To identify an Uncommon Projects kitchen look for impeccable 1970s-style plywood cabinetry and a skilled way with color. Architect Alan Drumm and item designer James Hoy founded their London firm to create tailor-made modern spaces. The two study each customer’s methods the kitchen area– their method to cooking, the items they cram behind closed doors, their go-to mugs and cereal bowls. Then they come up with options that celebrate all.
“Our approach is material-led and function-first,” says Alan. “While lots of modern kitchen area designers prefer uniform kitchen cabinetry, we embrace the variety of your personal belongings– including diverse drawer depths, shallow cupboards, and open shelving, so there is truly a place for everything. And our projects are never ever visually boring.”
Influenced by their outcomes, we have actually highlighted five examples of Uncommon storage solutions and other bonus. The business is London based and works throughout the UK; we hope Stateside firms study their example.
Photography by Jocelyn Low, courtesy of Unusual Tasks (@uncommon_projects).
Bottle Service
Above: A bottle rack is artfully incorporated into a North London Victorian terrace house kitchen area.”An important part of the brief was to produce lots of display screen area for the customers’own ceramics and to avoid a neutral palette,”the designers write. Their vibrant cabinets are finished with high pressure laminate (HPL, made from layers of kraft paper and resin) on birch plywood. Here, they chose coral, pale pink, and dark blue. The Y Stools are an Unusual Projects signature style available by themselves in a range of colors and finishes. 
Above: In a Hackney eat-in kitchen, a long table bench provides extra storage, including an area that is 
exactly bottle height. Dishes ready< img src= "https://www.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/2-island-cookbook-storage-uncommon-projects-cs21-733x489.jpg" alt=" a household of 4 in north london asked for a vibrant new kitchen with plenty o 19" width="733"height= "489"/ > Above: A family of four in North London asked for a vibrant new kitchen with plenty of storage, including a location for cookbooks. Alan explains the combination as”an unapologetic shade of coral pink and orange “– and discusses:”On its own, this might easily have actually been difficult to deal with long term, so we introduced a base of dark brown. It tones in well with the floor and helps ground the colors.” Also note: Uncommon’s Y Bar Stools and their cork-veneered Magnetic Knife Block. Go to A Lively Family Kitchen area to see more. 
Above: The designers explain this Southeast London cooking area as” modern plywood joinery in dialogue with a Victorian coach house.”Here, they tucked the cookbook racks into one of the island.
Display Niches
Above: Where to save XL serving bowls so they’re on hand while not monopolizing a lot of storage real estate? Uncommon placed them front and center in this minimalist extension. Also keep in mind the cork-veneered cabinet fronts.
Explains Alan, “We often use cork to bring texture and warmth to a job. In some cases it’s much better to bring another texture to a project rather than another color.” A renewable, eco-friendly material, cork has a great deal of family utilizes: see some more in our Trend Alert.