to maximise the glass on show and let the glassware, ceramics and kitchenalia inside do the talking. To finish the look, the traditional tongue-and-groove backboard is painted to match the surrounding wall colour. It’s a subtle design trick that makes the dresser feel integral to the room’s architecture rather than standing apart as a separate piece of furniture.
![Handmade luxury kitchen with oak dresser with glazed doors and a marble worktop.](https://www.rencraft.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/italianborder-3-scaled.jpg")
John: A 20mm piece of Statuario marble tops the dresser. While thicker 30mm worktops have become more common in recent years, we chose 20mm here on purpose.
The slimmer profile maintains a sleek, elegant look that perfectly respects the dresser’s refined proportions.
![Luxury kitchen handmade in Tunbridge Wells with blue hand-painted island.](https://www.rencraft.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/4-scaled.jpg")
John: Rather than fighting the building’s historic architecture, we let it dictate the design. That is why we configured the Wolf ovens, one each side of the central window, seamlessly connected by the lowered pastry table, and a run of drawers beneath to tie it all together.
We decided to position the worktop slightly above the windowsill height, adding a discreet upstand behind it, enabling passersby to see an elegant stone rather than the working surface. As an alternative to the pastry table, this beautiful window bay could just as easily have incorporated a sink, taking full advantage of the view down into Tunbridge Wells while washing up.
By handcrafting the pastry table to fit the space, we demonstrate the bespoke nature of Rencraft and our ability to create units of any size, height or style. In this instance we utilised the space between the two Georgian sash windows without compromising any of the room’s original features and natural light.
![Bespoke kitchen with a 170mm marble worktop and Wolf ovens.](https://www.rencraft.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/6-scaled.jpg")
John: We selected stunning 20mm Statuario marble. To give it a commanding presence, we built the edge profile up to a 100mm thickness with a visual front depth of 170mm.
This gives the impression of a massive, substantial slab of stone, but without the immense weight or cost of a solid marble block. It demonstrates how clever design and technical engineering can be used to achieve a high-end, luxury look.
John: The central island is the absolute focal point of the display, designed for both high-end entertaining and serious cooking. It features incredibly generous storage on both sides, combining deep pan drawers with elegant cabinets fitted with reeded glass doors.
At one end sits a fabulous round, end-grain, oak butcher’s block. It has been mounted onto a bespoke curved drum unit with doors that open fully, ensuring it is just as practical for daily food preparation as it is striking to look at.
To top the island, we chose timeless Carrara marble, using a 30mm Dupont piece set directly over a 20mm square slab to create the impression of a 50mm-thick worktop. Contrary to appearances, it’s actually two pieces of marble meticulously joined rather than one solid slab, beautifully finished with a traditional rounded edge.
![Luxury kitchen in Tunbridge Wells with BORA Classic induction hob on a bespoke kitchen island](https://www.rencraft.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/italianborder-9-scaled.jpg")
John: We frequently position hobs on a central island because it transforms cooking into a much more sociable experience, facing into the room rather than looking at a wall. In historic period properties, extraction is often a major hurdle.
To solve this, we chose a BORA Classic 2.0 induction hob with an advanced recirculating extraction system. It is the perfect solution for older buildings like this one where ducting outside simply isn’t possible. Steam and moisture from cooking are drawn downward through filters set into the centre of the hob. It cleverly removes cooking smells and steam from the kitchen without any visual impact on the design from using overhead extractor hoods.
![Pink hand-painted kitchen with luxury cabinetry in Tunbridge Wells](https://www.rencraft.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/italianborder-13-scaled.jpg")
John: We deliberately paired two contrasting but complementary hardware styles to add character and depth. On the Oak Dresser doors we selected solid brass Armac Martin Cotswold cupboard turn catches, which offer a beautiful and reassuringly tactile mechanism.
For the drawers and smaller cabinet doors, we chose a mix of Ged Kennett knobs and bars featuring a stunning, wavy textured side profile. Mixing these British-crafted hardware styles prevents the kitchen from feeling too uniform, giving a curated, lived-in luxury feel instead.
![Sub Zero Wolf fridge and wine chiller in a luxury kitchen in Tunbridge Wells](https://www.rencraft.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/italianborder-10-scaled.jpg")
John: Cooling is handled by a high-performance Sub-Zero fridge freezer alongside a full-height Sub-Zero wine cooler. Importantly, both appliances are fully integrated, meaning they sit flush with the surrounding bespoke joinery rather than standing apart as separate appliances. This ensures they blend seamlessly into the room’s architecture without interrupting the flow of the hand-painted furniture.
![Bespoke pantry cupboard with oak interiors in Tunbridge Wells](https://www.rencraft.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/italianborder-25-scaled.jpg")
John: Tucked into the corner of the room between two windows stands a bespoke pantry cupboard. It was intentionally designed for those everyday items you want close to hand but would rather keep out of sight. The top section features bi-folding doors which open to reveal oak shelving perfect for crockery and heavier small appliances, so you’re not forever bending down to reach them. Below this we included low cupboards for those lesser-used items you want to completely hide away.
When the bi-fold doors are open, this pantry transforms into a highly accessible, active working space. When they are closed, it effortlessly disappears back into the elegant architecture of the room.
John: The entire colour scheme is built from the Benjamin Moore colour palette. We chose Proposal, a wonderfully soft, sophisticated pink, for the main run of cabinetry and walls. This contrasts with Gray Owl on the built-in banquette seating, and Boothbay Gray on both the central island and the pantry cupboard.
Rather than painting one single matched colour throughout the entire room, we chose a highly considered mix of complementary tones. This layered approach adds depth and warmth to the space, ensuring the kitchen feels less like a sterile showroom display and more like a welcoming, lived-in part of a home, which truly has become the favourite display for many of our clients.
![Handmade kitchen with an oak butchers block in Tunbridge Wells](https://www.rencraft.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/italianborder-24-scaled.jpg")
John: Instead of one uniform look, this kitchen deliberately layers a mix of textures, finishes and eras. We have brought together the handcrafted oak dresser, the polished Carrara marble island, reeded glass detailing, a 150-year-old table paired with modern curved banquette seating, and a dedicated bookcase for art and ceramics.
Our view is that this kind of considered layering, a thoughtful curation of personally chosen styles and materials rather than a single matched scheme, is exactly what makes a space feel genuinely bespoke. It creates that authentic, lived-in character that feels as though it evolved naturally over time.
![Kitchen showroom of the Year 2024 and 2026 by Rencraft in Tunbridge Wells](https://www.rencraft.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/italianborder-28-scaled.jpg")
John: Quite simply, come and visit our award-winning showroom in Tunbridge Wells. Photographs and screens can only tell half the story with a kitchen of this calibre in this unique setting.
Without experiencing it first-hand, it is incredibly difficult to appreciate the true architectural scale of the oak dresser, the weight of the hand-selected marble, or the beautiful way natural light falls across the pastry table through the original sash windows. These are sensory elements that you can only truly appreciate by physically standing in the room. Immersing yourself in the space, opening the doors, and figuring out what you love and, crucially, what you don’t, is really the only way to create a bespoke kitchen that is perfectly tailored for you and your property.
Come and explore The Italian Kitchen as well as our other displays which are set across four floors of design inspiration at our historic townhouse. Our team is on hand to talk you through the details, the materials, and how a similar approach could work in your own home.
Find us at: 81 Calverley Road, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, TN1 2UY
Parking: Free customer car park available at the rear
Opening Hours: Monday to Friday (9:00am – 5:30pm) | Saturday (9:30am – 5:00pm)
No appointment is necessary to pop in and browse. However, if you would like to sit down with a designer to discuss your own project over a coffee, you can book a showroom consultation in advance. Please email info@rencraft.co.uk or call 01732 762682.
