An island with one continuous grain
The oak was selected as a single flitch so that the figure flows unbroken across drawers and door fronts. A 60mm stone top with a mitred edge gives the island the weight of a piece of furniture.
Kitchen · Vancouver, BC
The brief
The owners wanted a kitchen that would read as architecture — quiet, warm, and free of visible hardware — at the centre of a house built into a wooded slope.
We built the room around a single, generous island in smoked oak, its grain running the full length without a break. Tall pantry walls run floor to ceiling on the north side, their handleless fronts aligned to the rhythm of the windows so that, closed, they disappear into the plane of the wall.
Every functional element — the extraction, the task lighting, the waste and recycling — is concealed within the cabinetry, leaving the eye nothing to catch on but material and light.
The oak was selected as a single flitch so that the figure flows unbroken across drawers and door fronts. A 60mm stone top with a mitred edge gives the island the weight of a piece of furniture.
Full-height units run the length of the north wall. Push-to-open fronts mean no handles interrupt the surface — closed, the wall reads as a single warm plane; open, it reveals a fully fitted pantry and appliance garage.
Specification
A handleless system in smoked oak veneer with a natural stone island and fully integrated appliances.
"It doesn't look installed. It looks like the house was built around it."— The homeowners