A Look Inside Raynham Hall’s New deVOL Kitchen Where Heritage Meets Modern Living
There are few settings more extraordinary for a kitchen than Raynham Hall in North Norfolk. This early 17th-century masterpiece, long admired for its architecture, grand proportions, and centuries of family history, might seem an unlikely backdrop for the humblest of domestic spaces.
Yet in a recent collaboration between the hall’s custodians and the designers at deVOL, a remarkable transformation has taken place: the creation of a kitchen that feels as natural and timeworn as the house itself.
The design was conceived by Frankie, one of deVOL’s senior kitchen designers, who faced the delicate challenge of introducing a new, functional space into a room layered with history, intricate woodwork, and artworks of national importance.
“It needed to work on two levels,” says the team at deVOL. “This is both a family home and a profoundly important stately house. The kitchen had to feel utterly at ease with both identities.”
The result is a masterclass in sensitivity and restraint. The new kitchen sits quietly at the heart of the room, avoiding every original feature and architectural detail with painstaking care.
Yet nothing about it feels hesitant. Instead, the space has a calm confidence, a sense of belonging, as though the cupboards, worktops, and fittings have been there for generations.
photography by deVOL Kitchens
The classic English cupboards, finished in deVOL’s deep Refectory Red, anchor the space with warmth and depth. Heirloom Brass fittings and the Heirloom Gaselier Pendant Light add a subtle gleam, their patina echoing the tones of the house’s aged timbers.
Smooth, honed marble worktops bring light to the composition, while the showpiece —a wide brass sink —is perfectly placed to overlook the sweeping grounds of Raynham Hall.
What makes this project particularly successful is its balance. The kitchen is beautiful yet practical, quietly luxurious but never showy. And the color palette of deep red, sage green, and brass accents harmonizes beautifully.
It serves the rhythms of daily family life while maintaining the dignity and grandeur expected of a house of this scale. “It just sits there, calm and content,” says deVOL. “Not too old, not too new.”
Just off the kitchen lies a utility space/pantry, designed in the same style as the central kitchen.
Take a look at these Refectory Red deVOL Kitchens: a deep red deVOL kitchen with vintage elements in a Victorian home, a deVOL Refectory Red laundry and dining room, red cabinets and pink tiles in an English country house, and a warm Refectory Red deVOL kitchen.
For all projects featuring a deVOL Kitchen, you can click here.
