From a Royal Commission to Grand Designs: Kenton Jones Showcases Welsh Timber Craft in Luxury Bespoke Kitchens and Modular Homes

Kenton Jones, the family-run maker of handcrafted kitchens and timber interiors, is entering a new chapter as its work in both bespoke joinery and modular homes gains national attention.

Founded in 1977, the company designs and builds every kitchen, pantry, utility room and fitted furniture piece in its Welshpool workshop. It serves homes across Mid Wales, Shropshire and Cheshire from its Welshpool and Shrewsbury showrooms. 

The focus has remained constant for almost five decades: made to measure design, carefully selected timber and traditional joinery all carried out by an in-house team.

“Long before sustainability became a buzzword, we were drying our own timber and buying from local forests because it felt like the right way to work,” Executive Director Kenton Jones told That's Food and Drink. “That mindset has quietly shaped everything we do.”

Welsh timber homes on screen

The combined work of Kenton Jones and its modular homes arm, Unnos Systems, has recently reached national television audiences.

In the most recent series of Channel 4’s Grand Designs, a modular family home in Southwater, West Sussex, designed and built in the Welshpool factory, was highlighted for being delivered on time, on budget and to a high standard of quality.

Presenter Kevin McCloud described the Southwater modular home as “the first project to deliver all three, on time, on budget, and with high quality.” He also commented: “It’s all about containing costs, having it prefabricated in a factory in Wales, brought in on lorries, costing exactly what you thought it would. That is the future of Grand Designs. It’s the future of self-build.”

Another Kenton Jones/Unnos Systems project was featured in Channel 5’s Build Your Dream Home in the Country, in the episode “Island Home”, which followed their timber house manufactured in Wales and transported to the Outer Hebrides for assembly in a remote coastal landscape.

From kitchens to complete modular homes

Alongside its kitchens and interiors, Kenton Jones has grown Unnos Systems to deliver complete modular homes using the same workshop, the same craftspeople and the same supply of homegrown timber.

Modules are designed digitally, built and finished under factory conditions in Mid Wales, then delivered to sites Worldwide. The aim is to combine the precision and calm of a joinery workshop with the demands of architecture grade buildings, so that the interiors feel as considered as the structure that surrounds them.

“Modular homes felt more like a return to our roots than a new venture,” says Kenton. “We have always combined design, structure and joinery. The difference now is the scale of the projects and the tools we have available”

A royal commission that helped shape the business

Earlier in its history, the company was commissioned to design and install a bespoke kitchen at Highgrove House for the then Prince of Wales, now King Charles III. 

Crafted from locally sourced oak and designed around the character of the house, the project reinforced the company’s belief in provenance, proportion and quiet, enduring detail.

That commission helped shape what is now known as the Highgrove collection, a family of kitchens that celebrates natural timber, simple lines and British craftsmanship rather than short-lived trends.

Kitchens and homes for discerning homeowners

Today, Kenton Jones works with discerning homeowners, architects, interior designers and self-build clients who want a single workshop to handle both interiors and, through Unnos Systems, the fabric of the building itself.

Within the main business, the Artisan, Bauhaus, Hygge and Highgrove kitchen collections offer different design languages, from classic in-frame Shaker to contemporary handleless schemes and Scandi-inspired simplicity. 

Each project begins with a detailed design consultation and is then built and installed by the company’s own teams so that cabinetry, flooring and furniture sit comfortably within the architecture of the home.

For professional clients like architects, developers, main contractors, public-estate teams, project management and cost consultancies and engineering practices, Unnos Systems provides fully finished timber modules with joinery-grade interiors and a short on-site programme, well suited to sensitive landscapes, tight access or exposed locations.

“Most of our clients are making once-in-a-generation decisions about their home,” pointed out Kenton. “Our job is to steady that process, ask the right questions and make sure every decision still feels sound twenty years from now."

Kenton Jones he company is led by Executive Director Kenton Jones, the second generation of the founding family, and is known for its focus on timber, craftsmanship and long term design.

Website: https://kentonjones.com

Making Pizza A British Dish With The Stone Bake Oven Company

With the recession hitting UK manufacturing hard, it’s more important than ever to buy British and support UK manufacturing.

The Stone Bake Oven Company, who have held their own amongst the recession, tell how wood fired pizza ovens made in the UK, are proving to be an investment during the current economic climate.

With hard times making everyone, regardless of income, reassess the way they spend their pennies, more attention than ever, is being paid to the origins and the quality of products on the UK market.

The Stone Bake Oven Company, who hand cast a range of wood burning pizza ovens in England, use a modern aggregate, sourced within the UK which utilises reclaimed materials. The result is a technically efficient wood fired oven, which heats up quickly and retains its heat for hours. A wood fired oven can be used to cook authentic Italian Pizza, specialty roasts, desserts, breads and just about anything else.

“It’s often a misconception buying quality means spending more money “, says Tom Gozney the company founder, “our ovens are some of the most competitively priced on the market, and we are proud to support UK manufacturing and labour.”

The benefits of opting for British doesn’t stop there either, ever heard the phrase ‘buy cheap, buy twice?’ With a wood fired pizza oven by the Stone Bake Oven Company one can enjoy cooking in their oven either indoors or outdoors for years to come, with a selection of ovens to suit a range of budgets and space restraints.

The environmental benefits of choosing English products are vast. Manufacturing in the UK, means a lower carbon footprint due to reduced miles traveled by the product, and with the Stone Bake Oven Company the costs saved are passed onto the customer.The Stone Bake Oven Company are also proud to present a range of pizza ovens which promote the use of an environmentally sustainable fuel source, wood.

Available for many applications the Stone Bake Oven Company have a range wood fired ovens which are divided between the ‘at home range’ and a the ‘commercial wood fired ovens range’ too. The Stone Bake Oven Company are fast becoming a house hold name, gracing many kitchens and gardens with the affordable Primo Oven, to your local restaurant with their range of Gio commercial pizza ovens.

So this year, choose products and services from the UK. Look for quality and longevity and play a part in keeping UK manufacturing buoyant, whilst taking the time to enjoy mouth-watering, thin, crispy authentic pizza, from a Stone Bake Oven.

To view the Stone Bake Oven Company’s a range of pizza ovens, visit www.thestonebakeovencompany.co.uk.

The Stone Bake Oven Company Dish Up FREE Wood Fired Food Recipes

As the wood fired cooking trend gathers momentum in the UK, some wonder if it’s a trend that is set to stay. The growing interest in wood fired cooking has seen The Stone Bake Oven Company, manufacturers of wood fired pizza ovens, dish out all the guidance you could need to make an informed decision when deciding whether or not to purchase your own wood fired oven.

Once being a ‘specialist’ method of cooking, reserved for Italian families and pizzeria restaurants, the wood fired oven industry experienced the ‘celeb effect’, with many celebrities purchasing wood fired ovens for themselves. This was mostly due to the authentic cooking flavours only a wood fired oven could achieve, and partially related to the excessive price-tag and prestige associated with such ovens, making them a ‘must have’ in the celebrity realms.

What subsequently followed was a new found interest in these wood burning products by the public, and so as the demand grew, the Stone Bake Oven Company catered to it with a range of high quality yet affordable wood fired ovens for the home and garden.

So is this new market trend a fad on its way through the market? Or is it set to stay?

Unlike other craze products to have come to market, which seem like a great idea at the time (cue yogurt makers, for example?) and ends up gathering dust in your home or kitchen, or cobwebs in the garden, a wood fired oven revives the oldest and most traditional method of cooking there could ever be, cooking on an open fire.

After all, cooking in this way dates right back to beginning of civilisation! So I suppose wood fired cooking isn’t a fad at all, it just seems to have been revitalised with some good TV promotion and some guidance and re-invention by companies such as the Stone Bake Oven Company.

If you’ve ever tried authentic wood fired food yourself, it seems you’ll know what the fuss is about, with the ability to roast, grill, bake and sear a wood fired oven can cook virtually anything, as well as original Neapolitan pizza in less than 90 seconds.

For everything you need to know about wood fired cooking, including some tasty FREE recipes, The Stone Bake oven Company have taken wood fired ovens from a ‘must have’ to a CAN have, with a range of affordable indoor and outdoor pizza ovens.

For more details visit www.thestonebakeovencompany.co.uk

The Stone Bake Oven Company, Wood Fired Ovens Making Kids Parties Easy!

Are children fussier these days? A question most parents ask when planning a party for their beloved brood, catering for kids can be a bit of a headache. But one company think they have found the answer, and it lies in… the pizza!

The Stone Bake Oven Company makes a wide range of wood fired pizza ovens in the UK at affordable prices, and these are proving to be a hit with passionate cooks and kids alike.

Tom from the Stone Bake Oven Company, says “I am yet to find a child that does not love authentic wood fired pizza! They always go down a storm and the kids love getting involved in the cooking process.”

Capable of cooking an authentic pizza to crispy perfection in under 90 seconds, a wood fired oven can cater for a large group or even just one person, and don't forget, they’re not just for pizza either, stone bake ovens can cook breads, desserts, roasts and more, besides.

They are not hard to use, you can find a wealth of information online from the Stone Bake Oven Company, including pizza recipes and a cooking techniques guide.

Keep the kids entertained this summer and keep in the good books of other parents as you cut the junk with this fast food that can be as healthy as you want to make it!

So for big kids, small kids or other, tackle the fussy eaters with an alternative means of cooking which delivers in flavour and style with the Stone Bake Oven Company.

For more on stone bake ovens, contact info@thestonebakeovencompany.co.uk or visit www.thestonebakeovencompany.co.uk where you will find the most up to date information, recipes and videos to help with outdoor party planning.