Our Designers
At Ashgrove Kitchens, we understand that it's vital for you to have a good relationship with the person designing your new kitchen. This will give you peace of mind, as you'll know that your kitchen designer understands your needs and tastes, and that your new bespoke kitchen will reflect both your style and the kitchen designer's skills.
Our kitchen designers are highly skilled and have years of experience. They also have in-depth knowledge of the latest innovations in kitchen design, and can help you to achieve your perfect look whilst ensuring that your new kitchen has the functionality that you require.
We’d like to introduce you to our designers and give you an insight into their lives, careers and thoughts about kitchen design.
Mike Lawrence
As a boy, Mike Lawrence decided that he was going to be the skipper of an ocean-going salvage vessel. To end up graduating from university with a degree in interior and building design and then to qualify as a chartered designer led him to a very different kind of career. Winning a Queen’s Award for art and design gave Mike the opportunity to study design and architecture in Italy – which left him with a passion to do something about the lack of good design in the UK at that time.
So, instead of heading for the ocean, Mike found his way to Chelsea’s King’s Road, designing all manner of projects. The first kitchen that he designed was for the financial accountant of Arsenal Football Club. He says that the most bizarre kitchen that he ever designed was “a kitchen in mahogany (before environmental concerns), which was shipped to Madagascar for an African gold miner, who paid with a suitcase full of cash (before money-laundering legislation) - a case of “coals to Newcastle” or “mahogany to Madagascar”.
Mike came to Devon with his family some twenty years ago and is one of Ashgrove Kitchens’ longest serving designers, having worked for the company for 13 years. He is well known for his strong views on kitchen design and, in particular, on the subjects of proportion and the use of light and space. He has the ability and experience to guide you through the minefield of design choices available so that you can have your perfect kitchen.
According to Mike, current trends in kitchen design include a variety of styles and more creativity. People want a kitchen that is a family room, sophisticated in terms of design and which has a choice of appliances. He has also noticed that painted kitchens are extremely popular. As to the future trends in kitchen design, Mike says: “Your guess is as good as mine – it’s better to concentrate on what suits you and your home”.
Despite his long career in design, Mike still has an affinity for the sea. As a qualified yacht master, you may see him leaving the Exe Estuary on a Sunday in his small fishing boat to catch a few bass, pollock or mackerel.
Trevor Pearson
Trevor Pearson has been designing kitchens for 34 years and has worked for Ashgrove Kitchens for five years. He finds it difficult to decide which of his kitchen designs has been his best as “each year, with innovations in the industry, they just get better”. His most prestigious kitchen, however, was for a surgeon based in London, who didn’t want to compromise on the materials used in any way.
Over the years, Trevor has designed some unusual and extremely challenging kitchens, including a round kitchen in an oast house and a kitchen in a shed. He believes that the next big thing in kitchen design will be an increase in the number of computer gadgets in the kitchen.
Trevor lives in South Molton in Devon and when he isn’t designing kitchens, he enjoys fly fishing, cooking and eating out.
