Katie and Kim are two cooks from Scotland that started Katie and Kim’s Kitchen on Picton Street, Bristol in 2014. The kitchen became locally famous for its great mix of community spirit and wholesome dishes. Specialising in big plates of food, local ingredients and great sauces, chutneys and pickles. However, the existing space they ran the kitchen from was becoming too small and was preventing them from fully exploring the potential of expanding their ambitions for the kitchen.
The new location for Katie and Kim’s Kitchen would be over 2 floors and allow them to expand their business, with a full suite of bakery equipment allowing them to bake fresh bread and a cakes on site to be sold throughout the day; a far greater number of tables to allow them to run a more formal restaurant service in the evenings and a large outdoor seating area complete with herb and vegetable garden.
The design for Katie and Kim’s new kitchen focused on the use of natural, sustainable materials that would reflect the ethos of the cooks simple and fresh local food. The existing kitchen is full of large bottles full of homemade sauce, kilmer jars of pickle and bags of flour stacked in every corner. Therefore the new building aims to retain this open display of food.
As part of the design process Charlie Crowther-Smith made a dining chair for the new restaurant, the choice of affordable timber and simple construction reflects the food being made in the. The project was a close collaboration with Katie and Kim and select team in Bristol to develop the brief, concept design and feasibility of the project; desiner Robbie Thompson, furniture maker Charlie Crowther-Smith and director of Shape Studio, Tom Meacock
