Kitchens made by hand, nineteen miles from the sea.
Drawn, joined and painted in our own barn at St Hilary, for the older houses of the Vale. Fourteen kitchens a year. We would rather make fewer.
Three stages, one roof,
and nobody else's hands.
There is no part of this we send out. The drawing, the joinery, the paint and the fitting are done by the four of us, in that order, over about twenty-six weeks.
Drawn
We measure the room before we suggest anything, and we draw by hand at a quarter scale. Old houses are rarely square; the drawing follows the house rather than correcting it. Nothing is ordered until you have signed the sheet.
Joined
Solid framed carcasses, dovetailed drawer boxes, backs let into grooves. Every cabinet is made for one wall and marked with it. If a door needs easing in twenty years, it can be eased; nothing here is disposable.
Painted
Grain filled, two undercoats, brushed by hand in our own paint shop and left to harden a fortnight before it travels. Colour is matched in daylight, on the bench, against your own stone and timber.
25
Years at the same benches
14
Kitchens a year, never more
26
Weeks, drawing to hand-over
0
Carcasses bought in
Six rooms, and what
each of them wanted.
- Portland Stone
- English Oak worktops
- Bute Green
- Carrara pastry end
- Reclaimed elm
- Freestanding
Chosen in daylight,
on the bench.
Six finishes, kept deliberately short. We know exactly how each behaves after ten years, and we will show you every one made up before you commit.
Portland Stone
2 undercoatsA pale limestone white, faintly warm. Our most-asked-for cupboard colour, and the one that behaves best in north-facing Vale kitchens.
Bute Green
Brushed by handA deep estate green kept for islands, boot rooms and dressers — dark enough to sit quietly against slate, and to hide a wet dog.
English Oak
Quarter-sawn · 32mmQuarter-sawn for its figure and its stability, oiled rather than lacquered. Worktops, drawer boxes and anything that will be handled daily.
American Walnut
Oiled · interiorsReserved for interiors, cutlery trays and pastry ends. It darkens with use, which is the point of it.
Welsh Slate
Honed or rivenFrom Penrhyn, honed for worktops and riven for thresholds. Cool underhand, and it takes a drainer cut beautifully.
Carrara Marble
Honed · 20mmHoned, and only for a pastry end. It will mark and it will patinate; we will say so twice before you choose it.
The parts you touch
every single day.
Handles, hinges and catches are solid — cast brass, bronze or nickel, never plated pot metal. They are chosen at the same time as the paint, against the same daylight, because a warm white and a cold nickel will fight each other for twenty years.
Everything is fitted so it can be taken off again. Hinges are adjustable, catches are replaceable, and the drawer runners are wooden and can be waxed rather than thrown away.
A long barn at St Hilary,
and no branches.
Morgan Vale is a family workshop: two of us at the benches, one in the paint shop, one drawing. We are half an hour from every house we have ever fitted, which is deliberate — it means we come back to adjust a door in ten years' time, and it means the kitchen you are shown is the kitchen we made.
Visitors are welcome on Thursdays. There is usually something on the bench, and always tea.
“They came twice before they drew anything. The pantry fits the wall the house always had, not the wall a catalogue wanted.”
Send us the room.
A photograph and a rough measurement is plenty. We will tell you honestly whether we are the right bench for it — and if we are not, we will usually know who is.
Or telephone the workshop on 01446 774 209, Monday to Thursday.
Boards come in green and sit in the shed for two years before we cut them.