When it comes to kitchen design, the team at Plain English are proud traditionalists. But they also have an inventive bent. Specializing in what they call “rooms defined by the dignity of utility,” they don’t stint on storage or clever detailing. Case in point, this two-toned remodel in a Dorset, England, farmhouse with a newly opened up ceiling and a simple but game-changing flourish: painted numbers on the doors of a bank of cupboards, decorative ventilation holes included.
Photography courtesy of Plain English.

Above: Set in the footprint of the existing kitchen?with the owners’ white Aga left in its original location?the room was transformed by removing not only the flat false ceiling but also a fireplace (which cleared space for a wall of cabinets). “The brief was to create a family kitchen with lots of storage and worktop space without overcrowding the room,” Plain English senior designer Tracey Hyde tells us. Pale clapboard walls and cabinetry (Little Greene’s French Grey Pale) give it an airiness that’s offset by floor-to-ceiling cupboards and a library ladder in blue (Little Greene’s Air Force Blue).

Above: How to create a kitchen island that looks as if it’s always been there" By designing a “preparation table” much like a dining room sideboard with antique Georgian brass knobs and pulls and a worktop of “untreated pippy oak,” selected to work with the new rustic oa...