Markham Village, Markham

The island was sprayed in February. The coffee station was built in August, and had to match it.

• Island sprayed Philipsburg Blue
• New coffee station, floating shelves
• New handles through the kitchen

1. 

   01

   The island was the only dark thing in the room, and it was the only thing that got touched. The perimeter cabinets, the granite, the backsplash and the floor are all original — one piece of furniture changed and the room reads differently, which is the cheapest move available in a kitchen this size.

2. 

   02

   Six months later, a wall that had nothing on it. The cabinet was built for the space rather than bought to fit it, the top is butcher block, and the two shelves above are floating — no brackets, because the fixings are buried in the wall before the plaster is made good.

3. 

   03

   The hard part is not the cabinet. It is that the blue had to match an island sprayed six months earlier, on a carcase built from scratch rather than one that went through the booth beside it. A colour is easy to repeat and hard to match once the first one is on a wall.