Chewton Glen gets cooking with Neolith®

The Kitchen at Chewton Glen (United Kingdom) is a purpose built cookery school that offers a selection of classes overseen by popular TV chef and alumni James Martin.

As part of an award winning 5-star luxury hotel, it was important that the design of The Kitchen and material selected reflected the grandeur of the country house. Designed by Terence O’Rourke in collaboration with The Big Kitchen Company, the newly built kitchen space specifies Neolith® by TheSize. With the worktops coming into regular contact with sharp knives it was imperative the surfacing was scratch resistant. Furthermore, with each island containing a hob and an open shelving area to permit the disposal of hot pans, the necessity for the surfacing to be able to withstand high temperatures was crucial to its selection. Neolith slabs in Basalt Grey Silk were applied to the worktops, upstand, splashback, shelving areas and cabinetry. The availability of 12mm Neolith slabs in large formats, including 3,200 x 1,600mm, proved to be a decisive factor in the specification of the surface for the commercial kitchen. Sam Hughes, Senior Designer at The Big Kitchen Company comments: “With two students per island, the large slabs offered sufficient width to fit in all the required appliances whilst leaving an appropriately sized work space. “The larger slabs also provided the aesthetic advantage of minimising the number of visible joints, thus contributing to a more seamless and streamlined kitchen design.” In addition, the project requirement for bespoke cuts of the 12mm slabs to integrate the sinks and hobs, as well as for the shelving areas, was a demand and service TheSize were able to offer and fulfil. The team working on the project, which included the managing director at Chewton Glen, selected grey as a colour due to its universal application. Prominent in the commercial kitchen sector, and fashionable in contemporary residential kitchens, grey is popular for the ease at which it combines with bright tones or neutral schemes.

Sam continues: “As a designer, while decor options and the specification of sustainable product plays a significant factor in the surfacing selected, it is also imperative the material can meet the demands of a project. In the instance of The Kitchen, Neolith’s ability to withstand high temperatures, its resistance to stains, cuts and marks, and the bespoke sizing options offered by TheSize made it ideal for the commercial setting.” The cookery school opened its doors in March 2017. Neolith® by TheSize will be exhibiting on Stand H29, Hall 2 at Decorex Joburg 2017, Gallagher Convention Centre, Johannesburg, from the 9^th – 13^th August 2017.