A Former Bravo Design Star Embraces The British Kitchen Trend Taking Over America
Designer Jeffrey Alan Marks had one goal when he decided to redesign his historic Connecticut home’s kitchen: make it a place worth gathering in. “I wanted the entire home to function as a space for our family to be together, especially the kitchen where we spend most of our time,” says Jeffrey. In his new book, This Is Home, Jeffrey chronicles the transformation of the expansive house into a cozy country escape, along with sharing other behind-the-scenes insights from a few of his recent design projects.
Below, we’re digging into all the ways Jeffrey’s expert eye for color, plus a bit of British design ingenuity brought his new old kitchen to life.
A sweet palette of blues, greens, and pinks keep this white kitchen feeling anything but boring.
A Tricolor Combo
Though Jeffrey preserved many of his 1928 home’s historic details during renovation, the kitchen was “a complete gut job,” he says. After installing crisp, glossy white nickel-gap paneling on the walls and ceiling, he incorporated high-contrast hues of cheery celadon, blush pink, and dusty blue with the cabinetry and built-ins.
Get the Look:
An Unfitted Footprint
A self-proclaimed Anglophile, Jeffrey enlisted the British kitchen design firm Plain English Design to craft the bespoke kitchen he’d always wanted. To make the space feel like a cozy larder—the across-the-pond term for a storage room or cabinet for dry goods—Jeffrey swapped out upper cabinets for open shelving and a stand-alone cupboard.
Dueling Islands
The original kitchen’s long layout and lack of counter space meant that Jeffrey and the Plain English team had to get creative with prep surfaces, opting to install a pair of green butcher block–topped worktables. Built-in drawers provide an elevated feel while offering extra storage.
Collected Accents
Jeffrey relied on collected accents to round out the room’s palette, including pieces of his whimsical Ozark Roadside Tourist Pottery collection. Nearby, a vibrant painting of an Italian fish market stall anchors the back wall.
Notes of Nickel
Cool Carrara marble and nickel hardware add Art Deco appeal against the warmer wood and painted finishes. The look carries over to the large window, where an inset marble sink is paired with an oak-handled nickel faucet. The faucet’s water-pump shape gives a nod to the property’s agrarian roots.
Verdigris Finishes
On the day Jeffrey and his husband, Gregory, closed on the house, they purchased a pair of antique lanterns featuring a pretty oxidized finish, and customized them with rope cord covers. The oversized fixtures are large enough to hold court in the long kitchen.
a stainless steel stove surrounded on both sides by blue cabinets, paneled range hood
A Cook’s Stove
A counter-to-ceiling Carrara marble backsplash sets the stage for this six-burner stainless steel range. Above, a trendy-yet-timeless nickel-gap wood clad vent hood feeds into the kitchen’s cottage vibe. On the counter, an oversize mortar and pestle and other mismatched containers give the stove corner some happily collected clutter.
detail shot of built in blue cabinetry in a white kitchen
Bespoke Details
Special design elements like the curvy brackets on the wall shelves and mesh door insets on the upper cabinet give the kitchen a custom look.
Two-Tone Cabinetry
A green pass-through bar area connects the kitchen with the dining room, which features a hand-painted pastoral mural wallpaper from the team at de Gournay. The wall of windows keeps spaces feeling airy while delineating the home’s prep and party areas. The pretty blush pink that coats the interior of the room’s step-back cabinet was a compromise with Jeffrey and Gregory’s 5-year-old daughter, James, who wanted to have the entire space painted in that color. (It also appears in the pantry above!) A tiny pendant light illuminates a collection of vintage glassware.
Textural Touches
The bar area also features a clever repurposed feature: The wicker island, now topped with zinc, was originally a French laundry basket. It brings texture and one-of-a-kind personality to the space.
Neil Landino and Trevor Tondro's photographs are from This Is Home by Jeffrey Alan Marks (Rizzoli New York).
