Interiors trends - Q&A with John Harvey, Lida Cucina

What’s inside your home is at least as important as its exterior appearance, and there’s a constant supply of new ideas to bring the most important rooms in the home up-to-date. With London Design Week currently under way, we talk exclusively to John Harvey of kitchen and fitted furniture specialists Lida Cucina about the company’s products and services.  

Hi John, please tell us a little about Lida Cucina.

Lida Cucina is an award-winning company dedicated to designing and installing kitchens and other fitted furniture. We have two showrooms, Pedini London in Battersea, and Lida Cucina in Berkshire.

Pedini London is the largest dedicated showroom in Europe to the high-end contemporary Italian Pedini brand. Since opening it has become a ‘must-visit’ location on the London design map.

Our Ruscombe showroom has over 6,000 sq ft of luxurious and aspirational lifestyle room-sets, and displays fully dressed and accessorised kitchens from Lida Cucina’s own Tailor Made Collection (Modern) and luxury handmade kitchens by English cabinetmaker Charles Yorke. The collaboration with Charles Yorke has led to an exclusive kitchen, The Kensington, designed by one of our top designers. We also display our top-quality contract range by Arrex.

Is there a particular Lida Cucina approach to design?

Listen to the client to ensure they get what they want! We put as much content as possible into each kitchen – ensuring good value for money. We match the designer to the client, as we believe it is extremely important to build a good client/designer working relationship. We only use top-quality products and we utilise any architectural features within the space. We use state-of-the-art products to create rather than follow trends.

This week is London Design Week - how are you involved and what are you expecting to see?

We are keeping a close eye on what is happening at London Design Week and hope to see new and innovative products we can utilise in our designs.

Are the pioneers of your sector mostly based overseas and does Britain have a good reputation for innovation in home design?

Italian design is where we began more than 15 years ago, and at that time Italian design stood out with few rivals. British kitchen designers and manufacturers have always had a fantastic reputation for quality and traditional design, this is still true today.

Many British manufacturers have introduced less traditional elements and we have used these to great effect within our more contemporary kitchens.

Is your area of design rather like fashion - the innovative things start at the top end and work down to a more affordable budget over time?

Yes, when new products are introduced they are always more expensive, but as manufacturing processes are scaled up the price naturally falls and these  products filter down to the less expensive parts of the market. This is particularly true of some of the appliances, for example boiler taps which are now well within the price range of “the man in the street”.

Some of the interesting finishes that are now coming on stream from the top-end designers such as metallics and resins will soon be available on the high street. Laminates have improved considerably over the past few years, to such an extent that you are hard-pressed to tell some of the textured wood-effect products from the real thing – enabling the kitchen designer to give the customer the effect they desire at a lower price.

Granite and stone is another example this is now available everywhere at reasonable prices – but if you want something special or different you do still have to go to a top-end company to find it.

Do you get to see many new build homes and how do you think they reflect trends in the design world?

Yes, competition amongst developers to attract buyers – particularly at the higher end of the market – means that they ask advice on the latest designs and products. Images of top-end and aspirational design are prevalent on social media and TV etc, and the developers need to reflect this.

Do you think the value of commissioning a designer is not understood by many homeowners?

I think most people understand the value of a kitchen designer to make the kitchen work efficiently as well as look great. The cost of a kitchen is too high to risk making any serious errors.

What are your current favourite on-trend features of kitchen and bedroom design?

Metallics.

Where do you see technology heading in kitchen and fitted furniture design?

The internet of things will increase ie connectivity between all kitchen appliances that can be controlled remotely (eg via WiFi). There will also be more efficient use of power and auto-reporting of faults etc. Technology will also see better management of shopping and restocking eg fridges that order automatically. Induction loops will be built into work surfaces for charging appliances, phones etc. Also induction hobs beneath work surfaces will give a completely flush, seamless appearance.