Kitchen, Bathroom & Bedroom Design in Devon

Devon has an enormous stock of converted agricultural buildings, and the recurring problem is not space but usable wall. A 12-metre threshing barn offers height, glazing and vaulted ceiling, and almost nowhere to put tall units, extraction or a full-height fridge without blocking a sight line.

That is a design problem, and it is solved by drawing rather than by shopping. We plan storage into islands, banks of drawers and dedicated pantry volumes, run extraction where the structure genuinely allows, and set cabinet heights against the vaulted ceiling in Winner 3D so a proportion that works in a showroom does not look stunted under a 5-metre ridge.

In Exeter, Totnes, Tavistock and Plymouth the constraint is fabric. Suspended timber floors, lath and plaster, chimney breasts still in place and drainage that has been extended twice all limit where a sink, hob or waste can realistically go. Floor build-up matters too: raise a floor for underfloor heating and every door, skirting and appliance height moves with it.

We record all of it at survey. Where a property is listed or in a conservation area, the specification respects what cannot be altered rather than pretending the constraint away: and any consents needed are identified before ordering, not after cabinetry has arrived.

The South Hams and East Devon coasts bring salt-laden air, while Dartmoor and mid-Devon bring sustained rainfall and high humidity in solid-walled buildings with limited ventilation. Both produce the same symptoms in a badly specified room: swollen door bases, crazed paint edges, pitted ironmongery and mould behind units.

We specify moisture-resistant substrates in wet zones, finishes and ironmongery suited to the conditions, and extraction sized to the room volume and duct run rather than fitted for convenience. In a room with limited natural ventilation, extraction is the single most important line in the specification.

Rural Devon properties often run on private drainage, oil-fired heating, borehole water and older electrical distribution. A kitchen design that assumes mains drainage and a modern consumer unit will meet reality at second fix, which is the most expensive point at which to find out.

Access is the parallel issue. Single-track lanes with passing places, low bridges and tight farm entrances all shape what can be delivered and when. We plan delivery vehicle size, unloading and on-site storage into the programme so cabinetry is not standing in weather waiting for a route in.

A large share of Devon work sits inside a wider renovation - a barn being converted, a farmhouse being reordered - where the owner is living elsewhere, sometimes in London, while the work runs. Decisions stall, other trades improvise, and the kitchen inherits the compromise.

The Complete Service exists for exactly that: our foreman is on the ground, coordinating with the other trades on site, and you get weekly video updates so a question is answered in a day rather than at your next visit.