Pearl Lowe's kitchen in her Portobello home is a treasure trove of vintage finds and understated elegance

Having recently purchased a ground-floor flat in a Victorian townhouse on the trendy Portobello Road, London, Pearl Lowe turned to luxury kitchen designers deVol to help realise her vintage kitchen vision.

'There is a real sense of storytelling in this kitchen. From the framed prints to the mismatched crockery, you can feel that every piece has been chosen with care. The whole kitchen embodies Pearl’s world, her history and her eye for beauty,’ explains Francesca Froggatt, kitchen designer at deVol, whose love of antiques and sense of period style perfectly placed her to help give this London townhouse kitchen a much-needed refresh.

Bringing vintage charm

Home to singer-turned-designer Pearl Lowe and her husband, musician Danny Goffey, it was inevitable that this flat was going to be special. Pearl’s name has become synonymous with vintage style, from her trademark dresses to spreading her love of all things floral and lace in her online store.

The challenge facing Pearl and Francesca was to embody this light and dainty look in the engine room of the home, a space that is, by its nature, industrial and functional. Thankfully, the Victorian Portobello townhouse flat was on their side.

From the moment you step into the open-plan room, the eye is drawn to the high ceiling and its ornate cornicing and ceiling rose. ‘There’s a romantic, time-worn quality to the building that we wanted to echo in the design,’ says Francesca. It was a natural fit for Pearl’s love of faded glamour.

Overcoming layout challenges

However, this didn’t mean the flat didn’t present a couple of hurdles to overcome. ‘The boiler is positioned high on the top left-hand side of the wall – behind what is now the top cupboard – and could not be moved,’ says Francesca. ‘This affected the flow of the layout and meant we had to design around it.’

The nearly full-height cabinetry, built both to hide the boiler and provide valuable kitchen storage, was softened with glass fronts and ruched fabric inserts, ensuring it didn’t dominate the room. ‘There was the option to mimic this on the other side of the sink and create a symmetry to the design, but Pearl had her heart set on a cream Smeg fridge – available on Amazon,’ says Francesca.

The free-standing fridge and blue Lacanche range are at once beautiful and functional, channelling traditional kitchen design, rather than modern concealed designs.

Choosing the colour palette

‘The colour palette was all Pearl,’ says Francesca. ‘We had considered leaning into the lack of light and channelling a Gothic style with a moodier colour scheme with dark oak furniture, but in the end Pearl chose to go with the brighter scheme – it’s a lot more in keeping with her style.’

Pairing cabinetry painted in Farrow & Ball’s Mizzle – available on B&Q – with Farrow & Ball’s Setting Plaster – available on B&Q – on walls creates an instantly soothing backdrop, lending a more lifestyle feel to the space.

‘When faced with such a dark floor, most homeowners would instinctively sand it back to lighten it, but here, it grounds what could otherwise be quite washed out,’ adds Francesca.

Meeting the demands

Designing a kitchen that sits within a flat rather than a house also posed challenges. ‘Like with most flats, this room is the only living space, so it has more demands than your typical open-plan kitchen. It needs to feel like a room where you can relax – the ability to cook is almost secondary,’ says Francesca.

‘At the same time, you can’t rely on utilities, pantries or larders for additional storage.’ Freestanding kitchen furniture solves both simultaneously, and pairs brilliantly with freestanding antique pieces in the wider room.

‘The deVol cabinets are always lovely, but it is Pearl’s styling that makes this kitchen special. The whole space is so her,’ says Francesca. ‘It’s fairly easy to choose nice furniture for a kitchen, but how you make it your own is the real art.’