INTERIORS / Kitchen design directory

DESIGNERS

Keith Gray & Co, Great Priory Farm, Panfield, Braintree, Essex; tel 0376 324590. Though many of their clients, judging by the brochure, cannot think beyond peach-dragged dressers, some of the most successful designs of this 'bespoke' furniture company have simple contemporary lines.

John Lewis of Hungerford, High Street, Hungerford, Berkshire; tel 0488 682066; also at Liberty, Regent Street, London Wl; tel 071-734 1234. 'Kitchen designs which are aesthetically balanced but not generally symmetrical.' Good solid joinery and mercifully free from twiddly decoration.

Crabtree Kitchens, The Twickenham Centre, Norcutt Road, Twickenham; tel 081-755 1121. Elegant hand-crafted kitchens, with Shaker-influenced simplicity. New range in handpainted pewter finish.

Allmilmo, 48 The Broadway, Thatcham, Newbury, Berkshire; tel 0635 868181 for nearest stockists. Modern German-made kitchens. You would be well advised to use their brightly coloured high- gloss lacquer 'Modern Art' range with moderation.

Smallbone of Devizes (above), 105-109 Fulham Road, London SW3; tel 071-581 9989. Also at Tunbridge Wells, St Albans, Leamington Spa, Knutsford, Harrogate and Devizes. The brand leader in updated traditional kitchens - guaranteed to excite your estate agent. Lots of desirable accessories such as willow basket drawers and, for the green at heart, a tin-lined organic waste drawer.

Miele, Fairacres, Marcham Road, Abingdon; tel 0235 554455. Slick high-gloss kitchens in all colours to match their slick appliances; nifty accessories to appeal to the green consumer, such as skirting recess drawers to keep newspapers for recycling, and odour-free bins for those who like to hang on to their rubbish.

Arena Kitchens, Thomas Yard, 6 Rectory Road, Oxford; tel 0865 726505. Made-to-order kitchens, with design details to reflect the style of customers' homes. Also work with Bartholomew Conservatories to make conservatory kitchens.

Bulthaup (above), 37 Wigmore Street, London Wl; tel 071-495 7220 for stockists. A favourite with designers for its thoroughly modern Germanic approach to aesthetic and functional kitchens. Generally five years ahead of other companies in its ideas - moving from bright primaries to more earth-based colours. Very hot on ergonomics. You could get away with pounds 8,000 but they have done kitchens for up to pounds 70,000.

Mumbles Kitchen Studio, rear of 11 Newton Road, Mumbles, Swansea; tel 0792 369526. Timothy Clements makes unusual one-off kitchens in cherry, ash, maple and oak.

Whitton Wood Designs, 37 Crown Road, St Margarets, Twickenham; tel 081-891 6639. Custom-built kitchen designers who say they are delighted to work in any style - Georgian, 1950s, medieval, futuristic, Japanese, American.

Harvey Jones Simple Kitchens; tel 071-731 3302. Aims to give hand-made quality at mass production prices. Choose from a range of about 30 cupboard styles which are supplied primed but not painted. No site visits and customers must organise fitting themselves.

Ikea, 255 North Circular Road, London NW10; tel 081-451 5566. Best of the cheapest kitchens, largely because their Swedish pragmatism is uncontaminated by British nostalgia. If you are on a limited budget it is best to go for simple, modern lines rather than make an effort to aggrandise cheap units with shoddy mouldings.

Mark Wilkinson Furniture (above), Overton House, High Street, Bromham, Chippenham; tel 0380 850004 for stockists. A modern designer offering less predictable ranges that might appeal to traditionalists, such as the pine 'Santa Fe', which features blue highlights and nickel silver handles.

ACCESSORIES

The Hanging Kitchen Company, 2 The Courtyard, Ashengrove Farm, Calbourne, Isle of Wight; tel 0983 78553. Originally selling pine and cast-iron laundry pulleys, this company soon cottoned on to the fact that designer-peasants were using them to hang up garlics and dried flowers instead of their underpants, and so it has produced racks to suit, from pounds 22 upwards. Send for leaflet and mail order form.

La Cornue, 62 Westbourne Grove, London W2; tel 071-792 0991. There are always those who simply have to go one better than the Joneses. La Cornue stoves are made to order incorporating the features each customer requests, whether gas or electric burners, cast-iron hotplates, deep fryers etc. For serious cooks as well as serious show-offs.

Aga-Rayburn (above), PO Box 30, Ketley, Telford, Shropshire; tel 0952 641100. Originally created by a blind Swedish physicist and Nobel prizewinner, the Aga is now cherished as a design classic - equally at home in the modern and the traditional kitchen.

Corian, C D (UK) Ltd, Unit 8, Centre 27, Bankwood Way, Birstall, West Yorks; tel 0924 424476. Hailed as the poor man's marble of the Eighties, Corian worksurface is widely admired by professional cooks for its chip-proof, stain-proof qualities, and by designers for its smooth lines. It can be cut, carved, inlaid and joined with invisible seams so that sink and drainer form an integral part of the worktop.

Divertimenti, 45-47 Wigmore Street, London Wl; tel 071-935 0689; a cornucopia of equipment, ranging from peasanty pottery to slick stainless steel.

The Dining Room Shop, 62-64 White Hart Lane, Barnes, London SW13; tel 081-878 1020. Kate Dyson's excellent antiques emporium, filled with furniture and accessories for kitchen and dining room.

Research by Beverley Scott

(Photographs omitted)