Every now and then, a few examples of a design idea creep into the pages of House & Garden and make us sit up and think about something in a new light. The latest of these is reeded glass. Also known as fluted glass, it's something that's been cropping up more and more in kitchens of late and brings a wonderful antique feel to what is often one of the more contemporary rooms in a house.
In the kitchen above, Kate Guinness has used it on the top cabinets, giving them the feel of something you might have found in an apothecary. The dark wood is the perfect foil to maintain an antique feel, offset by the softness of the pale pink walls and classic marble below. “My main thought is that it’s less solid than timber doors,” explains Kate, “but still allows all one’s gubbins to be hidden away. In a smaller space, which is heavy on joinery, it also adds a different texture into the mix which keeps things lighter and less solid timber heavy. Open shelves can do the same, but then you also have to look at your things and keep it nicely styled.”
This is precisely the same way in which Laura Stephens has used it twice within the kitchen of a London house above, first on a cabinet and second to screen off a charming pantry area – one of the areas of a house which can get disorganised the fastest. “I love to use reeded glass within cabinetry as serves to break up the joinery making it feel lighter in the space,” explains Laura. “It allows light in whilst distorting the vision through it which is perfect in a kitchen to hide the less attractive items that you, of course, need”.
Todhunter Earle have done a similar trick in the dining room above, which is housed within an open plan kitchen. The combination of concealed and exposed storage allows the owners to display pieces collected on their travels on shelves behind fluted glass doors without having to constantly make sure they are perfectly positioned and dust-free.
In this kitchen by Spencer Wedekind, fluted glass and a bespoke island made from dark sapele wood help to bring an older feel to the very contemporary space. The fluted glass serves as a door to the utility room, further proving how good it is as keeping things calm, pretty and organised in a kitchen while allowing the messier side of life to be tucked away behind lovely textural glass.
