When the British designer Matilda Goad first stepped into the Victorian terrace house that would become her home, she didn’t expect the kitchen to be at the front. This was quite unusual for a traditional London property built in 1900, but she and her husband, Tom Corbett-Winder, refused to let an awkward layout block the potential of the 2,600-square-foot space for their future family. Instead, they decided to make the kitchen worthy of such a prominent location.
Ms. Goad has become an expert in home accessorizing with a purpose. She launched her housewares brand, MG&Co., in 2017, opening a flagship store in London’s design district last year. So when she and her husband began their renovation in 2019, Ms. Goad was fixated on optimization. The designer mapped out the kitchen with masking tape to get every silhouette right, from the cupboards to the appliances housed inside, a meticulous process that she compared to assembling a jigsaw puzzle.
“When I can’t sleep at night, that’s what I think about amongst other things — I’m always like how could this area work harder? I think a dead space in a home is pointless, it doesn’t help anyone,” she said.
These are a few of the fixtures that add a whimsical flair to the designer’s hard-working kitchen.
