Designers corner
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.
 Harry Marshall.
Harry Marshall lives in Christow, near Exeter, and is Ashgrove
Kitchens’ longest-serving designer, having worked for the
company for twenty of the twenty-one years that he has been
designing kitchens.
Harry finds it hard to decide which of his kitchens has been the
best: “They’re all the best”, he says. However, he says that his
most prestigious kitchen was a kitchen relocation in a manor
house, which was finished in what he calls an “oldie barn” style.
The most bizarre kitchen that he has designed was one which had
to be designed to allow for flooding. As with many designers,
Harry finds smaller kitchens to be the most challenging – he once
designed a kitchen for a room measuring only 7 feet by 6 feet
and 6 inches!
He believes that traditional kitchen designs are now being
seen as out-dated, and that the trend in future will be for more
technologically advanced kitchens with touch controls and builtin
acoustic systems.
When he isn’t designing kitchens, Harry likes to hit the road on
his recently purchased 1300cc motorbike.
 Stephen Bottomley.
Stephen lives in Honiton in Devon and has worked for Ashgrove Kitchens
since 2007. He has been designing kitchens since 1979, his first
being a kitchen for a customer in Sidmouth, which he made by
hand. He has designed a number of prestigious kitchens during
his career, including a large Scottwood hand-painted kitchen
worth £60,000 and a £45,000 kitchen for a property on Poole’s
exclusive Sandbanks Peninsula.
He enjoys designing challenging kitchens, and is particularly
proud of a kitchen that he designed which consisted of lots of
curves. “I had to design it around some difficult gaps and spaces
but it looked great when it was finished. I was really pleased with
the way it looked.” According to Stephen, smaller kitchens tend
to be some of the most challenging to design.
Stephen says that currently there is a trend for kitchens that give
a feeling of space and which “less is more”, and he believes that
the next big thing in kitchen design is likely to be for kitchens
with energy-saving appliances.
When he isn’t designing kitchens, Stephen enjoys scuba diving,
camping, walking and enjoying outdoor life in general.
 Lesley Barber
Lesley lives in Exmouth near Exeter and has worked as a kitchen designer for 25 years, six of which have been spent at Ashgrove Kitchens. The first kitchen that Lesley ever designed was for a client in Bournemouth, and was a white, red and ash Poggenpohl kitchen for a bachelor pad.
Lesley has designed a number of memorable kitchens during her career, but believes that her best kitchen was one that she designed during the 1980s for a couple that wanted a removable table incorporated which was very avant-garde then!
Her most prestigious job was to design a kitchen, study, bedrooms and dressing rooms for a manor-style house in Salisbury, the budget for which was about £100,000, but her biggest challenge was for a client in London who she had to design a kitchen that would fit around a spiral staircase.
Lesley says that current kitchen trends include contemporary, unfussy kitchens but that cottage-style kitchens are also very popular.
When she isn't designing kitchens, Lesley enjoys creating machine embroidery and textile art.
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