Abstract Five Colours...
Earthy, original colours, inspired by five abstract paintings...
The Abstract Five Colours get their unusual name in a rather interesting way. The story begins with Tomas Hinton’s father and grandfather who were both talented artists. Their beautiful abstract oil paintings have always hung on the walls of Tomas’s home, providing warmth, colour and inspiration. So when it came to creating colours, five of the paintings were selected to create a unique palette of earthy and original colours.
It’s an interesting way to create colour and a lovely story to tell, but best of all the colours are truly beautiful.
If you like the idea of using two colours, consider using one strong colour for the base elements and a more neutral colour for the wall elements. This avoids two colours competing for attention and the scheme becoming too ‘busy’. You can even specify your own colours and mix lacquered doors with wood finishes.
Whatever you do, always look at real paint samples and visit a showroom, where you'll find more colours are always being added to the collection.
Due to printing limitations all the colours/swatches in the brochures and online are only indicative.
The Trims
The plinth (kick-board) and the rail (above the door on SHEER kitchens) are collectively referred to as the Trims.
Start with the door colours and then consider what trim finish will complete the look for your Tomas kitchen.
As with the printed colour samples, please refer to real samples of the actual thing.
Natural Wood
Tomas Kitchen Living are renowned for kitchens in the wonderful Abstract Five Colours. Less known, perhaps, is the option to specify doors and panels in a range of beautiful wood finishes.
Either mixed in with coloured doors or entirely from wood, the results are always stunning.
Shown opposite is a great example. Here we have the classic naturalSHEER model by Tomas, with LONDON ASH trims. The lower doors and drawers are ‘book-matched’ Olive Ash veneer with solid lipping and the wall elements are in Haven White. The end result is a crisp and fresh kitchen with lots of warmth and style - very much the Tomas ‘look’.
All of the Natural Wood Veneers can be chosen for door finishes, and beyond this we can source many other veneers for book-matching.
Book-matching is all about continuing the same grain across two or more panels, it’s a beautiful thing!
Quality is Green
Sustainability, Locality, Quality and Longevity are just some of the key ingredients that makes a Tomas kitchen a green kitchen
When choosing a kitchen it is important to consider the green credentials and sustainability of the product you are looking at.
One of biggest problems we face today is this idea of the ‘chuck-away culture’. Low cost, low quality, short use products - often manufactured in emerging economies thousands of miles away that end up in landfill. As with the likes of mobile phones that are designed to break or become outdated in a few years, many products are designed ‘not’ to last and thus perpetuate a market for endless replacement. To some degree this is also relevant in the world of the kitchen cabinet, so when I set out to design our cabinets, I looked at all the elements of a normal kitchen that would deteriorate over time and engineered these defects out of the specification. By building a product that stands the test of time, we also built a product that has an exceptionally low carbon footprint, due to the fact that it wouldn’t need replacing. From this starting point the materials chosen were from sustainable sources and ultimately renewable and recyclable. If we break down the key components of a typical Tomas cabinet, we can see why the material is selected, why it is long lasting and why it is sustainable and recyclable.
The Carcase (cabinet).
Typically kitchen cabinets are made from MFC (melamine faced chipboard) and have edging. This is a low cost approach, but as the kitchen ages or is heavily used the edging may come away and doors start to drop as the fixings into the chipboard become loose and worn. This will potentially lead to the kitchen requiring replacement sooner rather than later. The Tomas carcase is constructed for melamine faced birch plywood. The plywood is incredibly strong and provides excellent an fixing for hinges etc. The edge is intentionally exposed to leap-frog the whole need for the aforementioned edging – which is an inherent weak-point. This feature is super practical and looks great, adding to the character and distinctive identity of a Tomas kitchen. Furthermore the plywood is, of course, from sustainable birch forests and is FSC accredited.
The Drawers
We chose to specialise in proper solid oak drawer boxes, They don’t feature plastic clips and bits and bobs that fall off and they don’t have those thin bases that may sag and drop out – I see this a lot on my travels! The centuries old dovetail construction method is certainly well tried and tested is insanely strong. The oak is from sustainable sources and is also FSC accredited. Needless to say they look stunningly beautiful and with a little care will improve with age.
The Doors and Panels
High density moisture resistant board (HDF) is chosen for its stability and workability. It also from sustainable sources and can be potentially be recycled. At this time of writing, water based paint technology isn’t quite at the level required for kitchen doors in terms of wear and chemical resistance. The paint we use is PU, however the VOCs are kept to a minimal level thanks to the use of the latest technology. The doors are finished by machines which keep wastage to a minimum and filtering to a maximum. The advantage of lacquered doors is that damages can be touched up, repaired and ultimately completely re-lacquered for ultimate longevity This cannot be said for lower cost laminated doors with edging. To go greener still natural wood veneered doors are an option.
The Hardware
By using the best state-of-the-art hardware, very little seems goes wrong – if it does, replacing a hinge or a drawer is no trouble and would never require the rip-out of a complete kitchen.
The Locality
Another consideration is locality. By sourcing you cabinets locally or at least made in Britain - none of the environmental impact of long distance shipping is an issue.
In summary (even if you don’t buy a Tomas kitchen) get the design right and go for the best you can get. Remember ‘cheap’ isn’t always ‘cheaper’ in the long run – as they say you’ll never regret buying quality!