Made at Dalston since 1972

Kitchen islands and larders

The two pieces people remember, and the two worth making properly. Think about a good kitchen a year later and two things come back. The island and the larder. They are also the two pieces where buying instead of making costs you most.

Book a showroom visit 01228 710085

Contemporary kitchen at Dornock with a curved island and an oval breakfast table built into its end — Kitchen, Burgh by Sands. Fitted September 2025.

The argument

The two pieces worth making properly

An island has to be long enough to work at. Deep enough to sit at. Placed so two people can get past somebody at the hob. The room sets all three. A modular system fixes all three.

At Dornock we built a curved island with the breakfast table built into the end. The eating end and the working end are one piece. That is a drawing, not a product code.

A larder is the same argument stood upright. Full height. Doors that open right back. Shelves at the depths that suit tins on one and packets on the next. A worktop inside for the things that live out.

KITCHEN ISLANDS AND LARDERS · SPECIFICATIONThwaite Holme · Lingey Close · Dalston

Carcass: Birch ply, cut and machined at Dalston, lipped
Island: Any length the room takes, in one piece
Larder: Full height to your ceiling, shelves at your depths
Painted: Pre-primed in-house, hand-painted on site in water-based eggshell
Timber: Two-pack lacquer, satin, tough and maintenance free
Worktop: Quoted with the kitchen

Made at: Dalston
Fitted by: Our own men
Trading since: 1972
Drawings kept: Always

From our own jobs

Rooms we have already made.

Open-plan hand-painted kitchen at Burgh by Sands with a navy island, integrated wine store and a glazed dresser run over herringbone parquet

Kitchen at Carrfoot Lodge, Mansergh, with arched windows, a white island and turned wooden stools

Blue in-frame kitchen under a sash window, with a white worktop and cup handles

An island put together from standard boxes is as long as those boxes allow. A larder bought as a product is as tall as that product. Ours are as long and as tall as your room.

Named and dated

Real houses, with the month on them.

01Burgh by SandsA navy island and a glazed dresser run, Burgh by SandsSeptember 2025 02BassenthwaiteUnder the trusses of a barn, BassenthwaiteAugust 2025 03Red HallA plate rack, a range and a pine table, Red HallAugust 2024 04ManserghArched windows and a white island, Carrfoot LodgeFebruary 2024 05MealsgateA painted canopy under sash windows, the Old VicarageFebruary 2023

Where we work

Cumbria, and over the border.

We fit our own furniture across north Cumbria and into Dumfriesshire. Two of the jobs on this site are in Scotland, in the same house, two years apart.

Kitchen islands and larders: what people ask

How long can you make an island?

As long as the room takes and the worktop will span. We build the carcasses here, so it is not assembled from standard boxes with a joint in the middle. That is usually what limits a bought one.

Can the island have a table built into it?

Yes. We did exactly that at Dornock. The table curves out of the end of the island, so the two are one piece instead of a table pushed against a cupboard.

The rest of the house

We make all of it.

01Bespoke kitchensMade in our own workshop at Dalston, and fitted by our own men.See the work 02Fitted bedrooms and wardrobesWardrobes cut to the wall you have, not the wall a catalogue assumed.See the work 03Boot rooms and utility roomsThe room that takes the weather, the dog and the washing.See the work 04Dressing roomsA spare bedroom turned into the room you get ready in.See the work 05Home offices and studiesDesk, shelves and cupboards built into the room as one piece of furniture.See the work 06Media walls and TV unitsThe television, the boxes and the cables, put away inside the joinery.See the work 07Free-standing furnitureWhere Bob Postlethwaite started in 1972, and we still make it.See the work

Talk to the workshop

Come and see one before you buy one.

01228 710085

Book a showroom visitor come in. No appointment needed to look round.

Lingey Close, Dalston, Carlisle, Cumbria, CA5 7LB. Parking on site.

Monday to Thursday: 8am – 5pm
Friday: 8am – 3.30pm
Saturday: 8am – 12pm
Sunday: Closed