When Prince Charles collaborated with UK-based kitchen makers Plain English on a model house, he wanted to know: "How can we get this to the people?" The answer is the new, lower-priced British Standard Cupboard line from Plain English, offered at "sensible prices for discerning folk of modest means."
A longtime campaigner for sustainable living, Prince Charles and his Prince’s Foundation for Building Community collaborated with Plain English to build a model eco-friendly house, displayed at the Ideal Home show in London last year. The Prince was so inspired by the quality and the craftsmanship of the cabinets that he prodded the company to come up with a lower-priced solution. The cabinets are built in the same Suffolk workshop as Plain English's higher priced offerings, but customers will be responsible for collecting and installing the kitchen themselves. Available in a range of sizes and configurations, the off-the-shelf cabinets are available online only. The cabinetry starts at about £5,000 (VAT included) for an entire kitchen; go to British Standard Cupboards for more information.
Above: Work top surfaces come in iroko, oak, or sycamore wood.
Above: British Standard cupboards are available in Broken White eggshell finish, ready for the customer to paint in any color they wish. In this case, the color of the cabinets extends above the work top, creating an unexpected and quirky visual datum.
Above: Prince Charles at the opening of this year's Ideal Home show.
Above: The cabinets come in a variety of sizes and styles; including floor, wall and tall cabinets. Customers have a choice of buying their hardware from British Standard or supplying their own.
Above: The British Standard line includes glazed wall cabinets as well.
See Half Painted Walls in Bold Colors to see how the two-tone paint strategy might work in other rooms in your house.
This post is an update; the original ran on May 7, 2012.